A key part of our educational mission at Grand Valley is to help you develop the communication skills needed in your future profession, whether that profession is engineering, accounting, nursing, physical therapy, graphic design, or any of the other dozens of majors we have to offer.

As a Grand Valley student you will write, both formally and informally, in the majority of your classes. At least three of your required classes will include a significant amount of writing instruction: Writing 150 (freshman composition) and two Supplemental Writing Skills (SWS) classes, usually taken after the freshman year. All students are also required to fulfill the junior-level writing requirement either by writing a passing two-hour essay or by taking Writing 305, a course introducing students to writing in specific academic disciplines. The overall aim of the writing program is to help you succeed in your college courses and ultimately graduate from Grand Valley as a fluent, confident, versatile writer.

Your first step is to select the freshman composition course that best suits your needs and abilities.

Writing 150

Grand Valley students may begin in either of two writing classes: Writing 098, a preparatory class that offers no credit toward graduation, or Writing 150, a four-credit class focusing on academic writing, with a special emphasis on research-based writing. Half of all WRT 150 class meetings take place in a computer classroom, where students use PCs in all phases of the writing process. As well as being equipped with current word processing and spreadsheet software, each computer is connected to the library, the Internet, and electronic mail. In WRT 150, students typically write five four-to-six page essays, at least two of which involve research.

You should think carefully about which class is right for you. Some students are prepared to meet the goals of freshman composition in a single term, while others need two terms or more of practice and instruction before they are ready to move on to the writing demands of upper-level classes. In any case, you must earn a "C" or better in WRT 150 in order to satisfy the freshman composition requirement, and in order to earn the "C," you must demonstrate a variety of abilities.

• read and discuss challenging material
• summarize and analyze what you've read
• develop brainstorming and planning techniques for writing
• conduct library research at the planning, drafting, and revising stages of writing
• participate in writing workshops and conferences
• write essays that establish and maintain a single focus or thesis
• develop your ideas with details, examples, and discussions
• use transitions and other devices to lead readers through your essays
• cite and integrate the ideas and information of others into your writing
• use style, tone, and sentence structure for strategic effect
• format and edit your writing to conform to standard academic conventions 

A Typical Course Sequence

Should I Take Writing 150?

GENERALLY speaking, you are well-prepared for WRT 150 if you have done quite a bit of reading and writing in high school. WRT 150 instructors will assume that you can read, summarize, and analyze published material from magazines, newspapers, books, and scholarly journals. They will also assume that you have written a variety of essays in a variety of forms, including narrative, descriptive, and persuasive writing. Here is a checklist of general characteristics that should help you decide if you are ready for WRT 150:
   

In high school, I wrote several essays per year

In the past year, I have read books for my own enjoyment

In high school, I wrote several essays per year

My high school GPA placed me in the top third of my class

I have used computers for drafting and revising essays

My ACT-Writing score was above 20

I consider myself a good reader and writer

Should I Take Writing 098?

IF you would not use the characteristics listed under "Should I Take Writing 150?" to describe yourself, or if you don't consider yourself a particularly strong reader or writer, you may want to consider taking WRT 098 before WRT 150. In WRT 098, you will focus on writing with a purpose-that is, writing in specific ways to reach specific audiences. You will write often-in order to develop comfort and fluency as a writer. And you will work on mastering the conventions of standard written Writing-spelling, grammar, punctuation, and usage. Here is a list of general characteristics that may indicate that WRT 098 is best for you:
 

Generally, I don't read when I don't have to

In high school, I did not do much writing

My high school GPA was about average

I'm unsure about the rules of writing-commas, apostrophes, and so forth

I've used computers, but not often for writing and revising

My ACT-Writing score was below 20

I don't think of myself as a strong writer

IN WRT 098, you will read successful samples of essays written by professionals and by other students. In a typical class, you will write five or six short essays-about two to three pages each. You may cite some of the essays you have read or people you have interviewed, but generally you will not write research-based essays. Indeed, the purpose of WRT 098 is to give you the confidence, organization, and command necessary to write the research-based essays demanded in WRT 150 and beyond.

The Writing Center

Library Skills

IN WRT 150, you will be introduced to the university library through a Research Skills Instruction Video and a written assignment called the Library Research Profile, in which you will begin researching a topic for a research-based essay. As a college student, you will use many different kinds of documents: books, of course, but also specialized encyclopedias, government publications, scholarly journals, and magazines and newspapers. In order to find information in these documents, you must become familiar with our various print indexes, our on-line catalogue, and our CD-ROM databases. The library skills you develop in your freshman year are crucial to your success in the classes you take in your sophomore, junior, and senior years.

The Writing Portfolio

A "portfolio" is simply a collection of work. Many professionals use portfolios to show other people what they are capable of producing. In WRT 150, the majority of your final grade will be based on a portfolio of three finished pieces of writing that will represent your capabilities as a writer by the end of the term. You will choose the three essays from your semester's work. Each portfolio is read and evaluated by at least two WRT 150 teachers. As faculty members, they represent the academic audience for which you'll be writing in college. Because you need to create papers that capture and hold the attention of college-educated readers, that present focused and supported ideas that challenge the intellect of such readers, and that conform to the general conventions of academic writing, we feel that basing final grades on the judgment of more than one teacher is the most reliable way to evaluate student performance. You will get more details about this grading system on the first day of class.

What to Expect on the First Day

IN both WRT 098 and WRT 150, you will be asked to write a brief essay on the first day of class. Your teacher will read the essay as an indication of your writing abilities and let you know whether he or she feels you are beginning at the appropriate level. On the advice of your teacher, you will have the opportunity to switch from WRT 098 to WRT 150, or vice versa, during the first week of classes. The final decision is yours, but your teacher will be able to help you assess your writing in relation to course goals and the abilities of other entering freshmen.

FROM now until the first day of class, you can do some general preparation to ensure that the first-day writing sample is indeed representative of your abilities. Most likely, you will be asked to write about a topic of general interest or of particular interest to you personally. That is, you will be able to use your own thoughts, experiences, and observations as support for the claims and ideas you present in the essay. You might begin your general preparation by discussing "in-class writing" with one of your past or current writing teachers. What strategies are most effective in such writing situations? What basic features should your essay include? You might also review your notes or textbooks from the writing classes you have had. Other than that, just try to be well-rested and ready to write on the first day of class.
 

Still Unsure?

If you are still unsure about which Writing course to take, talk with your academic adviser during orientation, or call Dan Royer at 895-3405. We will be happy to help you make the decision that is right for you.

Writing Department
107 Lake Superior Hall
Grand Valley State University
Allendale, MI 49401