First-Year Writing (ENG 101) or "Foundations of Writing & Rhetoric" is a process writing course. Students in this course approach writing as a subject of study by investigating how writing works across a variety of contexts. Most Minnesota State Mankato students take this course during their first two years of college. As a matter of best practice, we strongly encourage students to take ENG 101 during their first two semesters.
In this course, you will investigate how writing works by:
Increasing genre awareness, rhetorical knowledge, and use of multimodalities.
Exploring language variation and multiliteracies by context.
Developing information literacy through primary and secondary research.
Reflecting on writing processes and labor.
Collaborating to create and revise texts.
You should have access to the following materials to succeed in this course:
A solid internet connection. While we will be meeting in person, the majority of your work is accessed on D2L and will need to be completed online. Remember to utilize the library if you need to access computers or wifi!
A Google account to use Google Drive and Google Docs. I prefer using Google for work as it's easier to track changes and make comments on others' work. If you already have a Google account you use, great! If not, you'll need to set one up.
Analog methods for notetaking in class (such as notebooks, index cards, loose sheets of paper). It is a proven fact that handwriting boosts memory and learning. Of course, digital note-taking is fine, but I recommend always having a notebook in your backpack for any class use.
Access to your MavMail account. The primary way I'll communicate outside of class is with MavMail. Make sure you know how to log in, check emails, and send emails.
D2L Brightspace Mobile App. This is useful for checking announcements, grades, and other things in our online class portal.
A word-processing software such as Microsoft Word (for proofreading and editing). While I'm use only Google, Microsoft Word is great for proofreading and editing. You can use Microsoft Office for free with your MSU information. Isn't it great?
Pens and highlighters for annotating. Sometimes we will do in-class annotating practice with physical copies. Make sure you have the tools to take notes and annotate!
There is no assigned textbook for this course. Rather, your assigned readings will be provided for you on the course’s D2L site. At a glance, our readings will primarily come from the following sources:
There's a podcast for this textbook! Check this out if you'd like to listen to the chapters as well as read a physical copy. Bad Ideas about Writing | Podcast