About the First Year Writing Program

What we teach
As part of the LAS Core program, all students are required to take 52-1151, English Writing and Rhetoric I and 52-1152, English Writing  Rhetoric II. English Writing and Rhetoric I takes students from expressive to informative writing, from the personal to the public. In English Writing & Rhetoric II, students write a series of argumentative papers with documented sources. Students are encouraged to develop topics that build bridges between their writing and rhetoric course and the area of the arts/communications that brought them to Columbia. 

How we teach
These courses are taught by the process approach to writing and rhetoric. The process approach emphasizes revision and not product. Most time and energy will be spent on revising drafts of works-in-progress. In a workshop environment, students focus on writing strategies that can be used in a variety of situations, not on rules that are rigid and limited in application. For example, the emphasis is on enabling writers to analyze the needs of any given rhetorical situation, to focus on role, audience, and purpose, not on providing formulas for organization such as comparison/contrast or definition. The classes are student-centered. This means there are generally no lectures, although your teacher will certainly introduce and explain material, concepts and assignments. But most class time is spent creating text, revising, conferencing, and using small group work for revising, editing, and proofreading. Students keep their writing in a portfolio for end-of-the-semester evaluation.