Why do I need WI classes after taking ENG 101?
You may have wondered why UNCG asks you to take writing classes beyond freshman composition (ENG 101). After all, ENG 101, your AP class, or the class you took at another school pretty much taught you everything you need to know about writing, right?
Not quite. ENG 101 is focused on learning to write: mastering the rhetorical moves and writing styles valued in the academy. WI courses focus on writing to learn: using writing assignments to help you master class materials. Writing is not the focus of the assignments, it is the means by which you learn.
This is not to say that you won't improve your writing in WI classes. Years of research shows that writing is a skill that develops over time. Your professors are still working on improving their writing, even now. More importantly, researchers have shown that writing helps you learn. In the 1970s, writing scholar James Britton and a number of colleagues identified three general types of writing: expressive (writing that's closest to thought), transactional (writing that gets something done), and poetic (writing for its own sake). According to Britton's report on their work, expressive writing—writing to help yourself understand—is "the matrix from which all other writing evolves." 
Janet Emig found that "Writing serves learning uniquely because writing...possesses a cluster of attributes that correspond uniquely to certain powerful learning strategies." Writing lets you represent ideas in different ways, gives you a record of your thoughts as they develop, enables you to make connections to other ideas, and is as active and personal as you want it to be.
