Anyone who writes anything is a writer. Text messages, social media posts, emails and more give us opportunities to practice important writing abilities like meeting the needs of an audience or choosing an appropriate tone.
English Foundations in Written Communication
English Foundations in Written Communication
Ohio University’s founders believed that a strong democracy required educated citizens. While education today looks different than it did in 1804, we still believe that education is vital to democracy and that becoming an effective writer and thinker is essential to education.
The Composition Program’s range of courses and program activities serve everyone from K-12 students and teachers to OHIO’s undergraduates to advanced graduate students. These courses are united by our mission:
At OHIO, we believe that writing opens doors and creates opportunities. Our composition program guides students to think critically, communicate persuasively, and collaborate within vibrant contexts. We empower students to take control of their journeys, shaping their futures with confidence and purpose both at Ohio University and beyond.
Our Approach to AI: This mission grows from our research-backed understandings of what writing is and the power that writers can wield in the world. Writing is a way of making new knowledge, a way of understanding ourselves, a way to connect with others, and a way to create change in the world. Though it is certainly evolving with the advent of generative AI, writing continues to move the world; even AI texts require Robert Monarch’s “human in the loop” in order to be successful. Our approach to AI uses Dr. Paul Shovlin’s AI Literacy Framework and prepares interested students to use AI effectively to achieve their writing aims.
Composition at OHIO: The Composition Program encompasses:
- BRICKS Written Communication courses (ENG 1510, 2800, 2801, 2803, 2804, 2806, 2809)
- Writing Certificate
- Ohio University Appalachian Writing Project
- Rhetorics of Remembrance study abroad program
- Advanced Dissertation Writing (ENG/GRAD 7640) for graduate students.
Our Writing Courses: Our variety of writing courses help students choose the scholarly paths that will be most powerful for them so that they can "depart that daily thou mayest better serve thy fellowmen thy country and thy God."
We invite you to explore our course offerings and meet our Director of Composition, Dr. Talinn Phillips and our composition faculty.
- Learn about Writing & Rhetoric I (ENG 1510), our first-year writing course.
- Explore possibilities for meeting your BRICKS Advanced Writing requirement in English.
- View how the Writing Certificate can support your writing goals.
- Check out What We Believe About Writing to understand more about the research and theory underlying our program.
What We Believe about Writing
At OHIO, we believe that writing opens doors and creates opportunities. Our composition program guides students to think critically, communicate persuasively, and collaborate within vibrant contexts. We empower students to take control of their journeys, shaping their futures with confidence and purpose both at Ohio University and beyond.
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#1 You're Already a Writer
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#2 Your Language & Writing Have Value
Each student has a right to their own language. This means that some students may speak or write differently than others, and that's OK! These ways of writing are valuable to you as students and to the world.
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#3 All Writing Benefits from Planning
Outlines aren't for everyone, but effective writers do engage in planning and revising. Freewriting, mind maps, and talking with friends are all ways of planning our writing.
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#4 Good Writing is Re-Writing
All writing benefits from revising. Effective writers take most of their work through multiple drafts and may never feel that their writing is "done."
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#5 Good Writing Is More than Correct
Writing that is only correct may also be terrible. Good writing meets the needs of its audience and has something interesting to say.
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#6 Writing is Always Social
Powerful writing is social — it's shaped for a specific audience to achieve a specific purpose. We write better when we give conscious attention to the social situation of our writing.
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#7 All Writing Benefits from Feedback
Since writing is social and good writing is re-writing, all writing benefits from feedback. In this class, you'll get feedback from peers and instructors to help you re-write.
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#8 Writing is a Lifelong Learning Process
Learning to write is a process that lasts a lifetime. When we encounter new situations and genres or even just grow older, we discover that good writing looks different than it did before.
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#9 Writing Is a Way of Thinking
Writing isn't just a way to share with others or a tool to pass exams. As we write, we create new knowledge for ourselves and others — knowledge about what we think, what we believe, and who we are.
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#10 Technologies Shape Writing
From the stylus to the pencil to the keyboard to AI, our writing has always been transformed by the tools that we use to create it.