Approaches to ENG1100

English 1100 is designed to help you build on your high school writing experiences to develop strategies to write for the range of audiences and purposes you will encounter in your courses at Elon. All sections of ENG1100 support the same course outcomes but work towards those outcomes in different ways. In some courses, you may analyze and create memes, work on a countermapping project, or write a pop-sci article. In others, you may work with a community partner on a civic writing project or compose a multimedia research project about issues facing college students today.

Regardless of your course’s particular projects, all sections of ENG1100 provide you a chance to practice writing across genres and contexts, and encourage you to take creative approaches to writing about topics that interest you. The writing process, including giving and responding to feedback, is a central part of all ENG1100 courses at Elon.

Outcomes for ENG1100 Writing: Argument and Inquiry

The following outcomes are shared among all ENG1100 Writing: Argument and Inquiry courses at Elon University. Our goal as a program is to help students come to know and do the following through sustained practice.

All students in ENG1100, Writing: Argument and Inquiry, will

Engage with Writing as a Complex Process.

  1. Practice writing as a flexible and recursive process that includes brainstorming, drafting, revising, designing, proofing, and polishing over time.
  2. Collaborate with others in the writing process by co-creating knowledge, which includes giving and receiving feedback and composing texts collaboratively.
  3. Engage with writing as a process of discovery and risk-taking where one’s questions, strategies, and arguments evolve.

Develop the Agility to Write across Genres, using Multiple Media, for Various Audiences and Contexts.

  1. Analyze the rhetorical situation, including the relationship of rhetor, audience, context, and purpose.
  2. Compose, design, and adapt texts in a variety of genres, media, and styles to communicate effectively given the audience and context, which could include various academic disciplines as well as civic, public, professional, and/or personal contexts.
  3. Design media purposefully by considering ways to maximize accessibility and communicate to diverse audiences inclusively.

Examine How Communication Practices are Socially Situated.

  1. Identify how one’s own experiences and relationship with writing, as well as one’s race, gender, ethnicity, (dis)ability, sexual orientation, religion, class, nationality, and/or language background, influence approaches to communication.
  2. Question and critique cultural language biases and dominant language ideology, and develop appreciation for the value of multiple literacies and Englishes.

Conduct Research to Inquire, Argue, and Expand One’s Knowledge and Understanding.

  1. Seek out, analyze, and evaluate various kinds of sources–such as personal testimony, data, internet sources, and peer-reviewed research–that represent a variety of communicative approaches and perspectives.
  2. Read sources with curiosity, skepticism, and a willingness to expand and complicate one’s understanding.
  3. Synthesize information and evidence to develop hypotheses and/or stake claims; practice ethical source use, which includes citing sources appropriately and attributing ideas to their respective sources.
  4. Recognize the socio-political nature of information, including the positionality and expertise of its creators, where it is located, and how it is controlled.

Appreciate the Capacity of Writing to Change Oneself and the World.

  1. Practice metacognitive reflection about one’s own choices as a writer, and evaluate one’s own writing and writing practices in order to improve.
  2. Use writing as a tool to make personal connections that are meaningful to the author and to expand one’s and others’ awareness of local and global issues.
  3. Explore ways to use writing for civic engagement within and beyond the university; recognize ways that writing can be used to define, examine, debate, and solve problems.

 

Catalog Descriptions

ENG 1100. Writing: Argument and Inquiry (4 sh)

This first-year writing course prepares students to develop as writers through extensive practice in process strategies, argumentation, and research methods. Students will learn and apply rhetorical strategies to write effectively in print and electronic environments for a variety of audiences, and will learn to think, read, and write critically about significant issues in multiple contexts. A grade of “C-” or better required for graduation. Offered fall and spring.

ENG 1000. Supplemental Writing Workshop (4 sh)

This writing workshop focuses on invention, organization, drafting, revision and editing strategies. Its curriculum is tailored to support the work done in English 1100 so that the student has the best possible chance for success. Concurrent enrollment in English 1100 required. Elective credit only. Offered fall.

Course Placement for Incoming Students

All first-year students at Elon take ENG1100, Writing: Argument and Inquiry, in your first or second semester. ENG1100 supports your growth as a writer by teaching you ways to adapt your writing across contexts. Students who have credit for AP English Language and Composition (score of 4 or 5), and students who have approved transfer credit from another college or university, do not have to take ENG1100. Those are the only ways to “place out” of the course.

ENG1000, the Supplemental Writing Workshop, is a writing support class that is meant for individuals who struggle with writing or who might not have had much writing experience prior to starting at Elon. This course is taken during the fall semester, at the same time as ENG1100. Those who take ENG1000 will have the opportunity to develop your skills as a writer, practice strategies that can help you in your writing process, and build your confidence. ENG1000 is not remedial. It counts for 4 credit hours (like any other class), counts toward your GPA, and contributes toward hours earned for graduation. It is not part of the Elon Core Curriculum.

Incoming Elon students are asked to complete a short questionnaire over the summer to help you determine whether ENG1000 would be a good fit for you. The deadline to complete this questionnaire for Summer 2023 is May 24. Students who already have credit from an approved college or community college writing course, and those who have received a 4 or 5 on the AP English Language and Composition exam, do not need to complete the questionnaire.

Resources

All students are encouraged to visit Elon’s Writing Center. Writing consultants can help you with any stage of the writing process, from understanding an assignment, to planning and drafting, to revising, to editing. Sessions are up to 45 minutes long and you can schedule an appointment in advance.

The Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) is a useful resource for citation and style questions.

Contact

If you have additional questions about the First-Year Writing Program at Elon University after exploring these pages, please contact the First-Year Writing Coordinator. If you are an incoming first-year student and have questions about which course placement would be best for you based on your own prior experiences, please contact First Year Advising & Registration at fyar@elon.edu. If you are trying to determine whether your previous course(s) count for ENG1100 credit, please contact the Office of the Registrar.