Teaching Basic Writing: An Alternative to Basic Skills

A t the University of Pittsburgh, we teach Basic Writing to around 1,200 students each year. The instruction is offered through two different courses — Basic Writing (3 hours, 3 credits) and Basic Reading and Writing (6 hours, 6 credits). We also have a Writing Workshop, and basic writers frequently attend, but their attendance is voluntary, and the workshop is not specifically for writers with basic problems. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.