EN 104 · General Education

EN 104 English Composition I sample papers, unit by unit

Reviewed by Cecily Vandenberg, MSN, RN English Composition I Herzing University Free custom samples in 24–48h

The course everything else is written on top of. EN 104 sample essays hold one arguable thesis through every paragraph, put the source underneath the writer's own sentence, and stop where the evidence stops.

How this shelf works

Send the exact assignment or rubric from your classroom and a custom sample written to it lands in 24 to 48 hours, the first one free. EN 104 is Herzing’s English Composition I course. It centers on English Composition I, where a student learns to hold one arguable claim across an essay instead of assembling everything they know about a topic. Searches like "en 104 unit 4 assignment example", "EN104 sample paper", and "EN 104 unit samples" land on this page.

What EN 104 is really about

First composition is graded on control rather than on knowledge, which surprises students who arrive expecting the topic to matter most. EN 104 rubrics reward a thesis somebody could disagree with, paragraphs that each do one job, and transitions that carry an argument rather than announce a change of subject. The commonest failure is not bad writing but a missing spine: an essay that covers a topic competently while never committing to a claim about it. Because this course is a prerequisite for almost everything else, instructors tend to enforce the mechanics strictly, since the habits formed here follow a student through the whole degree.

The second half of the course is usually source work. Quotation, paraphrase and summary are distinguished and each is cited, and the difference between them is a graded matter rather than a stylistic preference. Papers lose ground when a quotation is dropped into a paragraph with no sentence of the writer's own around it, which rubrics describe as an unintegrated source and students experience as a mysterious deduction. Format matters here too, and sections differ on whether the course runs in MLA or APA, so a sample built in the wrong one is wrong on the criterion instructors mark first.

What EN 104’s assessments ask for

Assignments usually move from a personal or descriptive piece toward an argument supported by outside sources, with drafts and revision built into the sequence. What the criteria reward is a thesis that takes a position, a structure a reader can follow without being told what is happening, and sources that support sentences the writer composed. Revision assignments want visible change rather than corrected typing, so a second draft that reads as the first with cleaner punctuation will not satisfy them. Where a rhetorical analysis appears, it wants the strategies named and their effect argued rather than the source article summarized. Drafting stages are graded in their own right, so a draft submitted thin costs marks the final version cannot recover.

Where students lose points in EN 104

The reliable losses are a thesis that nobody could dispute, paragraphs holding two ideas each, and quotations left to speak for themselves. Fourth is a source used to say something the writer could have said unaided, which adds a citation and no support. Fifth is the wrong citation style, which is the fastest deduction available in this course and entirely avoidable. Sixth is a revision that changed only surface errors, when the assignment asked for structural work. Length padding shows immediately at this level, because the sentences that exist only to reach a word count read differently from the ones carrying the argument. Sentences written to reach a word count read differently from the ones carrying an argument, and instructors see it.

EN 104 grading scale at Herzing: how the work is graded, from Herzing Assignments
How Herzing grades EN 104, visualized by Herzing Assignments.

The EN 104 drawers

Unit 1

EN 104 Unit 1 diagnostic or narrative essay example

Unit 1 typically opens with a short personal piece establishing the writer's baseline. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 2

EN 104 Unit 2 thesis and outline exercise example

Unit 2 usually builds an arguable thesis and the structure that will carry it. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 3

EN 104 Unit 3 expository essay example

Unit 3 tends to require explanation held together by one controlling idea. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 4

EN 104 Unit 4 source integration exercise example

Unit 4 commonly practices quotation, paraphrase and summary with citation for each. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 5

EN 104 Unit 5 rhetorical analysis example

Unit 5 usually names the strategies in a text and argues their effect. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 6

EN 104 Unit 6 argumentative essay draft example

Unit 6 typically produces the argument draft with sources supporting the writer's claims. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 7

EN 104 Unit 7 peer review and revision example

Unit 7 usually asks for structural revision answering the feedback received. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 8

EN 104 Unit 8 final argumentative essay example

Unit 8 generally submits the revised argument with the citation style applied throughout. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Using a EN 104 sample the right way

The thing to take from the example is where its thesis sits and how every paragraph afterwards can be traced back to it. Topic and sources are interchangeable; that structural discipline is not, and it is what the rubric is actually measuring. Before you use anything, confirm which citation style your section runs, because instructors mark that first and a strong essay in the wrong format still loses the point. Send the prompt and the rubric and the sample comes back matched to both. Everything else about the example, including its subject, is replaceable.

How these samples are written

Every sample on this rail is written the way the custom ones are: the rubric decoded row by row, clinical registers held exactly, formats shipped clean. Herzing revises classrooms; a custom request is always written to the rubric in YOUR course, never from a stale template.

EN 104 questions, answered

What makes a thesis arguable?

Somebody could reasonably take the other side. Social media affects communication is an observation nobody disputes; a claim that a specific effect outweighs a specific benefit, for a stated group, invites disagreement and gives the essay something to defend. If you cannot imagine the counter-position, the thesis is a topic sentence wearing a thesis's clothes.

How do I integrate a quotation properly?

Put your own sentence in front of it and your own analysis behind it. The quotation supports a claim you made rather than standing in for making one, and the sentence after it says what the reader should take from it. A quotation sitting alone as its own sentence is what rubrics mean by dropped, and it is among the most common deductions in this course.

MLA or APA?

It depends on your section and it is worth checking before you write anything. Composition courses run in either, sometimes varying by instructor within the same program, and the formatting criterion is usually the first one marked. Working in the wrong style costs a straightforward point on an essay that may be strong in every other respect.