English 110-College Composition I

 

English 110-College Composition I, teaches—and demands that students actively practice—the skills and conventions associated with academic reading and writing. With its emphasis on 3 to 4 complex and interdisciplinary readings a semester (readings that continue to shape current thought in the academy), the course challenges students to practice the sophisticated rhetorical skills that are commonly associated with a liberal education. Students, as they respond in writing to these readings, are given written assignments that provide practice in analysis, synthesis, and the application of critical paradigms. In service of these critical skills, students are introduced to specific writing strategies: how to give a written project focus; how to articulate a controlling idea; how to make claims, and how to develop them and support them with evidence; how to respond to and work with sources; how to cite and document sources according to MLA standards (with an understanding that other disciplines use other documentation styles); how to frame a written project, with organization and transitions, in a manner that helps readers understand.

English 110 proves to be academically demanding for many students; they are being asked to think, write, and read in new ways. The second semester of Composition is thus designed to build on and extend what students have learned in this first semester. As students become more accustomed to the demands of college-level writing, they are able to work on practicing and improving the many skills introduced in Composition I and are able to pay additional attention to polishing their writing for an audience.

New English Placement Requirements:

The North Dakota State Board of Higher Education has recently adopted Policy 402.1.2, Student Placement into College Courses.  Beginning in the Fall of 2012, ACT/SAT subscores in English will be used for placement purposes into English 110 (College Composition).

According to this policy, students with an ACT English sub-test score of 18 or higher are deemed college ready and may enroll in English 110. Students with ACT English subtest scores of 14-17 may take ENGL 110 if also co-enrolled in the newly created developmental English course, ENGL 100 (Individualized Instruction in College Composition, for 1 credit). Students with an English subtest score less than 14 must complete the newly created developmental English 95 (Introduction to Academic Writing, for 3 credits), prior to taking ENGL 110.

Students with an SAT Writing subscore of 430 or greater would allow them to enroll in ENGL 110. An SAT Writing score of 360-410 would require a student to enroll in the newly created developmental ENGL 100 along with English 110. An SAT Writing score below 360 would require a student to enroll in developmental ENGL 95 prior to enrollment in ENGL 110.

If you did not need to supply an ACT or SAT score for admission to UND, you will need to take the COMPASS assessment for placement purposes into English. The COMPASS assessment will be available at the UND Testing Center, or can be taken at a remote location found at the following website http://www.act.org/compass/sites/index.html.

Please work closely with your academic advisor to determine placement into the appropriate course(s).