College Writing Placement Assessment

Introduction to College Writing is a workshop-based course designed to support students with the transition from high school to college writing expectations. Instruction and support are focused on developing and practicing the essential skills of active reading, analytical writing, and critical thinking at the college level. Instructors provide extensive feedback on assignments, helping students gain more confidence in their ideas, craft solid arguments, address sentence structure and grammar, What and develop their writing process as a whole.

You must complete the College Writing Placement Assessment to see if you would benefit from enrolling in an introductory writing course rather than a writing course offered in the cornerstone program.

No, it is not. You will be asked to complete a survey about your high school writing habits and write one to two paragraphs in response to a brief prompt. This information will be reviewed by writing instructors and will help us determine if you should enroll in an introductory writing course.

There are two types of first-year writing seminars: the Introduction to College Writing course and the cornerstone first-year seminars, which are taught within the disciplines of English, history, religious studies, or philosophy.

Introduction to College Writing is a workshop-based course designed to support students with the transition from high school to college writing expectations. Instruction and support are focused on developing and practicing the essential skills of active reading, analytical writing, and critical thinking at the college level. Instructors provide extensive feedback on assignments, helping students gain more confidence in their ideas, craft solid arguments, address sentence structure and grammar, and develop their writing process as a whole.

Cornerstone first-year seminars are taught within the disciplines of English, history, religious studies, or philosophy and focus on content, with the expectation that students can manage substantial reading, writing, and research tasks from the first day of class. 

All first-year writing courses fulfill the First-Year Seminar requirement.

However, Cornerstone courses in the disciplines of English, history, religious studies, or philosophy fulfill an additional Cornerstone requirement.

Ultimately, yes. However, if we have recommended that you enroll in Introduction to College Writing, we have done so after careful consideration of your high school experience, survey responses, and writing sample.

There is no disciplinary knowledge required, no quizzes or exams. The focus of the class is to improve your writing skills. All writing assignments will be staged, meaning the faculty member will assign deadlines for different components and provide feedback before a grade is assigned. Students typically choose their own topics for writing assignments and there is no expectation for students to manage substantial reading and research in addition to their writing assignments. The goal of this class is to give students a strong foundation for the complex reading and writing assignments to follow in the general education program.

Yes! Every faculty member holds office hours, when you can drop-in to discuss your work in their class. There is also peer and professional writing tutoring available through Tutoring Services.