English Composition 101 is the first writing course required of all nontransfer students and is usually taken in a student's first semester. Designed to introduce students to academic discourse, this course provides instruction in reading and thinking critically and in writing analytically in response to primarily nonfiction readings. Through a series of sequenced assignments, emphasis is placed on writing as a process, which includes drafting, revising, and editing writings. Instruction is provided in recognizing and assessing the argumentative and rhetorical strategies of other writers and in students effectively constructing well-informed, sophisticated, and logical essays, while maintaining an individual voice and synthesizing increasingly complex academic essays.