1. Introduction to College Writing
Composition I
Introduction to College Writing

2. Why
In the near future: You will be writing for upper level college classes where professors will expect your writing skills to be top notch.
In other words, your later professors should not need to worry about your grammar, mechanics, and organization; they will want to engage with your arguments, ideas, assertions, or explanations.

3. More Why
Long term: When you have completed your college courses and are working in your career, at you will likely need to present an idea or suggestion to your boss. OR, perhaps you are the boss and you need to pitch or explain an idea to your employees. You need to be able to do this clearly and authoritatively.
Now and future: Are there any aspects of your community that you would like to be improved? You need to be able to clearly and persuasively communicate the needs of the community.

4. What is important in Comp. I?
Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage
Clarity / Succinctness (cut the fluff)
Organization
MLA Format

5. What happens in Comp. I? Formal / Professional Writing
Which means various types of essays to explore different writing modes and one professional to practice this very, very important skill

6. Are there tests? Yes  Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage
MLA Format and Citation
The Final (an essay written solely in the provided class time to show all that you have learned in the class)

7. Tips Formal writing will avoid:
(usually) first person (I, me, my, us, we, our, ours)
second person (you, your, yours, you’re)
slang
got, get, getting, and (especially) gotten (develop vocab.)
a lot (overly used)
things (be more specific / clear)
contractions (they are informal because they are a shortened version of the words)

8. More Tips Avoid laziness.
Take the time to discover how to correctly write a sentence. If you are unsure of how to punctuate a sentence, look it up.
Ask questions.
Not sure about something. Ask your teacher.
Practice.
Look up grammar practice worksheets or games online.
Study other well-written papers, essay, and scholarly articles.