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Welcome to the English Program.

We are a dynamic and growing department, part of a thriving humanities division at Lindenwood University. We offer a wide range of courses in both the classical and modern cannon in both British and American Literature, and in Creative Writing. Both our Creative Writing and our American Literature offerings are in the process of expansion. We offer two tracks of emphasis: literature and creative writing. A dual emphasis is allowed and requires completion of both emphases requirements. A Writing Certificate is also available. The English department at Lindenwood maintains close working relationships with other programs on campus, such as the American Studies program, the Theater program, and the MFA in Writing program.

Whatever your reasons for visiting our website, we invite you to explore the possibilities of the English program at Lindenwood University.

Mission Statement:
The English program at Lindenwood University empowers students to become:

. Critical thinkers with the intellectual resources to test the validity of ideas
. Writers who can adapt their knowledge to a wide variety of writing tasks
. Skilled communicators
. Researchers who are skilled at using non-traditional and traditional research tools
. Literate individuals who understand and appreciate both their own and other cultures
. Creative thinkers who develop their own artistic and creative abilities while appreciating the creative expression of others

Announcements

Calling for student submissions! Students of any grade level, submit your poems, short stories, plays, or essays to any English faculty. We are currently seeking entries for the Jean Fields, Linda B. Ross, and Howard Barnett Awards. Please label which award you are submitting for.

Policy Changes
Beginning in the Fall 2009 semester, students cannot pass ENG 170 with a grade lower than a “C.” Further, students must pass ENG 170 before taking the WPA (Writing Proficiency Assessment).

The Writing Placement Exam
The Writing Placement Exam (WPE) determines a student’s placement in the English Composition course sequence. All freshman and transfer students registering for classes beginning in fall 2009 are required to take this placement exam when registering at Lindenwood University. The exam consists of writing a basic essay in response to a given topic. Outside research is unnecessary as a student draws from his or her own experiences and thoughts about the topic. Specific instructions and tips about writing the essay will be given to students on enrollment day. This placement exam will determine whether a student is placed in ENG 110 (Effective Writing) or ENG 150 (Composition I).

Tips for taking the Writing Placement Exam - click to view

Planning Your Essay

Please spend a few minutes planning your essay or narrative before you start to write it.

You may NOT use any outside sources – pre-written essays or Internet sources are not permitted. Students who cheat on the assessment by using Microsoft Word, the Internet, or any other outside source will automatically fail the Writing Proficiency Assessment.

Consider the topic carefully, and, if you are writing an essay, think about your thesis statement and about the main ideas that you will discuss to support your thesis. Consider also how you will organize the main ideas. Be sure to use specific examples and/or relevant reasons to support your ideas. Be sure to include an introduction, a conclusion, and solid paragraphs. You may use first person.

Your essay will be evaluated for its overall quality. Overall quality includes how well the essay addresses the topic and how well it organizes, supports, and expresses the main ideas. Varied sentence structure, accurate word usage, and correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization all contribute to the overall quality of the writing.

Timing Your Essay

You will have 40 minutes to complete your essay.

Drafting Your Essay

Please write at least 350 words – the more the better. There is a word count function in the program, and you can use it to gauge your word count.

When you are ready to write your essay, please type it directly into the text box.

On the day of the exam, you will receive instructions about not using the tab key, which has been deactivated in the text box. When you want to indicate a paragraph break, press the ENTER key twice to insert a blank line between paragraphs. To indent, use the spacebar and not the tab key.

You will also receive a reminder about only typing your response into the text box. You do not need to add your name, date, subject, or any other information that you do not intend to include in your essay. Including such pieces of information may lower the final score, because the scoring engine will interpret them as sentence fragments.

Submitting Your Essay

When you have completed your essay, click SUBMIT ESSAY. Do not log out until the proctor verifies that he/she has your information.

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