Sunday, October 23, 2011

English Language And Composition Classes - A Common Freshman Experience

Upon arrival to the new world of secondary education, college freshmen have a vast array of courses, dreams and desires that line their schedules for their academic time and their free time. All students who enter college have one specific item in common - no matter who they are or where they come from, all students must pass English Composition.

English Composition courses are packaged in many different titles such as "Freshman English", "ENG 101", "Intro to Writing", etc. What's inside the packaging of the courses is very similar - there is less of an emphasis on learning the academic process of analyzing literature and more of a focus on crafting writing that is proper, academic and collegiate. In these composition classes there is a specific emphasis on writing prose.

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The first part of an English Comp course is usually an introduction to the writing process. What's known as the writing process is usually taught as everything from brainstorming to the final draft. There are different forms of writing covered as well; mostly the styles covered are narrative and expository. Some professors will focus on certain parts of the essay, such as the introduction.

The writing process is defined by many professors as the stages of writing beginning with brainstorming and ending with submission of a final draft. Professors have a variety of ways of teaching how to brainstorm - some like the idea of web organizers for example. The next step taught is drafting; many professors like to work with students on upgrading their diction in this area. Afterwards the red pens come out for revision, concluding with the submission of the final draft.

The two types of prose studied in these classes are usually narrative and expository. Most students feel great ease using the narrative style as for most people it's easy to tell a story. Professors mostly focus on organization in this style as detailed writing is easy to come by in the narrative form. Expository writing is simply non-personal writing on a topic or idea. Usually professors are on a quest to get more details from their students as the details are not as easy found as they are in the narrative style.

The components of an essay are important to the process of learning to write and professors certainly take their time to focus efforts on expanding the knowledge base. The components of an essay are simple - the introduction, body and conclusion. Students are taught that the introduction, or thesis, is vitally important. The easiest component to learn is the conclusion as that is taught as restating the thesis, while the body paragraphs provide the meat of the essay - the juicy details proving the thesis.

There isn't much emphasis on literature in English Composition. Usually there will be minor reading, but mostly to learn the technique of writing. There is rarely poetry involved in a composition class.

English Language And Composition Classes - A Common Freshman Experience

In conclusion, English language and composition is the common thread of the freshman experience. The skills taught in this class are so essential to a good collegiate experience that it is becoming more common to have it offered as a free college course these days. Students will leave English Comp classes with a better knowledge of how to write, a step on the way to success.

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