The Writing Program

BEGUN IN THE 1960's, the Ball State University Writing Program has evolved over the past four decades into arguably the core of Ball State's University Core Curriculum. Most students take at least two semesters of writing at Ball State; if enrolled in the Basic Writing program for more writing experience, students take three courses.

In 2007, Ball State's Writing Program was recognized as one of the best in the country when it received the Writing Program Certificate of Excellence by the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC).

The writing experience for Ball State students is intimately connected to computers. In the late 1990’s, through our Writing, Computers, and Literacy Initiative, a part of our commitment to developing diverse notions of literacy, the majority of Writing Program courses were transferred into computer-enhanced classrooms. In connection with this dedication to new technologies, we created strong support resources for teaching and learning with computers, such as the electronic version of the Writing Program's handbook, Ball Point, the online component to our Writing Center.

Now, halfway through the first decade of a new century, our commitment to diverse notions of literacy leads us to continue our look towards the future. Starting with the 2005-2006 academic year, the Writing Program instituted revised course goals that were reflected in the new master syllabuses for English 101/102, 103, 104, and 114. The Writing Program made these changes in order to:

• Emphasize the rhetorical nature of writing and reading,
• Emphasize the importance of inquiry,
• Increase unity and coherence among courses,
• Respond to the increasing ease of, and need for, incorporating visual elements into writing, and to
• Better serve the goals of the Undergraduate Core Curriculum

The Writing Program grounds itself in the belief that writing and reading are reciprocal language activities and that both are rhetorical in nature: that is, they both involve a writer who desires to affect a reader in some way. Given these beliefs, we have crafted a two-semester reading-writing experience that begins in the first semester with the rhetorical nature of writing and extends that knowledge in the second semester through a sustained focus on human inquiry. English 101/102, 103, English 104, and English 114 are taught in a systematic and sequential manner that encourages students to develop their own unique ways of writing and reading.

Noteworthy

• Interested in taking ENG 104 as an online course?  Find out how.
• Check out our Summer Workshop with the Indiana Writing Project . . .