English 102

Required Textbooks

Student Guide to English 100, 101, and 102 (102i), 2009-2010
A hardbound, college-level dictionary
Ruszkiewicz, John How to Write Anything - Customized UNC Edition
You instructor may also require additional texts such as They Say, I Say by Gerald Graff or Sharing and Responding by Peter Elbow.

Please note that the required handbook is the same for both 101 and 102 or 102i, so you should keep the textbook for future classes. You instructor may also require the Carolina Summer Reading Program book.

An Overview of English 102 (see here for English 102i)

Like English 101, English 102 assumes that writing varies depending on context. Good writing is what works, but what works well in one situation may not in another. To achieve your goals when writing, you need to understand as much as possible about context—who makes up the audience, what they know about the subject, what they expect writing about that subject to “look like,” what kinds of evidence they will find convincing, what other writers have said about the subject, and so on.

Whereas English 101 emphasizes writing in several social and professional communities, English 102 narrows the focus to academic communities and the ways in which you will be expected to participate in those communities. English 102 is a writing-across-the-disciplines course. Studying and practicing the conventions of writing in different disciplines will help you become a more versatile writer, which in turn should help you complete successfully the assignments you encounter in college courses. You also will become more aware of how audience expectations and context influence your work and give it shape and direction.

You will practice writing in three areas: the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Within each, you will look at real responses to academic issues. You will evaluate what makes some responses more successful than others and how even good writing can be improved. You also will complete assignments addressing each of these areas. You may study some professional writing to understand better the ways members of communities look at the world. In class, you will engage in activities familiar from English 100 and English 101: reading classmates’ drafts and suggesting revisions, discussing specific problems presented by a particular assignment, and writing or revising your current project.

We think you will find English 102 immediately useful because the material can be applied at once to the courses you are taking. English 102 will help you understand writing and speaking assignments in other classes and will help you recognize what your teachers expect. English 102 also will give you much practical advice on how to write papers for particular courses.