The Cabrini College First-Year Writing Program supports the academic mission of the college by helping students to:

• Use reading and writing to become more critical thinkers;
• Enlarge the scope of their rhetorical knowledge (i.e., to understand how writing genres shape communication);
• Develop a mastery of writing conventions;
• Appreciate the importance of process (drafting, editing, and revision) to the development of successful texts; and
• Develop the ability to effectively assess the quality of their own work and others'.

To these ends, our first-year writing courses emphasize:

• The use of reading and writing as critical thinking tools;
• The importance of addressing the expectations of specific audiences;
• The control of such writing features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling;
• The opportunity to revise extensively; and
• The opportunity to critique one's own writing and others'.

Depending on their ability, incoming first-year students will be enrolled in ENG 100 (English Composition Lab), ENG 101 (English Composition), or both courses in the fall semester.  Upon successful completion of both courses, students will then enroll in SEM 100 (Self-Understanding) in the spring.  Completion of ENG 101 and SEM 100 fulfills the requirement for the college Writing Competency.  (Note: Honors students will enroll in Honors sections of SEM 100 in the fall semester.  Completion of this 3cr. course fulfills the Honors competency requirement.)

Individual English Composition classes are theme-based and titled accordingly (e.g., Writing About Evolution, Writing About Sports and Society).  The range of subjects covered ensures that every student should find a topic interesting to them.  Students assigned to a remedial lab will have the opportunity to work more intensively with their 101 instructor to ensure their success in the 101 course.  All sections of ENG 101 and SEM 100 require a minimum of three major essay assignments students will submit in portfolio form at the end of the term.  The assignment sequence (a personal, expository, and argumentative essay) will be evaluated according to a common rubric used by all faculty teaching these courses.

At Cabrini, we want you, our students, to write with clarity, confidence, and creativity. We want you to use writing to think critically and to reason convincingly about issues that are important to you and your work as an undergraduate. These abilities are crucial to your academic success and will facilitate the professional ends you seek.