Foundations of Writing and Critical Inquiry

The School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences administers the Foundations of Writing and Critical Inquiry for all incoming freshmen and transfer students.

Incoming domestic freshmen take CAL 103 Writing and Communications Colloquium in the fall of their freshman year, followed by CAL 105 Knowledge, Nature, Culture in the spring of their freshman year. International students who are not English Language Learners (ELL) will follow the same path. Transfer students may be required to take one or both of these courses, to be determined at the time of their matriculation.

Incoming international students who are ELL will be placed in CAL 101 English Skills for the fall semester of their freshman year, before going on to the Foundations of Writing and Critical Inquiry sequence. They can attempt to place out of this course and go directly into the 103/105 sequence by taking a diagnostic test with both a written and an oral component, administered during Freshman Orientation. Students who remain in CAL 101 for the fall semester will take CAL 103 in the spring of their freshman year and CAL 105 in the following fall.

While Advanced Placement (AP) credit cannot be applied to CAL 103 or CAL 105, transfer credit may be accepted for CAL 103, for a writing course taken at another university if equivalency can be established. No transfer credit is available for CAL 105, except in exceptional cases, as determined by CAL. CAL 101 is a three-credit course that can be used to fulfill general elective credits (not humanities credits).