English Composition I
In English Composition I, students learn how to develop better writing skills by identifying and understanding the steps involved in the writing process-all in this one online English course.
The online English composition course examines five fundamental types of writing: compare and contrast, argumentative, persuasive, narrative, and descriptive. Lessons in this online English course also highlight the importance of proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling, and explain effective research techniques, editing, and revision.
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Course Objectives
After completing this course, students will be able to:
- Explain and identify the steps involved in the writing process.
- Compose a strong thesis statement.
- Organize an essay into a well written introduction, body, and conclusion.
- Evaluate the different types of fictional and non-fictional readings.
- Successfully identify and apply the use of analogy.
- Identify and compose the following types of writing: argumentative, compare/contrast, descriptive, narrative, persuasive, summary, and research.
- Employ ethical and effective research strategies and techniques.
- Analyze and judge the validity of the various kinds of reading materials.
- Correctly use MLA citation style.
- Summarize and paraphrase without plagiarizing.
- Successfully revise and edit all aspects of an essay.
- Construct grammatically correct sentences.
- Compose sentences and paragraphs with correct spelling and punctuation.
Topic | Lesson Topic | Subtopics | Objectives |
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1 | Proper Grammar: Friend or Foe? |
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2 | Punctuation and Spelling: The Finer Points |
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3 | The Writing Process: You Can Do It! |
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4 | Thesis Statements: What's the Point? |
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Writing a Good Paragraph & Researching Your Topic: Half the Battle! |
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6 | Popular Types of Writing: Who Knew? |
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7 | Types of Readings: Can This Really Influence my Writing? |
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8 | Analysis of Reading and Writing: Now What? |
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9 | Using Evidence and Reference Materials Properly: Give Credit Where It's Due! |
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10 | The Process of Revising and Editing: You're Almost There! |
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11 | Checking Your Final Essay: You've Come This Far! |
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12 | Submission of the Final Draft of the Research Paper and Final Review |
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There are no prerequisites to take English Composition I.
The required eTextbook for this course is included with your course purchase at no additional cost. More information on StraighterLine eTextbooks
Prefer the hard copy? Simply purchase from your favorite textbook retailer; you will still get the eTextbook for free.

College Writing Skills with Readings 10e highlights the importance of writing with a purpose by focusing on four bases of writing unity support coherence and sentence skills. The four bases provide students with clear guidance on how to organize their thoughts structure their main idea into a thesis provide supporting evidence to their claim and revise and edit their work into a well thought-out essay. College Writing Skills with Readings personalizes and grounds students’ writing experience by placing all of its reading writing and essay examples within three key realms - personal academic and workplace (PAW) - to emphasize the importance of writing in every facet of life.
Langan, John. College Writing Skills with Readings, 10th edition. McGraw-Hill, 2019. ISBN 9781260030198
This course follows the research guidelines of the Modern Language Association (MLA). These guidelines were most recently revised in 2016 in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (8th ed.). A summary of these guidelines is provided in the Purdue Online Writing Lab.
StraighterLine provides a percentage score and letter grade for each course. A passing percentage is 70% or higher. If you have chosen a Partner College to award credit for this course, your final grade will be based upon that college's grading scale. Only passing scores will be considered by Partner Colleges for an award of credit.
All required assignments (even those that are ungraded) must be submitted in order to be issued a transcript.
There are a total of 1000 points in the course:
Topic | Assessment | Points Available |
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A1 | Graded Quiz: Plagiarism | 10 |
1 | Graded Quiz: Transitions | 30 |
1 | Graded Quiz: Banana Bread Brainstorm | 60 |
2 | Graded Quiz: Good Word Choices Positively Affect Your Writing...Or Is it Effect? | 30 |
2 | Graded Quiz: Homonyms | 40 |
2 | Graded Quiz: Grammar at Dinner | 75 |
2 | Graded Quiz: Grammar and Punctuation | 100 |
3 | Graded Quiz: Writing to Your Audience | 90 |
4 | Writing Assignment: Character Evolution | 10 |
5 | Writing Assignment: Final Draft of the Descriptive Paragraph | 10 |
5 | Graded Quiz: Building a Better Paragraph | 15 |
5 | Graded Quiz: Website Validity | 20 |
5 | Annotated Bibliography Submission | 20 |
6 | Writing Assignment: Final Draft of the Comparison/Contrast Writing Assignment | 50 |
7 | Writing Assignment: Final Draft of the Personal Narrative Writing Assignment | 40 |
8 | Graded Quiz: Text Analysis | 30 |
8 | Graded Quiz: A Different Look at the Mail | 30 |
8 | Writing Assignment: Final Draft of the Persuasive Writing Assignment | 50 |
9 | Graded Quiz: Works Cited | 30 |
9 | Writing Assignment: Final Draft of the Argumentative Writing Assignment | 100 |
9 | Writing Assignment: Research Draft | 20 |
10 | Graded Quiz: Different Perspectives | 20 |
10 | Final Graded Quiz: Be an Editor | 30 |
Review | Writing Assignment: Final Draft of the Research Writing Assignment | 100 |
Total | 1000 |
In English Composition I, students learn how to develop better writing skills by identifying and understanding the steps involved in the writing process-all in this one online English course.
The online English composition course examines five fundamental types of writing: compare and contrast, argumentative, persuasive, narrative, and descriptive. Lessons in this online English course also highlight the importance of proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling, and explain effective research techniques, editing, and revision.