Improvement in the level of writing ability is an equally significant and fundamental educational outcome of first-year English. Writing competencies include grammatical, constructional, organizational, and rhetorical skills, skills that are directly associated with the general growth of linguistic sensitivity. All four of these writing skills have their counterparts in reading. Similarly, examining how a professional writer has constructed a paragraph, or chosen an organizational strategy that provides a satisfying sense of completion, or selected the most appropriate words for a given purpose and audience, contributes directly to students' knowledge of how to perform such operations in their own writing. In practical terms, students review, practice, and advance their knowledge of punctuation, diction, sentence structure, paragraph development, and organizational strategies through the completion of appropriate exercises and the writing of essays, letters, and reports of varying lengths and complexity.
Students usually generate most of their home assignments on computer.
To ensure independence and authenticity of work, students handwrite several of their papers in class. Note that the grade definitions indicate the degree to which the students have mastered the educational and learning outcomes. While the educational outcomes are the same for all students, actual student performance varies considerably. The different letter-grades reflect these variations. It is hoped that students with somewhat weaker skills may benefit from a concentration on those skills in the first semester.