Our Courses

Writing Coursework

In order to help students succeed with the intellectual tasks ahead, the First-Year Writing Program at UNO offers a curriculum that gives students practice reading, discussing, and writing about challeng­ing texts.

You're beginning a study of writing that typically includes three courses: Composition I, Composition II, and a writing course in your major field. This does not mean that you will learn everything you need to know about writing by finals week of that third course.

Com­position courses lay a foundation that you will build on throughout your undergraduate years and, if you're fortunate enough to be pre­sented with continuing intellectual challenges, throughout your life.

English 1150: Composition I

Composition I students read and write about ideas and issues that de­mand discussion. Typically, the course is arranged in three to four units, each of them moving through a set of assigned texts, classroom discus­sions, invention exercises, and short, lower-stakes writing assignments. Each unit culminates in a four to five-page essay that is submitted in draft and final form, demonstrating a history of changes and challenges and an evolution of thought and sophistication.

Whether the instructor assigns a personal narrative, textual analysis, or research-based project, all of the assignments will be informed by critical reading and think­ing. Whatever the themes and assignments chosen, all work in the course will provide you opportunities to practice strategies for reading, analysis, writing, and revising.

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• Close reading
• Active listening
• Summarizing a text
• Critically interpreting and evaluating a text
• Integrating (paraphrasing, quoting, and acknowledging) materials from other texts
• Evaluating  other writers' drafts, giving feedback in appropriate ways
• Revising written work using the feedback of fellow writers
• Sentence-level editing and proofreading

The ability to write papers with these characteristics:

• A clear thesis
• A clear, reader-friendly structure
• Thorough, thoughtful, honest exploration of ideas
• Clear, varied, well-constructed  sentences
• Usage and mechanics conforming with standard edited English

A generative conception of writing as:

• A complex, recursive process involving prewriting, drafting, sub­stantive revision, and editing
• A means to explore, evaluate, and communicate ideas, using one's own writing to challenge and/or extend the thinking of others
• Communication addressed to a particular audience and governed by a particular set of purposes
• A conversation with a community of thinkers about an idea that matters

English 1160: Composition  II

Composition II focuses on formal, academic argumentation and re­search. This is an intense course, requiring a commitment of time, fo­cus, and stamina. Composition II students write longer papers (typi­cally, two papers of four to five pages and one of 10-12 pages), incorporating material from print and online sources into an extended argument. In addition to longer page requirements and greater responsibilities, however, the course also offers students opportunities to follow and develop their own interests; students typically select their own topics. 

Improved proficiency in these skills:

• Close reading, summary, and analysis of other writers' texts
• Active listening
• Navigating the college library
• Locating and evaluating print and online information
• Analyzing arguments in other writers' texts
• Crafting well-informed, carefully reasoned  arguments
• Evaluating other writers' drafts, giving feedback in appropriate ways
• Revising written work using the feedback of fellow writers
• Sentence-level editing and proofreading

The ability to write papers with these characteristics:

• A clear thesis defended by a well-reasoned argument
• A clear, reader-friendly structure
• Thorough, thoughtful, honest exploration of ideas
• Clear, varied, well-constructed  sentences
• Usage and mechanics conforming with standard edited English
• Effective introduction and integration of sources
• Appropriate citation of sources using MLA and/or APA documentation format

A generative conception of writing as:

• A complex, recursive process involving prewriting, drafting, sub­stantive revision, and editing
• A means to explore, evaluate, and communicate ideas, using one's own writing to challenge and/or extend the thinking of others
• Communication addressed to a particular audience and governed by a particular set of purposes
• A conversation with a community of thinkers about an idea that matters

Advanced Writing

In most majors at UNO, students are required to take a third course that emphasizes the writing practices of a particular discipline, focusing on the ways that chemists, for example, report the results of experiments or social workers write case histories. Your work in Composition I and II will prepare you to meet the writing challenges of upper-level courses with confidence.

Engl 1090 (ESL I)

This class is a writing course that will help students learn about the nature of the academic essay in American university settings by first beginning with paragraph development; it is intended to help students whose language of nurture is not English to prepare for English 1100 (ESL II).  The varied backgrounds of the students - international students, naturalized citizens or U.S.-born citizens – create a diverse language setting that might not be found in any other classroom on campus.  Realizing those language variances while clearly advancing English language abilities is addressed through all five language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing and cultural knowledge. Because this is a writing class, however, emphasis is placed on acquiring strong writing skills, developing papers with a clear thesis, logical structure, and cohesive, well-developed paragraphs, and writing clear sentences with usage and mechanics conforming to Standard Edited English.   The course includes discussion of the purposes and processes of academic writing.

 Engl 1100 (ESL II)

This class is a course that will help students learn about the nature of the academic essay in American university settings; it is intended to help students whose language of nurture is not English, yet show competent language skills, to prepare for the English composition sequence. The varied backgrounds of the students - international students, naturalized citizens or U.S.-born citizens – create a diverse language setting that might not be found in any other classroom on campus.  Realizing those language variances while clearly advancing English language abilities is addressed through all five language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing and cultural knowledge. Because this is a writing class, however, emphasis is placed on acquiring strong writing skills, developing papers with a clear thesis, logical structure, and cohesive, well-developed paragraphs, and writing clear sentences with usage and mechanics conforming to Standard Edited English.   The course includes discussion of the purposes and processes of academic writing.   ​