In Spring of 2023, the First Year Writing Committee decided to implement Unit Guidelines for our first year writing sequence. We would like all new FYW assignments at City Tech to be written following these guidelines. These are meant to be capacious, meaning we want faculty to have the space and freedom to teach texts and topics they find interesting. At the same time, we want First Year Writing at City Tech to be cohesive. We’d like all students to come out of the program having had a similar experience, in order that their transition to 1121 is somewhat seamless and that they are learning writing tactics that are useful to them in school, at work and in their communities. * Please note that for every unit, we’ve provided example assignments. The model courses also provide semester-long sequences that fit within these guidelines.

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1121 Unit One: Discourse and Community

Students examine how communication (through language and other means) changes depending what community we are in—and what community we are talking to.  Key Skills and Processes: 

• Thesis or organizing idea
• Annotation
• Organization
• Paragraphing
• Quotation

Readings for Faculty:

• “Understanding Discourse Communities” by Dan Melzer
• “Literacy, Discourse and Linguistics” by James Paul Gee
• “DEMAND for Black Linguistic Justice” Statement to CCCC

Assignment Examples: Portrait of a Word, Art and Community, Discourse Community (Speech or Letter) 

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 1121 Unit Two: Real-World Research

Students use their own experience as well as research to create a text* in a genre they might see in their future academic lives, their careers or their communities. They use a variety of both library and non-library research methods to create this text. (*at the professor’s discretion, the text can be multimodal)  Key Skills and Processes:

• Research
• Thesis or organizing idea
• Introductions and conclusions

Readings for Faculty: 

• “Public Writing for Social Change” by Ashley J Holmes 
• “Introduction to Primary Research” by Dana Lynn Driscoll 
• “Sharing Information in Research Communities” by Hemstrom and Anders 

Assignment Examples: Finding Your Beat: Writing a Feature Article, Op-Ed/ Opinion Article

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1121 Unit Three: Remix, Redux, Translation 

Students revise something they have written previously in the semester to fit a new audience, and in doing so, choose a new (and multimodal) genre to fit that audience. Students examine how content, language, and sometimes even meaning change as we change modes, audiences and genres.  Key Skills and Processes:  

• Identifying an appropriate genre for your audience
• Multimodal writing
• Review of thesis or organizing idea/ organization/ quotation/ introductions and conclusions– what do these ingredients look like in various genres? 

Readings for Faculty:

• “Pedagogies of Digital Composing through a Translingual Approach” Sanchez-Martin 
• “Genre, Reflection and Multimodality” Jaclyn Fiscus

Examples: New Audience, New Genre, Multimodal Remix Assignment , (many more from Baruch here) 

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 Note: Unit 4 in 1121 is a final portfolio, which includes revisions of all major units, and a final reflection.   *Note that these guidelines are strongly encouraged by the First Year Writing Committee, which advises on curricular decisions for FYW. This is not a departmental policy. We do, however, believe that adherence to these guidelines will benefit our students. If you believe the units or the guidelines should be altered, please attend a meeting of the First Year Writing Committee or contact the Office of FYW to join the conversation. We’re open to changes!