instructor: Jentery Sayers ~ classroom: social work/speech building b010 ~ MTWTh: 9:40-10:40

Welcome to English 131, Composition: Exposition! 

Thanks! But what is it?

English 131 is not a grammar or literature course.  It is about writing as a process through which you engage and interact with the world.  You already have writing skills.  In English 131, you will develop them and even learn a few more.  Designed to prepare you for making, examining, and refining arguments at the university level, English 131 makes your writing matter in various contexts and gives you confidence as a writer.   

English 131 is not geared specifically toward the English major.  Rather, English 131 helps you establish a voice in academic discourse.  Together, we will investigate the subtle differences between disciplines; why genre, audience, and context are integral to writing; and, perhaps most importantly, how you can transfer the writing skills and habits you learn in English 131 to the major that you ultimately choose or have already chosen.    

We will explore a variety of media – from popular culture to theory, fiction to film, social spaces to everyday objects, blogs to music – through exciting, diverse, and creative ways.  Yet you will not be asked to “master” the course material.  Instead, you will be asked to write and revise often, at least three pages per week.  Through your writing you will be actively involved in a quarter-long inquiry that might include some nervousness and frustration, but also some really good questions, some convincing and sophisticated analyses, and some fun times. 

Why English 131?

None of us is a writing robot.  Writing is a learned skill. 

By the end of the quarter, you should be able to:

• Produce complex, analytic, persuasive arguments that matter in academic contexts.
• Read, analyze, and synthesize complex texts and incorporate multiple kinds of evidence purposefully in order to generate and support writing. 
• Demonstrate an awareness of the strategies that writers use in different writing contexts.
• Develop flexible strategies for revising, editing, and proofreading writing.

The four bullets above are otherwise known as the “course outcomes ,” and we will be referring to them throughout the quarter.  No worries, though.  You are not expected to immediately understand or perfect them.  Again, English 131 is a process, and at the same time, it is a course about why writing as a process is important.

   uw english | jentery at u.washington.edu