Students must complete Expository Writing and Writing in the Discipline in order to fulfill graduation requirements. Students must take a writing placement test to determine the level of writing that best represents their skills. Depending on the results of the placement test, students may be required to take preparatory courses in advance of the Expository Writing Requirement. This means that many students take up to 4 semesters of English writing, which prepares them for graduate studies and careers in international industry and research.
Writing courses include the following:
- EAD I (01:356:155). This is a 4-credit course that meets 3 times a week and counts towards your Grade Point Average. It introduces non-native English and bilingual speakers to critical reading and writing, helping to develop students’ ability to verbally conceptualize and articulate complex academic arguments in English. Students will also learn how to respond critically to and make connections between different texts they read.
- EAD II (01:356:156). Just like EAD1, this is a 4-credit course that meets three times a week and counts towards your Grade Point Average. This course strengthens the skills learned in EAD I. Students will learn to revise their papers as well as focus on critical reading skills in order to practice complex intellectual academic discourse and academic integrity.
- Basic Composition with Reading or Grammar (01:355:100R/G). This is a credit-bearing course which is meant to prepare students in critical reading and writing in order to succeed at Rutgers and in Expository Writing. Students may be placed in 100, 100R, or 100G which determines how many credits this course bears for them. At the end of this course, students will be able to compose a clear, well-thought 5–6 page paper with original ideas which reflect their comprehension of complex texts. Students will be able to analyze a paper and improve their own writing skills at the sentence, paragraph, and paper level.
- Expository Writing 1 (01:355:101). Often referred to as “Expos”, this is a mandatory course for all Rutgers-New Brunswick students in order to give them the necessary writing skills to be successful for the rest of their academic careers and in their professional lives. The three fundamental activities students will work on in this course are: reading articles, reports, or books intended for an educated audience; making connections among multiple sources; and using this knowledge to develop an independent thesis that responds to the ideas of others. This course will develop critical thinking skills needed to not only read and interpret, but also to respond to ideas and problems with original opinions. Students will receive credit based on their scores from five five-page papers throughout the course.
- One 3-credit Discipline-Based Writing and Communication requirement. This course builds upon all of the students’ previous writing skills and teaches them to communicate effectively within their discipline or area of inquiry. Students will be able to critically assess and cite sources correctly, according to the standards of their discipline. They will also be able to make connections between sources and synthesize new ideas from these insights.