Communication Intensive (CI) courses are part of the CWRU Unified General Education Requirements (UGER). The Writing Program offers a number of courses that fulfill this requirement.
All CI courses provide experiences that build toward the learning outcomes for the UGER's Written, Oral, and Multimodal Communication requirement. CI courses use writing/communication to enhance students’ learning of course-specific content. Students use writing and other forms of communication to engage with course topics and questions in ways that demonstrate their growing participation in academic inquiry and knowledge-making.
Sample CI Courses
- ENGL 147: Writing Across Disciplines - In this course, students will develop their genre knowledge and metacognitive skills to prepare for the advanced writing, reading, and research tasks required in upper-level writing and disciplinary courses across the university. Students will engage in workshops and discussions that foster skills in the areas of seminar participation, collaboration, rhetorical awareness, and critical thinking.
- ENGL 200: Literature in English - This course introduces students to the reading of literature in the English language. Through close attention to the practice of reading, students are invited to consider some of the characteristic forms and functions imaginative literature has taken, together with some of the changes that have taken place in what and how readers read.
- WRIT 210 (ENGL 217A): Business & Professional Writing - An introduction to professional communication in theory and practice. Special attention paid to audience analysis, persuasive techniques in written and oral communication, document design strategies, and ethical communication practices.
- WRIT 211 (ENGL 217B): Writing for the Health Professions - This course offers practice and training in the professional and technical writing skills common to health professions (e.g., medicine, nursing, dentistry). Attention will be paid to the writing processes of drafting, revising, and editing. Typical assignments include: letters, resumes, personal essays, professional communication genres (e.g., email, reports, patient charts, and histories), and scholarly genres (e.g., abstracts, articles, and reviews).
- WRIT 212: Legal Writing (CI) - This course explores the language and of the law by studying legal documents, cases, and statutes, as well as by composing memos, briefs, and letters. It examines the ways lawyers make arguments, the inner workings of the legal system in the United States, and what the legal profession looks like. No prior experience or knowledge is required, and students do not need to be planning on law school to benefit from this course.
- ENGL 255: Rhetoric and the Art of Public Speaking - This course uses the lens of classical rhetoric to explore contemporary political debate. While the word "rhetoric" is often used today to deride precisely what's wrong with political discourse, it more properly denotes the techniques of effective persuasion. By learning how rhetorical devices are used, we can empower ourselves to analyze policy debates and to make our own contributions.
- ENGL 257A: Reading Fiction - This course introduces students to prose narrative forms in English by exploring their intersecting histories and their contemporary developments. We will introduce and develop the key terms, concepts and practice of literary studies. The specific focus of the course may vary. Recommended preparation: Academic Inquiry Seminar or SAGES First Seminar.
- ENGL 257B: Reading Poetry - This course will help you to read and enjoy poetry by introducing you to the history of poetic forms in English. We will introduce and develop the key terms, concepts and practice of literary studies by turning to poems for our test-cases; examples may include the sestina, sonnet and villanelle, ghazal, pantoum, haiku, and open forms. The specific focus of the course may vary. Recommended preparation: Academic Inquiry Seminar or SAGES First Seminar.
Note: the new UGER began with the class that matriculated in Fall 2023. As the campus transitions into the new UGER, students will be able to use SAGES university seminars as communication-intensive courses and vice versa. For students enrolled in SAGES, CI courses will "map" onto the SAGES worlds based on their course codes.