The Undergraduate Writing Program
The Undergraduate Writing Program aims to help students do the following:
- Practice writing as a form of inquiry to discover and create new knowledge.
- Learn to write in response to appropriate audiences, purposes, and genres.
- Learn to read, write, and do research as acts of critical thinking.
- Practice writing simultaneously as a process and as a rhetorical response.
- Foster an appreciation of writing as a communicative art.
This program consists of Expository Writing Courses such as first-year composition (English 101), sophomore composition (English 102), and Advanced Composition (English 201). The Undergraduate Writing Coordinator is in charge of this program.
First-year Composition (English 101) is the first required writing course at West Virginia University. English 101 is intended for first year students to take in order to learn strategies to use in the writing they will do in college. The course aims to help students develop their abilities as writers, readers, and thinkers.
Sophomore Composition (English 102) is the second required writing course at West Virginia University. English 102 is intended for sophomores and juniors to take prior to enrollment in a writing intensive course. The purpose of this course is to help students further develop their abilities as researchers and writers of persuasive texts.
Advanced Composition (English 201) is a course intended for students in English Education and Technical and Professional Writing. The purpose of this course is to help advanced students learn about the discipline of Composition Studies to enable them to improve their writing and rhetorical abilities in their chosen field of study.