Welcome to the Rhetoric Program at Oakland University

Cathy Small, writing instructor and author of My Freshman Year, responds to some questions raised by RHT faculty, after sharing her impressions about today's college students.

IMPORTANT LINKS Oakland University Home Page Placement Guidelines Transfer Credit Guidelines

The Rhetoric Program is committed to offering students opportunities to write and to read diverse kinds of text: print, digital, and visual. We examine written language in its many forms and purposes, and we center our teaching practices on students’ growth as language-users. Our commitments are reflected in the development of undergraduate and graduate courses that increase learning opportunities available to students and individuals in surrounding communities. Our commitments also are reflected in our faculty’s published research, our collaboration with area teachers in the context of the Meadow Brook Writing Project, and our efforts to improve the teaching of writing at the university through ongoing program assessment and through promoting a culture that values writing across the curriculum

To fulfill Oakland University’s graduation requirement of writing proficiency, most students will take Composition I (RHT 150) and Composition II (RHT 160). (See Undergraduate degree requirements.) New students will be placed through the use of several mechanisms.

Entering students with an ACT score of 16-27 will be placed in RHT 150, unless they qualify for Composition II (RHT 160) as described below. RHT 150 offers intensive writing practice to allow students to develop fluency and flexibility in writing.

Entering students with an ACT score of 28 or above will be placed into RHT 160. Students are also placed in RHT 160 on the basis of prior college composition coursework, or if they present a Level 1 score on the MEAP Writing Test, or an AP English exam score of 3 or better, or a successful placement packet. Students who believe their skills warrant exemption from Rhetoric 160 may submit an exemption portfolio as described under Writing Proficiency in the undergraduate degree requirements section of the undergraduate catalog.