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.
Build my WRTG 111 study planWhat 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.
- 5
Build the writing schedule with Fennie
Upload the WRTG 111 schedule and Fennie's Daily Plans break each essay into days that fit around your shifts, paced to the session's deadlines, with your actual course materials driving the plan. It's free to start.
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How Fennie helps with WRTG 111
Upload the WRTG 111 schedule and Fennie's Daily Plans break each essay into outline, draft, and revision days that fit around your shifts. Chat through your thesis and structure to test your reasoning before drafting, and use Fennie to brush up grammar and citation conventions — the writing itself stays yours.
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.
Pass WRTG 111 with a plan, not a cram
Upload your WRTG 111 materials and Fennie generates a Daily Plan paced to your deadline — plus chat, flashcards, and quizzes built from the actual course content.
Get started freeMore 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.