May 1, 2006
Dear Student:
On behalf of the Writing Program at
As you know, almost every college has a first-year writing
requirement, and students are placed into different courses based on their
ability. At some colleges, SAT Verbal
scores or a timed essay exam determines which course a student takes in their
first semester. At
Every student needs to complete EN 101: College Writing with a C or higher, but some students feel that they are not quite ready to dive right into college-level academic writing. For those students, we have a Pass / Fail course called EN 100: Developmental Writing. Students who take EN 100 in the fall then take EN 101 in the spring. Basically, you need to decide whether you want to take EN 100 or EN 101 as your first course.
Before making your decision, you need to visit the New Student Orientation website at http://blackboard.dwc.edu. Once there, click on the “Writing Placement” button to the left side of the screen and follow these steps:
1. Take the Grammar Diagnostic.
2. Listen to the Macromedia Breeze presentation on Writing Placement.
3. Examine the sample A and B student papers.
4. Lastly, follow the steps for registering for your writing course.
If you are still unsure about which writing course suits you, you can post your question on the “Writing Program Self-Placement” forum on the Discussion Board section of the website. You can also request a consultation with me during New Student Orientation.
Once again, congratulations on your acceptance to
Sincerely,
Writing Program Director
Associate Professor of Humanities
(603) 577-6412