Composition Courses

What Is Composition?

Composition is a writing process. Writing compositions is a large part of your education, and it will be part of your employment process whether you know it now or not. The fundamentals of good writing allow you to communicate clearly and persuasively and the elements of good composition appear in many business-related forms.

Learn Composition

Many people make the mistake of saying they'll never have to use writing once they get out of college, but those college compositions help inform a lot of business writing. Writing skills get better only with practice and whether it's a business proposal, an ad, or an email to your colleague, the ability to capture the reader's attention remains the most important thing. Composition writing is an integral part of your soft skills list. Potential employers often look for people who can communicate effectively through writing. Along with effective oral communication skills, writing skills typically top the list of things employers are looking for outside of the specific hard skills of the job.

Composition Courses and Certifications

Composition courses are a great way to get feedback on your performance and brush up on the fundamentals. edX offers courses in partnership with leading institutions, helping you understand what goes into a good composition and giving you the chance to advance your skills. For beginners or those who've been out of school for a while, Arizona State University offers a freshman level English Composition course designed to give you an overview of what goes into a composition (thesis statement, main idea, good body paragraphs). The course is credit eligible and transfers to many other institutions. For more experienced writers, higher level composition courses offered by Berkeley ties literature to composition, giving you context for what's considered good writing in English and stretching your abilities. Business writers could benefit from ASU's English Composition: Research and Writing course, designed to introduce the fundamentals of good research papers and how to apply writing skills to that area. For native Mandarin speakers, Tsinghua University introduces reading and writing in English and how the cultures of different English speaking countries affect those skills. It's a great introduction to writing in English because writing skills and styles vary according to cultural norms.

Ignite Your Career with Composition Skills

The writing process follows you from school through your work life. Communicating effectively through oral and written skills is an ability that never falls off the list of skills employers are looking for. Once you've mastered the art of communication, your success could be just around the corner.