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English Composition

(administered by the Sweetland Writing Center)

First-Year Writing Program (Introductory Compostion Requirement)

At the University of Michigan, writing will play a critical role in your thinking and learning, beginning with your first year. In some classes, your writing will be your most important tool for demonstrating that you understand course concepts. Your ability to write prose that, at its best, is characterized by intellectual force, clarity, appropriate organization and development of ideas, effective use of evidence, cogency, and stylistic control will be crucial to your success as a student here. Because writing plays such a vital role in all academic disciplines at Michigan, your first writing course must meet your actual needs as a writer so that you can successfully make the transition to college writing. The Introductory Composition Requirement should be completed in the first year.

All students entering the University must fulfill the Introductory Composition Requirement. They may do so by taking Writing Practicum and another first-year writing course, or by taking a first-year writing course alone. After meeting with an advisor or a Writing Workshop instructor, students decide which of these alternatives is better for them on the basis of a self-assessment.

ECB Writing Practicum is for students who choose the course as preparation for college writing. This is not a remedial course but is designed to support students with limited experience writing the sorts of pieces most often assigned and valued at the University. Practicum offers opportunities for students to improve how they organize, develop, and support ideas, analyze complex material, and deploy evidence in an argument. At the end of the course, students put together a portfolio which is read by two SWC instructors. Their written response acknowledges the student's level of achievement and readiness for first-year writing. Practicum is not graded but does earn two course credits. Class enrollment is limited to eighteen students. Courses meet two hours per week and students receive an additional half-hour of individual instruction every other week during conferences with their instructor. This concentrated individual attention has proven crucial to the success of students with limited writing experience.

Practicum is the best placement for you if:

You have limited experience with writing

You have limited experience with revision

You do not often read for pleasure

First-year writing courses are offered in a number of disciplines and cover a wide range of intriguing topics. They serve to introduce students to the kinds of argumentative and analytical writing most often required in an advanced academic context. Students regularly receive written and oral feedback from peers as well as from the course instructor. Class sessions are often devoted to workshops that focus on examples of student writing, and students typically receive responses from their peers to each essay they write. Students have one or more individual conferences with the instructor in the term, and instructors may require individual students to work with a Writing Workshop instructor on particular issues for all or part of the term.

First-Year Writing is the best placement for you if:

English 124

English 125

History 195

Lloyd Scholars 125

Slavic Survey 151

Students enrolled in first-year writing courses may receive concurrent writing assistance from the Sweetland Writing Center. For information, contact the Center in 1339 Angell Hall, (734) 764-0429.

The Upper-Level Writing Requirement provides students with valuable instruction in advanced writing in the disciplines. A student MUST have completed the Introductory Composition Requirement before being eligible to meet the Upper-Level Writing Requirement.

The Sweetland Writing Center establishes course guidelines, develops models for writing instruction, approves advanced writing in the disciplines courses, funds and trains GSIs to assist in advanced writing courses, offers workshops and seminars for faculty and GSIs, consults with individual instructors, supports upper-level teaching through Writing Workshop, and monitors and reports students’ completion of the requirement.

Once a student has satisfied the Introductory Composition Requirement he/she may elect a course that meets the Upper-Level Writing Requirement. When a student feels ready to complete this requirement, he/she makes a selection from a special list of courses that have been approved for that particular term. (Approved courses for each term are listed on-line at: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/saa/publications/courses.html.) Courses that meet this requirement are offered each term by most departments. While a few departments require that their students take a course in their concentration to satisfy this requirement, most allow students a free choice. Many students, however, prefer to elect a course in their concentration. For instance, a biology concentrator can select "Writing for Biologists," a history of art concentrator can take a course such as "Painting and Poetry in China," and a political science concentrator can take "Courts, Politics and Society." The course selected must be on the list of those that satisfy the Upper-Level Writing Requirement for the term in which the student elects it.