UNC ENGL 105: English Composition and Rhetoric
ENGL 105 is UNC's required first-year writing course, taught in small sections and organized around writing in the disciplines: units producing real genres from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, with drafting, feedback, and revision built into the grade.
Fennie is independent and not affiliated with UNC Chapel Hill. This is an unofficial study guide.
What makes it hard
The genre-switching is the surprise: just as you've calibrated to a scientific abstract, the course pivots to a policy brief or a humanities analysis with different conventions and a different voice. Grading is process-based (drafts, peer review, and revision all count), and students who treat feedback rounds as formalities discover they were the actual assignment.
What you'll cover
- • Writing in the natural sciences
- • Writing in the social sciences
- • Writing in the humanities
- • Genre awareness and conventions
- • Drafting, feedback, and revision
The ENGL 105 study guide
How to study for UNC ENGL 105, step by step.
- 1
Study each genre before writing in it
Every ENGL 105 unit asks for a real disciplinary genre with real conventions. Read the provided examples like blueprints (structure, voice, what counts as evidence) before drafting, not after feedback.
- 2
Treat the process steps as the assignment
Drafts, peer review, and revision are graded components, not formalities around the 'real' paper. Calendar them like deadlines, because they are.
- 3
Revise structurally between drafts
Lightly edited resubmissions read as non-engagement. Reorder, cut, and rebuild in response to feedback; process-based grading rewards visible growth across versions.
- 4
Reset deliberately at each genre switch
The conventions that earned praise in the science unit can cost points in the humanities unit. At each pivot, ask what this discipline's readers expect. The transfer-aware students are the ones who finish strong.
- 5
Use feedback as calibration data
Instructor comments on early drafts are the clearest signal of this section's standards. Mine them for patterns and apply them forward; the same note appearing twice is a preventable cost.
Today
Today's ENGL 105 plan
What a Fennie Daily Plan looks like for ENGL 105. Yours is built from your own syllabus and adapts every day to your deadlines and progress.
First plan free, no card required. Fennie is independent and unaffiliated with your school.
FAQ
Is ENGL 105 at UNC hard?
Not conceptually, but it's process-graded and genre-diverse: you'll write real forms from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, with drafts and revision counting throughout. Strong high-school writers who skip the process steps get middling grades; full engagers outscore them.
What do you write in ENGL 105?
Authentic disciplinary genres rather than generic essays: units typically produce science writing (like abstracts or reports), social science forms (like policy briefs), and humanities analysis, each developed through drafting and feedback. Exact assignments vary by instructor.
Can I place out of ENGL 105?
It's required of nearly all first-years, with limited exceptions through transfer credit per current university policy; AP English credit generally doesn't replace it. Check the registrar's current rules rather than assuming; most students should simply plan on taking it.
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