UMGC WRTG 111: Academic Writing I
WRTG 111 is the first course in UMGC's writing sequence, rebuilding academic writing fundamentals (paragraph and essay structure, thesis development, and revision) for students who may be returning to school after years away. Work is scaffolded: short pieces grow into essays through drafts and instructor feedback.
Fennie is independent and not affiliated with University of Maryland Global Campus. This is an unofficial study guide.
What makes it hard
There's no trick to the content; the challenge is the steady weekly cadence of drafts, discussions, and revisions for students juggling jobs and deployments. Students rusty after a long gap from school tend to over-stress early; the course is designed exactly for them.
What you'll cover
- • Essay and paragraph structure
- • Thesis statements
- • The drafting and revision process
- • Responding to feedback
- • Introduction to source use and citation
The WRTG 111 study guide
How to study for UMGC WRTG 111, step by step.
- 1
Do the low-stakes early assignments
WRTG 111's later essays build directly on the short early pieces. Skipping the easy points at the start is how a re-entry course turns stressful by week 5.
- 2
Split each essay into outline, draft, and revision days
Three short sessions across the week fit a working schedule better than one long one, and the drafting process itself is graded, so the split earns points twice.
- 3
Treat feedback as the assignment
The grade rewards visible improvement between drafts, not first-draft polish. Work through every instructor comment explicitly before submitting the revision.
- 4
Start citation habits now
WRTG 111 only introduces source use, but WRTG 112 grades it hard. Learning the basics here, while stakes are low, pays forward immediately.
Today's WRTG 111 plan
What a Fennie Daily Plan looks like for WRTG 111. Yours is built from your syllabus and adapts every day to your deadlines and progress.
- Review: Responding to feedbackReview · 25 min
Work back through the WRTG 111 material on responding to feedback. In the app, Fennie builds this from your own notes and syllabus.
- Practice: Introduction to source use and citationPractice · 20 min
Targeted problems on introduction to source use and citation, the kind WRTG 111 actually tests.
- Quick quiz: Essay and paragraph structureQuiz · 10 min
Five generated questions to expose weak spots on essay and paragraph structure before the exam does.
- Preview: Thesis statementsPreview · 10 min
A first pass over thesis statements so the next session starts from familiar ground.
First plan free, no card required. Fennie is independent and unaffiliated with your school.
FAQ
Is WRTG 111 hard?
No. It's intentionally a re-entry course for adults returning to academic writing. The students who struggle are the ones who skip the low-stakes early assignments that the later essays build on.
Do I need WRTG 111 or can I start with WRTG 112?
It depends on placement and transfer credit. Many students with prior college English start at WRTG 112; check your degree audit or ask an advisor before registering.
What do you write in WRTG 111?
Short scaffolded assignments building into full essays, with required drafts and revisions. The grade rewards engaging with feedback and improving between drafts, not polished first attempts.
More UMGC courses
WRTG 112: Academic Writing II
WRTG 112 is UMGC's research-writing course: you develop a research question, evaluate sources, and produce an academic research essay through staged milestones across the session. It satisfies the core writing requirement for most UMGC degrees and is one of the most-taken courses at the university.
WRTG 393: Advanced Technical Writing
WRTG 393 is UMGC's workplace-writing course and a common upper-level writing requirement: instructions, technical descriptions, reports, and proposals, all written for defined audiences and purposes. Most assignments mirror documents you'd actually produce on the job, and many students build them around their own workplace.