WR 111
From January 2026-May 2027, WR 111 is undergoing a curriculum review. The information below may not be perfectly up to date as a result. Please consult the Faculty Guide to Teaching WR 111/WR 112 in the interim, and reach out with any questions.
WR 111 is a pass/fail course designed to lay the foundation of your academic communication at BU. The course places you in an international and multilingual group of learners and provides opportunities to explore how individual personality is cultivated in relationship to larger communities through various communicative acts. Practicing specific linguistic and rhetorical conventions, while also reviewing advanced grammar and prose mechanics, will help you achieve the balance of language skills necessary to excel in the varied discourse communities of the university. In this course, you will discuss and analyze complex texts of different genres and topics, explore multiple intellectual perspectives, and gain critical insights into people from different national, cultural, social, and linguistic backgrounds. You will get a sense of the diverse communities on campus and in the Boston area and work on collaborative writing projects, developing the ability to communicate effectively in a variety of modes.
WR 111 satisfies one Hub requirement, in The Individual in Community.
Faculty Guide to Teaching WR 111 and WR 112
Learning Outcomes
All WR 111 sections follow the same curriculum, draw from the same designated pool of texts, and aim to achieve the common goals for the level. You will develop your abilities to:
- understand the culture of North American academia and fluently perform varied language functions
- build awareness of situation, audience, purpose, and diverse points of view in order to participate in discourse communities on campus and beyond
- use effective strategies for reading college-level texts and acquiring new vocabulary to communicate in academic and public contexts
- express ideas in appropriate rhetorical structures, using multiple modes of expression
- identify and practice various writing styles and formats
- acquire and apply knowledge of advanced grammar and meta-language
- perform metacognitive and self-reflective tasks that situate your beliefs and experiences in the new context of a North American university and community
Pedagogical Approach
The work you are assigned in this course will not be graded, but that does not mean it is unimportant. Students who prepare diligently for class, participate actively, and take the homework exercises and drafts seriously generally learn more and write better final papers than those who do not.
Experienced writers routinely share their work with others, because they understand that the best way to improve a piece of writing is to test it out with actual readers. In this class, you will learn how to respond productively to the writing of others and how to use feedback from others to improve your own work. All students in the class are expected to share pre-writing exercises, drafts, homeworks, and in-class writing. If you are concerned about sharing your writing, please talk with me about your concerns.
Although this is primarily a writing class, the oral presentations and class discussion components are designed to help you practice fluency and improve confidence in public speaking. Active class participation is expected throughout the semester.
As this is the entry level to North American universities for students in this class, there is a special component on academic acculturation, the hidden curriculum, and academic literacy skills.
Course Requirements
- Assigned readings, including shorter essays and a longer work (novel or memoir)
- Regular written homeworks such as reflections, annotations, reading journals, basic summaries, outlines, discussion questions, vocabulary logs, short multimodal assignments, etc.
- Frequent low-stakes writing exercises, including homework, in-class writing, reflective writing, and reflections on three outside-of-class activities
- Creation of and/or contribution to WR cumulative portfolio
- Four formal academic papers with drafts and revisions: Basic summary; Rhetorical analysis; Summary + response paper; Argument-driven analytical essay
- Two group oral presentations: Student-facilitated discussion of readings; Language focus presentation [or another group oral presentation of your instructor’s choice]
- Two (or more) instructor conferences
- Regular class attendance and active class engagement, including completion of at least three mini-presentations course the course of the semester
Resources for Teaching
Essential Lessons
Major Assignments
Exercises & Handouts
Flipped Learning Modules
Guides & Tips
Next level:WR 112: Critical Literacies for ELL
