About First Year Writing

No matter how confident they may feel in their writing, we encourage all students to take first-year writing on campus to improve their writing abilities and prepare them to write effectively in future classes.

By taking Writing 150, students will learn to:

1. Use rhetoric responsibly to compose arguments in a variety of genres for specific audiences and purposes.
2. Critically read texts. This includes:
   • analyzing how a text functions in a specific situation, community, or public;
   • analyzing the nuances of language (diction, figures of speech, tone, etc.);
   • identifying and evaluating the elements of an argument—claims, reasons, assumptions, and ethical, emotional, and logical appeals.
3. Write coherent and unified texts (effective introductions, clear thesis, supporting details, transitions, and strong conclusions) using a flexible and effective writing process, including prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing.
4. Use style—diction, figurative language, tone, grammar, punctuation, spelling, mechanics—genre, conventions, and document design correctly and for rhetorical effect.
5. Navigate the library to locate primary and secondary sources, evaluate the appropriateness and credibility of those sources, and effectively incorporate and accurately document outside sources in a research paper.

BYU also offers a course for international students that fulfills the first-year writing requirement. Contact the Department of Linguistics and English Language for more details.