Kingsborough Community College
The City University of New York

ENG W1: Intensive Writing 1 - 0 credits, 2 hours

Course Coordinators: Dr. Matthew Gartner, Dr. Gene McQuillan, Dr. Robert Singer

Catalog Description: ENG W1 is strongly recommended for students during the first semester in which they are enrolled in a College Now credit-bearing course. Students develop writing portfolios based on a variety of interdisciplinary freshman-level reading assignments. At the conclusion of the course, students will have developed the critical thinking and writing skills needed to excel on college placement exams.

College Now Description: ENG W1 helps students add more clarity and power to their writing. Through the development of writing portfolios based on freshman-level reading assignments, students acquire a repertoire of techiques needed to excel on college placement writing exams and in College Now credit courses. The course is highly recommended for all students as a way to practice honing their unique writing styles. In some schools, it is required for students during the first semester in which they are enrolled in a College Now credit-bearing course.

Explanation: ENG W1 is designed to strengthen high school students' abilities in reading and writing to meet and exceed college freshman-level course and testing requirements. It develops critical thinking and writing skills based on its specialized, interdisciplinary curriculum, Science at the Core.

Course Objectives: At the conclusion of ENG W1, students will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate the ability to write coherent, college-level essays, and write with fluency on topics drawn from typical freshman-year courses, particularly, in the area of science.
  2. Employ self/peer/teacher revision via the use of multiple drafts for essay assignments in order to develop portfolios demonstrating a college freshman-level of writing proficiency.
  3. Develop thinking skills for broad intellectual discussion and close textual analysis of challenging college-level material.
  4. Develop testing strategies for college proficiency exams that require writing in content areas.

Methods of Teaching: The method of teaching ENG W1 sections will involve individual instruction, group work, some lectures, and demonstrations of the science-based curriculum.

Assignments: Reading assignments: chapters from the especially prepared College Now text, Science at the Core, along with the support material contained in the text, and other supplementary reading sources. Writing assignments: writing and revising 4-6 college-level, text-based essays, and shorter writing assignments. Journals should also be encouraged. All assignments should foster a sense of accomplishment through revision via multiple drafts.

Method of Evaluation: The students will be evaluated in terms of their development toward being prepared to take college freshman-level writing courses for credit. Holistic grading by other students and the instructor is a typical procedure, with work kept in portfolios. The comments on each paper should be informative, detailed, and supportive. Students will be evaluated by classwork, the portfolio, and the instructor's final examination.

Reading Resources:

A. Required:

  1. Science at the Core (note: this interdisciplinary text has been prepared by the College Now English Course Coordinators in collaboration with the College Now high school English faculty)
  2. Newsweek (a number will be ordered for each classroom)

B. Recommended: (note: text subject to availability)

  1. Adams, W. Royce. Viewpoints. D.C. Heath, 1989. Multicultural readings with comprehension questions.
  2. Columbo, Gary. Rereading America. St. Martin's Press, 1989. Multicultural readings with comprehensive questions.
  3. Comely, Nancy. Fields of Writing. St. Martin's Press, 1987. Essays, fiction, and comprehension questions.
  4. Divakaruni, Chitra B. Multitude: McGraw Hill, 1993, Multicultural readings with comprehensive questions.
  5. Eschholz, Paul. Outlooks and Insights. St. Martin's Press, 1987. Multicultural readings with comprehensive questions.
  6. Fawcett, Susan (ed.). Evergreen. Houghton Mifflin, 1992. Writing/grammar review.
  7. Tyner, Thomas E. Writing Voyage. Wadsworth Pub., 1988. Readings with comprehension questions, some grammar.
  8. CUNY ACT, RAT and WAT samples.