Written Communication

Completing Written Communication

Writing Center

It is important that you complete the Written Communication (WC) requirement early in your academic career. Writing skills are a foundation on which you build many important parts of your curriculum, so it's important to build that base early. For that reason, the University has adopted a policy that says you must complete the first part of WC, ENG 1010 or ENG 1008 & ENG 1009,  by the time you complete 30 hours, and the second course, ENG 1020, by the time you complete 45 hours. If you haven't completed both by 45 hours, you will only be able to register for the appropriate English class the next term, until the requirement is met. To avoid this, it's important to plan now how to finish the requirement, and then to act on that plan!

Step 1: What class will I need to complete?

• For the first part of Written Communication, there are two options:
  • ENG 1010
  • ENG 1008 and ENG 1009
• For the second part of the requirement, these courses complete the requirement:
  • ENG 1020
  • ENG 1021 (for students in the Honors Program)

Step 2: How do I become eligible to take ENG 1010 or ENG 1008 and ENG 1020?

• ENG 1010
  • Have the appropriate score on the ACT, SAT, or Accuplacer Sentence Skills placement exams
  • If you did not score high enough on one of these exams:
  • It may make sense for you to retake the Accuplace Sentence Skills exam, after preparing for it to see if you can raise your score
  • If that doesn't make sense or you're not able to raise the score, register for the appropriate course. See Choosing Courses based on your Assessment Scores ( 67 KB)
• ENG 1020
  • Complete ENG 1010, ENG 1009, or equivalent course with a grade of C or higher

Step 3: What resources are available to me?

• Preparing for the Accuplacer
  • Review the online preparation materials
  • Get help from the Tutoring Center
• Assistance in CCD English courses
  • Get help from the MSU Denver Tutoring Center
  • Get help from the CCD Academic Support Center
• Assistance in ENG 1008, ENG 1009, ENG 1010, or ENG 1020
  • "Get it in writing" from the MSU Denver Writing Center
    • The Writing Center helps students improve their writing in ANY MSU Denver course--not just the Written Communication courses
  • Get help from the Tutoring Center

Step 4: Complete the Written Communication requirement!