Welcome to the Writing Program

English 103 is not “English class” in the way you may have learned to think about English classes in high school, because this course is more specifically focused than most high school English classes. 103 looks specifically at thinking and writing and sending messages—at how you think and how you write and how you communicate, and also at how you understand, interpret, and work with the thinking, writing, and communications of others. The course is designed to help you find strategies for approaching intellectual problems, coming up with answers to questions, organizing your thoughts, and turning your organized thoughts into clear messages.
My goals as your instructor include not only helping you to improve your grammar and paragraph structure but also helping you to think about how you think, to understand writing as a process you can refine and personalize, and to begin approaching problems with a professional mindset. You should think of this course as one of your last opportunities to focus specifically on the strengths and weaknesses of your writing, to have your writing professionally critiqued, and to improve your writing skills in general. Whether you struggle with writing or are already a pretty confident writer, the concepts and processes we examine in 103 ought to help you improve your thinking, writing, interpretation, and communication skills.