First Year Writing Program Placement Examination

Students are placed into an English course in one of three ways: (1) by a combination of SAT scores and high-school GPA, (2) by a timed pen-and-paper test taken on campus, or (3) by an online test, called iMOAT, which may also be used to challenge an SAT/GPA placement. All students who do not have SAT scores, or whose SAT scores fall below a certain level, will be required to take one of the written placement tests. For more information on the tests—including information on registration—see the web site for the LIU Brooklyn Testing Center, or contact them at 718-488-1392.

Both written placement tests are designed to assess a student’s skills in reading and writing and are scored by at least two Writing-Program instructors. If a student's response is particularly weak and/or insufficient for the readers to make a placement determination, the student may be asked to retake the exam. Students whose writing samples demonstrate insufficient English-language proficiency to merit placement in English 13X may be directed to the English Language Institute, where they can pay to take courses to develop their English-language skills.

During the first week of class, all Writing-Program instructors administer a diagnostic exam in order to verify the student’s original placement. If the student’s performance warrants it, the student may be given permission to register for the next-highest level Writing-Program course, although no student will be given permission to skip English 16. Occasionally, students will decide that they are not ready to take a particular course and will choose to take a lower-level course so that they can get more practice and preparation; this option, however, is at the student’s discretion, and students cannot be required to transfer to a lower-level course in the sequence than that indicated by the original placement. Scheduling changes resulting from the diagnostic exam must happen during the first week of classes, so it is important that students attend class on the first day so as not to miss the diagnostic exam.

---

Back to First Year Writing Program
.

First Year Writing Program

In keeping with the mission of LIU Brooklyn to provide access to higher education for students from diverse backgrounds, the English Department's First Year Writing Program enables students to succeed in their academic, professional, and civic lives through its emphasis on the acquisition of advanced literacy skills. We serve students entering the University in the basic or first-year-writing course as well as students in our undergraduate and graduate courses in Writing and Rhetoric. Drawing on a range of rhetorical and literate traditions and practices, the First Year Writing Program fosters respect for speakers of English as a Second Language and nonstandard dialects while supporting the achievement of proficiency in academic writing. In our Writing and Rhetoric courses, the study of writing is premised on this understanding of literacy and language as socially embedded.

Students and faculty in the First Year Writing Program engage in writing that promotes rigorous analysis, sound argumentation, creative expression, and grammatical competence. Such writing is practiced through coursework that incorporates informal, expository, critical, reflective, and research writing. We teach students that close, interpretive reading and rhetorical awareness of purpose, audience, and context are central to the development of strong reading and writing abilities. With the rise of information literacy and digital forms of communication, we increasingly integrate appropriate forms of technology into the classroom.

Whether we are providing a foundation for written communication across the disciplines or engaging in scholarly study of writing and rhetoric, the First Year Writing Program prepares students to engage critically and creatively in the academy and beyond.

Follow the links below for additional information and resources.

---

Placement Examination

English 13

English 14

English 16

Grading Rubrics

Portfolio Requirements

ESL Teaching Resources

Library Partnerships

Writing Center

Writing Across The Curriculum (WAC)

Recommended Links

Writing Program History

Follow Us On Social Media

The English Department maintains a vibrant presence online with this blog and our Facebook and Twitter. See feeds of both in the sidebar to the right.

We encourage comments and conversations on our main Facebook page.

Our Twitter stream is filled with links to articles that readers and writers and students of the humanities should find interesting, as well as reminders about Department events.

Creative Writing MFA Program Presents: One-Day Literary Translation Institute 2018

This Saturday, June 9, 2018, the Creative Writing MFA Program at LIU Brooklyn hosts the 2018 edition of its Literary Translation Institute, a one-day workshop, led this year by Susan Bernofsky, Gregary Racz (Professor of Languages at LIU Brooklyn), and Christopher Winks. Free and open to the public!

More info / RSVP. https

Barbara Henning: Reading in Chicago

Professor Barbara Henning will be reading with Tara Betts, Philip Sorenson, and Aurora Tabar in the Red Rover Series at Outer Space Studio in Chicago.

more info

Outer Space Studio
1474 N. Milwaukee Ave
suggested donation $4

TARA BETTS is the author of Break the Habit and Arc & Hue. She is also one of the co-editors of The Beiging of America: Personal Narratives About Being Mixed Race in the 21st Century and co-editor of a critical edition of Philippa Duke Schuyler's long out-of-print memoir Adventures in Black and None. Her work has appeared in Poetry, American Poetry Review, Essence, Nylon, and numerous anthologies. She has taught at Rutgers University, University of Illinois-Chicago, and as part of the MFA faculty at Chicago State University.

BARBARA HENNING is the author of three novels and several collections of poetry, her most recent A Day Like Today (Negative Capability Press), A Swift Passage (Quale Press) and a collection of object-sonnets, My Autobiography (United Artists). A new novel was just recently released, Just Like That (Spuyten Duyvil). She is the editor of Looking Up Harryette Mullen and The Collected Prose of Bobbie Louise Hawkins. Born in Detroit, she presently lives in Brooklyn. She has taught for Naropa University, as well as Long Island University. See http://barbarahenning.com/ . 

PHILIP SORENSON is the author of two full-length collections, Of Embodies (Rescue Press, 2012) and Solar Trauma (Rescue Press, 2018), and a forthcoming shorter work, New Recordings (Another New Calligraphy, 2018). He is the co-editor, with Olivia Cronk, of The Journal Petra.

AURORA TABAR is a Chicago-based performing artist and occupational therapist. Her professional and creative practices examine the process of healing and the potential for transformation. Her most recent performance work, Life/Guard, was presented last April at the 2017 Battles:SS3 Post-Butoh Festival (Chicago, IL). Aurora received a Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Individual Artist grant for her current project, The Existential Coat Check. She works at Esperanza Community Services where she supports young people with developmental disabilities to become as independent as possible. She lives on the west side of Chicago with her partner, Kevin, and their two cats. See http://existentialcoatcheck.com/ .

Red Rover Series is curated by Laura Goldstein and Jennifer Karmin. Each event is designed as a reading experiment with participation by local, national, and international writers, artists, and performers. Founded in 2005, the over one hundred events have featured a diversity of renowned creative minds.

Sarai Rivera-Polanco: Congratulations!

We are very pleased to announce that Sarai Rivera-Polanco (BA 2018) is one of this year's recipients of the Alfred DiMaio Award for Outstanding Achievement in Political Science. In addition, she has won the Edna K. And Jacob S. Spiro Law Award. Congratulations!

Yu June Lee: Congratulations!

We are very pleased to announce that Yu June Lee (BA, May 2018, double major in English and Physics) is this year's recipient of the Mildred L. B. DeBarrit Premedical Science Award AND the Paula M. Cooper Memorial Scholarship Award. Congratulations!

Humanities Awards Ceremony 2018

On Tuesday, May 8, 2018, the English Department and the rest of the Humanities Division (Philosophy, Foreign Languages and Literatures, Gender Studies) held its annual awards ceremony to recognize this year's graduates and this year's winners of various awards and prizes.

Congratulations to the following English majors and graduate students who completed their degrees this academic year.

Graduated in September 2017

Heather Browne, English BA, Writing & Rhetoric

Huma Sheikh: Creative Writing MFA

Graduated in January 2018

Alan Carr: Creative Writing MFA

Brandi Sutherland: English BA, Literature & Creative Writing

Graduating in May 2018

Nerene Aberdeen, English BA, Creative Writing

Alexa Carter-Rodriguez: Creative Writing MFA
Alicia Folk, English BA, Writing & Rhetoric
Yu June Lee, English BA, Writing & Rhetoric
Ruby Perez, English BA, Creative Writing
Sarai Rivera-Polanco, English BA, Creative Writing
Roksolana Sheverack, English BA, Literature
Lazarette Strouble: English BA, Literature

The Omicron Zeta chapter of Sigma Tau Delta (International English Honors Society) announced this year's new inductees: Nerene Aberdeen, Cindy Chen, Leslie Kenney, Stacey Watson. 

In addition, the chapter honored members who are graduating this year: Nerene Aberdeen, Tamanna Afroze, Cindy Chen, Madison Gomez, Yu June Lee, Nathalie Meyers, Sarai River-Polanco, Martha Roldan, Susan Elizabeth Stuart, Jason Wong

The English Department gave the following awards and prizes.

Excellence in English (Undergraduate): Nerene Aberdeen, Alicia Folk, Yu June Lee, Sarai Rivera-Polanco, Roksolana Sheverack

Excellence in English (Graduate): Joseph Anderson, Alexa Carter-Rodriguez, Huma Sheikh

Louis and Ann Parascandola Graduate Award (English): Joseph Anderson

Susanne Popper-Edelman and Edward Edelman English Essay Prizes: Makayla Day (Freshman Composition, English 14), Wei Chen (Freshman Composition, English 16), Larry Vazquez (Core Literature)

Esther Hyneman Award in Poetry (Creative Writing MFA Program): Alexa Carter-Rodriguez (Poetry), Breana Ricketts (Non-Fiction)

Marilyn Boutwell Award in Fiction (Creative Writing MFA Program): Lam Lai

The Philosophy Department recognized Nicole Bartley, who has completed the BA in Philosophy.

The Gender Studies Program recognized the following students, who have completed the Gender Studies minor: Andrew Ibscher, Chloe Clemente, Daria Sowa, Idit Kobyely Yanskaya, Kassandra Nieves, Oleksandra Kashyrina, Yamilettes Villa.

Gender Studies also recognized this year's recipient of the Biology / Gender Studies Memorial Scholarship: Idit Kobyely Yanskaya.

The Department of Foreign Languages and Literature recognized the following students, who have completed minors as indicated: Jade Muyambo (French), Ane Nie (Spanish).

Erica Hunt: June Jordan Conference

Professor Erica Hunt (English) will be moderating a panel ("For the Sake of People's Poetry: A Discussion of Jordan's Essay About Inclusivity and Accessibility," 2:45-4 PM) and reading with others from Jordan's work (6:30 PM) at the conference "A Tribute to June Jordan" on Friday, May 18, 2018, at the CUNY Grad Center.

More info.

Also see flyer below.

Patrick Horrigan: Book Release Party

You are invited to celebrate the publication of PENNSYLVANIA STATION (Lethe Press), the new novel by Patrick E. Horrigan (English), on Thursday, June 7th @ 7pm at the Bureau of General Services--Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street in Manhattan, 2nd floor, NYC 10011. There will be food, drinks, and music by DJ Star Dao! Patrick will also read from the book and talk about how it came to be.

PENNSYLVANIA STATION is the story of a cross-generational romance between an architect and a political activist, c. 1962. 

To purchase a copy, click here.

All are welcome!