English Composition (COMP)
COMP 105 Writing & Rhetoric I 3 Credit Hours
Comp 105: Focuses on the study and practice of writing and rhetoric, with special emphasis on the writing process. Students write and read critically a range of texts, and consider academic and nonacademic genres and conventions. (F,W).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 099 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 20 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 105
COMP 106 Writing & Rhetoric II 3 Credit Hours
Focuses on the study of writing and rhetoric through composing a range of researched texts. Students study the rhetorical choices effective for writing in different media, and learn practical strategies for academic inquiry and for giving useful feedback in response to the writing of others. Such strategies include those related to the use of electronic and print resources, peer-review and revision. Credit may only be given toward degree one time for Comp 106 or 220 as they are "equivalents".
Prerequisite(s): (COMP 105 or COMP 1050) or (Composition Placement Score with a score of 30 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 106) or COMP 110
COMP 110 Honors Writing & Rhetoric I 3 Credit Hours
Honors Program introductory composition course. Fulfills the Composition I requirement for students in the Honors Program. Course focuses on college-level expository writing techniques through seminar-type analysis of texts read in the Honors Program and through individualized and group writing workshops. Assignments include at least five finished papers incorporating revision. Honors students, like other students in first-semester composition, must pass the standard exit exam for COMP 105 to continue on to COMP 220 (or COMP 106). (F).
Restriction(s):
Can enroll if Attribute is Honors Program
COMP 220 Honors Writing & Rhetoric II 3 Credit Hours
Honors Composition fulfills the Composition II requirement for students in the Honors Program. It is designed to develop research, writing, and editing skills and to give the student experience in argumentation and persuasion and in the interpretation of literary texts. Satisfies for honors students the 200-level prerequisite for upper-division English courses, except for English concentrators. Credit may only be given toward degree one time for Comp 106 or 220 as they are "equivalents". (YR).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 110 or (Composition Placement Score with a score of 30 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 106) or COMP 105
COMP 223 Intro to Creative Writing 3 Credit Hours
An introduction to the writing of poetry, the short story, and/or the play. Considerable writing analysis, criticism, and discussion. (F,W).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 107 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or COMP 280
COMP 227 Intermed Expo and Arg 3 Credit Hours
Further explorations in exposition and argumentation to develop and enhance the student's ability to write essays and/or articles. Review of basics of grammar and style. Intensive practice in writing and careful examinations of appropriate books and shorter prose works. Written assignments of 500 to 2000 words. (F,W).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 107 or COMP 280
COMP 267 Arab & Arab American Workshop 3 Credit Hours
The Arab and Arab American Writers Workshop is a creative writing workshop focusing on poetry and fiction. Students will explore Arab American literature, writers, and themes. Students are expected to work on their own manuscripts as well as critique outside readings. The workshop will be conducted under the guidance of Arab and Arab American faculty and is open to all students.
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or COMP 280 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 107
COMP 270 Tech Writing for Engineers 3 Credit Hours
Instruction and practice in designing technical reports. Students study the rhetorical problems facing the professional engineer in industry and learn practical strategies for analyzing and communicating technical information to both technical and non-technical audiences. Topics include audience analysis, technical research methods, report formats (written and oral, formal and informal), argumentation and persuasion, editing. This course fulfills the Composition II requirement for engineering students only. (F, W, S).
Prerequisite(s): (COMP 105 or COMP 1050) or (Composition Placement Score with a score of 30 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 106) or COMP 110
Restriction(s):
Can enroll if Class is Sophomore or Junior or Senior
Cannot enroll if Major is
Can enroll if Program is BS-Computer Information Sci, BS-Data Science, BS-Software Engineering, BSE-Bioengineering, BSE-Computer Engineering, BSE-Electrical Engineering, BSE-Engineering Mathematics, BSE-Industrial and Systems Eng, BSE-Mechanical Engineering, BSE-Manufacturing Engineering, BSE-Robotics Engineering
COMP 280 Business Writing & Rhetoric 3 Credit Hours
COMP 280 focuses on instruction and practice in composing and designing business documents, including abstracts, memos, email, letters, reports, resumes, proposals, and slide presentations. Students study the rhetorical problems facing business professionals and learn practical strategies for analyzing business information and communicating with professional and non-professional audiences. Such strategies include those related to the use of electronic resources, peer-review and revision. This course fulfills the Composition II requirement for pre-business students. (F, W, S).
Prerequisite(s): (COMP 105 or COMP 1050) or COMP 110 or (Composition Placement Score with a score of 30 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 106)
Restriction(s):
Can enroll if Major is , Public Health, Community Health Education, Prebusiness
COMP 300 Writing Studio 1 Credit Hour
Writing Studio is a one-credit-hour workshop that provides small-group, student-centered advice on all phases of the writing process, from composing to revising and editing. Special attention given to rhetorical considerations like adapting to audience expectations and critically considering discipline-specific conventions. Focus on drafts-in-progress students are writing concurrently in their Dearborn Discovery Core classes. Credit for the course is based solely on student participation in the workshop, both sharing work and giving regular feedback to others. (F, W, S, YR).
COMP 310 Narrative Writing for Journalism and Media 4 Credit Hours
Students learn to identify, understand, and use the techniques of narrative storytelling to produce nonfiction writing. Assignments can include the writing and revising of articles based on research and interviews, personal essays, adaptations, and documentary scripts that draw from literary techniques. (YR).
COMP 317 Case Studies in Prof & Tech Writing 4 Credit Hours
COMM/COMP 317 provides both practical and conceptual studies informing professional and technical writing practices. The course offers in-depth treatment of problems within written communication and information design for diverse audiences. Instructional format includes lectures and discussions based on case material derived from actual events. Themes include document design, accessibility, and the usability of professional and technical documents in the field. (AY, W).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 107 or COMP 280
Restriction(s):
Cannot enroll if Major is
COMP 320 Science Writing 4 Credit Hours
You will study science writing as a product, a practice, an interdisciplinary study and a craft when synthesizing and distilling data, scientific concepts and scientific trends for a broad, public audience. You will read some popular science writing and also learn about the processes of science writers, including their methods of inquiry. You will also study published academic articles of your interest and use as sources for your three projects which will require interplay of rhetorical synthesis of primary and secondary sources: a feature essay, an informational essay and an infographic. The course will culminate in a final portfolio which will include revisions of your final projects and one reading response. (OC).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or COMP 280
COMP 327 Advanced Writing 4 Credit Hours
A study of rhetorical theory and its application to the writing process. Emphasis on how purpose, audience, genre, culture, and context inform the choices writers make. May be repeated to a maximum of 8 credit hours. (F, W).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or COMP 270 or COMP 220 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or COMP 280
COMP 331 Multimedia Journalism 4 Credit Hours
Course introduces the technical, social, legal and ethical practice of online research, focusing specifically on reporting (i.e. research and interview) skills required by journalists and others. Students use new media technology to generate ideas, to research subjects, and to develop general-audience writing projects in their areas of interest. Course covers the use of Web search engines and databases; finding sources and interviewing people online; evaluating the credibility of online sources and information; accessing archives and public records; and using spreadsheet and database programs. (F, W).
Restriction(s):
Can enroll if Class is Freshman or Sophomore or Junior or Senior
Can enroll if Level is Undergraduate
COMP 341 Writing in the Professions 4 Credit Hours
This course involves students in an examination of rhetoric and argumentation in professional and workplace settings. This course introduces relevant theories of cultural and linguistic analysis, including genre analysis. Comp 341 includes an extended research project focused on writing in professional or workplace settings. (W, AY).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 107 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or COMP 280
COMP 364 Writing for Civic Literacy 4 Credit Hours
In Writing for Civic Literacy, students will study how politicians, the media and critical citizens use language to engage with the broader community. Students themselves will learn to use language to become more active, well-informed citizens. They will study rhetorical awareness, audience analysis and persuasive writing techniques and put those lessons to use in community settings. They will perform community service at agencies of their choosing and use those experiences as objects of analysis, researching the social context in which those agencies operate and writing analytically about the agencies. Further, students will synthesize classroom lessons and real-world experience by executing writing tasks for and with the agencies (these tasks might include editorials for the local press, informational webpages and fundraising materials). (AY).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 107 or COMP 280
COMP 390 Topics in Composition 3 Credit Hours
Examination of problems and issues in selected areas of rhetoric and composition. Title as listed in Schedule of Classes will change according to content. Course may be repeated for credit when specific topic differs. (OC).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 107 or COMP 280
COMP 399 Independent Study 1 to 3 Credit Hours
A significant writing project in non-fiction or fiction prose developed in accordance with the needs and interest of those enrolled and agreed upon by the instructor. Participants may also study texts of published authors. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
Restriction(s):
Can enroll if Level is Undergraduate
COMP 436 Memoir and Travel Writing 4 Credit Hours
A course in narrative non-fiction that focuses on memoir and travel writing. Reading involves several books as well as classic essay-length examples. Assignments include both short analytical papers and the writing and revising of three original articles, based on research, interviews, memory, and observation, and drawing on literary techniques. (F, YR).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 107 or COMP 280
Restriction(s):
Can enroll if Level is Undergraduate
COMP 462 Transnational Rhetorics 4 Credit Hours
Full Course Title: Transnational Rhetorics: Writers Across Borders "Transnational Rhetorics" engages students in reading and writing stories that cross various forms or borders. These borders might be national, as in stories about immigration or displacement. Or, the borders might be more abstract, like the assumed borders between race, class, and gender, or even the possible barriers we perceive between personal experience and world events. In this course, we will read stories about people who reflect on these kinds of border-crossings. We will then take a rhetorical approach to these narratives and examine how they work, what similarities they share, and importantly, how they address their audiences. Then, we will then produce--in turn--our own border-crossing essays that attend to the same issues of audience, context, narrative, and creativity. (OC).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 107 or COMP 280
COMP 464 Contemporary Rhetorical Theory 3 Credit Hours
An examination of contemporary rhetorical theories through study of representative practitioners and related developments in linguistics, philosophy, psychology, communication, and composition and rhetoric. Students may not receive credit for both COMP 464 and COMP 564.
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 107 or COMP 280
COMP 466 Arguing Feminism: Rhetoric, Writing & Advocacy 4 Credit Hours
Full course title: Arguing Feminism: Rhetoric, Writing & Advocacy. An introduction to the work of major twentieth century feminists working in rhetoric and related fields. Students examine recurring themes of language, meaning, ethics and ideology, and practice writing strategies which address rhetorical and ethical concerns central to feminist/academic writing. (OC).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or COMP 280 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 107
Restriction(s):
Cannot enroll if Class is Freshman
Can enroll if Level is Undergraduate
COMP 468 Read/Writ Young Adult Fiction 4 Credit Hours
In this course participants will explore the young adult novel from the point-of-view of a reader and a writer. They will read recently published and critically acclaimed popular young adult novels. They will use these texts to explore such issues as gender, race and identity as they relate to young adult lives and their respective cultures generally. They will use these texts as models for the production of their own texts and will consider if and why young adult novels are abbreviated or limited in relationship to adult literature. In addition to reading about ten novels, they will complete several creative exercises leading up to a final portfolio. (W, AY).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 and (ENGL 223 or COMP 223)
Restriction(s):
Cannot enroll if Class is Graduate
COMP 470 Writing for Games 4 Credit Hours
This course engages aspiring and hobbyist writers and designers in the collaborative work of writing for games. “Games” in this course can include board game design, table-top world-building and story-writing, video game writing, as well as writing for the industry in the form of reviews, promotional copy, and other forms of content creation. The course draws from measures and values from the fields of technical communication, creative writing, and rhetorical analysis. This course is project- and practice-based. Students will start the term completing shared, required assignments that deal with planning, organization, and rhetorical awareness. (F, W, S, OC).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or COMP 280
Restriction(s):
Can enroll if Class is Junior or Senior
COMP 475 Supporting Literacies 4 Credit Hours
COMP 475 will help prepare advanced undergraduate students to be successful as writing tutors and/or as supporters of literacy development in diverse higher education and community contexts (work in university writing centers, community literacy organizations, service learning courses, etc.) through sustained focus on the theoretical and practical issues involved in the teaching and tutoring of writing. The course also will help students make explicit connections between the teaching and learning of writing in various college classroom contexts (i.e., writing-across-the-curriculum) and other sites of literacy work. A range of writing projects will provide students with opportunities also to hone their own abilities as reflective and critical writers. (F, YR).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 107 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or COMP 280
COMP 485 How Writing Works 4 Credit Hours
In this course we will investigate why and how people write for particular audiences and in a variety of contexts. Subjects will include: cognitive and social theories of writing and the writing process, theories of persuasion, writing across the curriculum, writing for multiple audiences, writing in the workplace, writing for self and for publics, and teaching writing. The course will be useful to students interested in teaching writing at the K-12 level, those interested in careers in communication and those who wish to better understand how writing promotes personal and societal change. (OC).
Prerequisite(s): COMP 106 or COMP 220 or COMP 270 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 40 or Composition Placement Score with a score of 107 or COMP 280
*An asterisk denotes that a course may be taken concurrently.
Frequency of Offering
The following abbreviations are used to denote the frequency of offering: (F) fall term; (W) winter term; (S) summer term; (F, W) fall and winter terms; (YR) once a year; (AY) alternating years; (OC) offered occasionally