1 Chapter 1: Introduction to College Writing at CNM
1 Chapter 1: Introduction to College Writing at CNM
Part 1: Chapter 1
This textbook is a college reader for English 1110 and 1120, Composition I and Composition II, respectively. If you are enrolled in one of these courses, you may be nearing the end of your studies at Central New Mexico Community College (CNM), you may be just starting your studies at CNM, or you may have already taken this class but didn’t finish. The reality is every English 1110 and 1120 course at CNM contains a diverse range of students. If you are enrolled in English 1110 or 1120 at CNM, you are likely a resident of New Mexico. You might have gone to an elementary or secondary school here. You might feel like a part of the unique culture here in NM.
This textbook asks you to take yourself seriously as a college writer. You are entering the realm of academic writing; you are entering academia. Welcome. We are happy you are here. Being a CNM student means that you are enrolled at the largest post-secondary institution in the state of New Mexico.
The graphic below lists the outcomes for English 1110 and 1120. To pass English 1110 and 1120, you are required to obtain the following skills and knowledge. Every course at CNM is assessed based on its outcomes.
Did You Know
Being a CNM student means that you are enrolled at the largest post-secondary institution in the state.
CNM offers resources that can help you not only with your studies but also with managing your responsibilities as well. In this textbook, we’ll cover the conventions of writing, and we’ll also cover some of the resources available to you as a CNM student. And since this book is free and available on the internet, you can keep it…forever!
This textbook is an Open Educational Resource text, which means it was created using free and available sources on the Internet, namely seven different open access books. Our compiled textbook will shift between free, outside writing resources and the plural first pronoun voice, or the we voice, signaling the English teachers who compiled and developed sections of the text.
Throughout this text, the writers–all CNM English faculty, some of whom are still paying back student loans–are the we who compiled this textbook. We did so because we believe that a college education should be engaging, enlightening, informative, life-affirming, worldview-upturning and affordable. We believe it shouldn’t cost money to learn how to write, and that is why we are making this book available to you. This project also would not have happened without the support of CNM’s OER initiative and CHSS administration.
This textbook will cover ways to communicate effectively as you develop insight into your own style, writing process, grammatical choices, and rhetorical situations. With these skills, you should be able to improve your writing talent regardless of the discipline you enter after completing this course. Knowing your rhetorical situation, or the circumstances under which you communicate, and k