Writing Courses
Academic Learning Skills offers credit writing courses to prepare students for WR115 and WR121. Writing assignments in these classes help students prepare for assignments that are part of degree and certificate programs in both career-technical and transfer programs.
Writing Review Materials Online
Before you take your writing placement tests, brush up and refresh your grammar skills with free grammar review materials online that:
- you can use to review before taking writing placement tests
- you can use while taking more advanced writing courses to sharpen your skills or for review
- you can use to review or learn and apply in writing in any context
Try them yourself, here:
See the term schedule of classes for a list of available courses or the online catalog for full course descriptions.
ALS writing sequence: WR087 and EL113W/WR097
WR087 English Grammar and Paragraph Writing (6 developmental credits)This course integrates English grammar, paragraph writing, and readings. Students will develop their ability to write standard English sentences that demonstrate a mastery of grammatical concepts while learning about and using the writing process. Students will also demonstrate control and understanding of the writing process: generate and organize ideas, write drafts, revise, and edit paragraphs. In addition, students will practice paragraph structures, development of ideas in a paragraph, and sentence editing and revision. Course activities may be enhanced through conferences, workshops, and/or online modules.
EL113W/WR097: Each WR097 section is connected to an EL113W section. When students register, they will be prompted to register for a specific pair of classes.
EL113W Connections: Specific Study Skills (3 credits, transferrable as an elective)
Corequisite: WR097. Students will develop and strengthen their critical reading, thinking, and writing skills. Together, EL113W and WR097 integrate these skills to prepare students for college-level writing.
WR097 Introduction to Essay Writing (3 developmental credits)
Corequisite: EL113W. This course introduces students to essay writing and prepares students for WR115. Students will demonstrate control and understanding of the writing process: generate and organize ideas, write drafts, revise, and edit paragraphs and multi-paragraph essays. Students will learn to recognize and correct grammatical errors in their writing. Course activities may be enhanced through conferences, workshops, and/or online modules.
How will this course structure benefit students?
Instead of the three-term sequence of WR080-WR090-WR095 for 13 credits offered before 2014-15, ALS now offers a 2-term sequence of WR087 and WR097/EL113W for a total of 9 developmental credits and 3 college transfer credits. (Some students will need just WR097/EL113W)
Students can now reach their program level WR115 or WR121 in fewer terms and with fewer developmental credits.
What about students who have already passed WR080 and/or WR090?
Students who successfully completed WR080 and/or WR090, by the end of Summer 2014, move directly into WR097 with co-requisite EL113W.
What writing classes were offered in ALS through Summer 2014 before the new course sequence?
WR 080 English Grammar and Sentence Writing
Students will learn about parts of speech, subject/verb agreement, pronoun/antecedent agreement, and basic sentence patterns. Also, students will study sentence types, standard punctuation, and rules of capitalization. Students will develop their ability to write standard English sentences that will demonstrate their mastery of these concepts.
WR 090 Paragraph Writing
Students will learn a process for writing and revising basic expository paragraphs. In addition, students will practice paragraph structures, development of ideas in a paragraph, and sentence improvement. Students will submit final drafts tryped and printed from a computer.
WR 095 College Writing Fundamentals
Students will demonstrate control and understanding of the writing process: generate and organize ideas, write drafts, revise and edit paragraphs and multi-paragraph essays. Students will also use critical reading skills to analyze essays and improve their own writing. Students will produce writing that reflects knowledge of advanced grammar skills. Students will submit final drafts typed and printed from a computer. Course activities may be enhanced through an extended workshop setting, an online module, or a service learning component.