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The Writing Program

Learning to Write and Writing to Learn

Writing is an invitation to change the world. Learn about interesting topics, investigate your personal and communal literacy practices, build collaboration skills and expand your writing toolkit for ethical and effective writing, both in and beyond the classroom.

Our Philosophy

The Writing Program, which received a Certificate of Excellence from the National Conference on College Composition and Communication, is dedicated to serving learners who have chosen East Texas A&M for a transformative education. We believe every student has important ideas to share and rich expertise on which to draw, and our goal is to help you pursue unique individual and collective learning through writing.

As a program, we aim to accomplish two main goals:

  1. First, we provide instruction in written and oral communication, which is a required component of the university's Core Curriculum. Our courses focus on developing ideas and expressing them clearly, considering the effect of the message, fostering understanding and building skills to communicate persuasively. Specifically, we promote the Texas state Core Objectives of critical thinking, communication, teamwork and personal responsibility.
  2. Second, we introduce writers to the interconnectedness of communication and the social impact of writing for academic and public audiences using a range of approaches, technologies and modalities.

Our guiding philosophy comes from the celebrated writing scholar Dr. Linda Adler-Kassner who insists writing is never just writing: “It's a way of navigating contexts, negotiating identities, developing knowledge, demonstrating participation.”. No matter if you are writing an essay, composing a podcast, creating an infographic or collaborating with peers, writing is never just writing, it's an invitation.

Our invitation to every student: Be curious, experiment with your writing, consider the importance of different types of languages and cultures, and expand your writer's toolkit.

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Our Courses

Often students want to know why they must take writing courses and what they'll learn. We get that. Sometimes the reasons for enrolling in a course are not clear, but in The Writing Program, we want to be as transparent as possible about why these courses are required for all students and what you can hope to learn along the way.

The Writing Program offers three main courses in first-year writing: English 100, English 1301 and English 1302. In a typical semester, we teach anywhere from 55-70 sections of writing across our campuses, dual credit partnerships and modalities. Most of our offerings are scheduled face-to-face on the Commerce campus. We keep our class sizes small in line with national professional standards: English 100 typically enrolls 12 students per section, English 1301 and 1302 typically enroll 18 students per section.

Introduction to College Reading & Writing ENG 100

Hours: 3 (Non-credit)
An introduction to the elements of literacy necessary for college-level reading and writing. In this course, students receive substantial feedback and instructors tailored to their specific needs. This course serves as a support course for ENG 1301 and is required of those students who are not Texas Success Initiative (TSI) complete in either reading and/or writing, but this course is also available to anyone who may desire additional support for ENG 1301. May not be used to satisfy any degree requirement.

*Students required to take ENG 100 must be enrolled in the corresponding ENG 1301 course. Talk with your advisor or contact the Director of Writing for additional details.

College Reading & Writing ENG 1301

Hours: 3
Introduces students to writing as an extended, complex, recursive process and prepares students for English 1302, which more rigorously examines the forms and structures of argument and means to approaching multiple audiences. In 1301 students will write weekly, and will work on essay organization and development. The course will emphasize close reading, summarizing and analysis of expository texts, including student writing.

Written Argument/Research ENG 1302

Hours: 3
This course provides students with advanced training in communication skills emphasizing the writing and reading of argumentative prose and adapting writing to alternate audiences. Students will write weekly, including such texts as journals, reading response logs, summaries of argumentative texts, argumentative papers and longer papers integrating secondary research. Activities include close reading of sample texts, both student and professional. Some sections will emphasize special topics in both reading and writing. Prerequisites: Grade of C or better in English 1301 or advanced placement or CLEP.

The Learning showcase

A core aspect of East Texas A&M's mission is to advance knowledge and pursue impactful research. We believe that undergraduate research is essential to achieving this value.

At the end of every semester, The Writing Program, the College of Innovation and Design and the Office of Student Transition and Support sponsor The Learning Showcase. This interdisciplinary event spotlights the robust, thought-provoking and well-rounded research conducted by undergraduate students.

All students in ENG 1302 participate in The Learning Showcase as a portion of their final research assignment in the course.

Students create short, attention-grabbing presentations based on their original literacy ethnographic studies that invite attendees to consider the various ways communities use writing and communication to define themselves and interact with the world.

Meet the Instructors

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Gavin P. Johnson, Ph.D.

If teachers trust students to engage in difficult, rigorous and rewarding work, together we invent p…
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Rachel Harsin

It is the duty of the teacher to make the classroom more accessible for all.
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Marzieh Keshavarz

I adopt a multifaceted approach [to teaching] that recognizes and addresses varied learning needs an…
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Haomei Meng

My teaching goal is to encourage students to read critically and explore themselves in a situated cu…
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Mo Reeves, Ph.D.

The experience I gained here as a student is invaluable to the writer and professional I am today.
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Mark Haslett

The ability to use reason, communicate, and listen offer worth beyond measure in one's personal li…
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Sana Nabil Rayyashi

My primary aim is to enhance students' writing skills by providing personalized guidance and cons…
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Yu Lei, Ph.D.

The main objectives of teaching writing extend beyond equipping students with writing and research s…
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Faculty and Staff Resources

Current writing instructors can access a collection of resources via our shared D2L. If you do not have access, please contact the Director of Writing at [email protected].

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