by Melissa Sipin

What’s the difference between WRIT-140 and WRIT-340? The students? The professors? The expectations?

Well, yes—yes to all of them.

Though both writing classes have a similar goal, the difference lies in theory and practice.

Usually, WRIT-140 is linked to a social issues course, helping the countless wandering freshman and sophomore transfers learn the tricks of the trade—you know, logos, pathos, ethos—the glorious skills of rhetorical writing, all intertwined with an academic context. The rhetoric is: these students have no idea what good writing is.

“Writing 140 students are at the very first stages of learning the conventions of academic discourse; they are often preoccupied with adjusting to the expectations of the college culture,” Stephanie Bower, Writing Program senior lecturer, said.

“They are also still in the first stages of figuring out what they're most interested in, what ideas excite them, and what passions to pursue,” Bower added.

But with WRIT-340, the expectations are different. Though, there’s still a group of wandering sophomore and junior transfers, the overall assumption is that these students know what they want, and know what inspires them. There are different WRIT-340 sections students can choose from—arts and humanities, business writing, pre-law writing, social sciences writing—you name it. Whatever your major or field your in, you’ll have a course that covers it.

“Writing 340 students come to the class with a much more clearly defined set of interests and goals,” Bower said.

“They’re feisty and smart, ready to challenge, and ready to be challenged.   Typically, these students are integrated into the academic milieu and have assumed responsibility for their successes and failures,” John Murray, Writing Program senior lecturer, said.

“My experience is that 340 students tend to be more genuinely interested in learning than in getting a good grade, whereas WRIT 140 students (who sometimes behave as 13th-graders) tend to be more motivated by the external reward/affirmation of the grade,” Murray added.

Simply put, the goal o f WRIT-140 is to teach students how to write. But the goal of WRIT-340 is to make them good writers—but good writers in a specific field. In other words, WRIT-140 says that good writing is only achieved through one formula. We’re taught the illusion that good writing is universal—you’ll always have your topic sentences as the first sentence in a paragraph, and your thesis will always be in the beginning; no questions asked.

WRIT-340 dismantles that illusion. Of course, there will always be an underlying structure to good writing, but writing is more subjective than we’ll like to think. Writing becomes effective and practical when used in the appropriate manner. A letter to the governor will always be quick and precise—it will always follow the 5-bullet paragraph. But, an op-ed in a newspaper will be more experimental and less dry, though it will have the same underlying structure.

“I like getting to write about things that are more opinion-based, but also things that I’m more interested in and more passionate about.” Sarah Bautista, psychology major, said.

“It makes writing more bearable,” Bautista added.