Composition studies (also referred to as composition and rhetoric, rhetoric and composition, writing studies, or simply composition) is the professional field of writing, research, and instruction, focusing especially on writing at the college level in the United States. The flagship national organization for this field is the Conference on College Composition and Communication. In most US and some Canadian colleges and universities, undergraduates take freshman or higher-level composition courses. To support the effective administration of these courses, the development of basic and applied research on the acquisition of writing skills, and an understanding of the history of the uses and transformation of writing systems and writing technologies (among many other subareas of research), over 70 American universities offer doctoral study in rhetoric and composition. These programs of study usually include composition pedagogical theory, linguistics, professional and technical communication, qualitative and quantitative research methods, the history of rhetoric, as well as the influence of different writing conventions and genres on writers' composing processes more generally. Composition scholars also publish in the fields of teaching English as a second or foreign language (TESOL) or second language writing, writing centers, and new literacies. Basic writing Many historians of Composition Studies argue that the matter of who exactly should be defined as a "basic writer" and what counts as "basic writing" is complex. The definition of "basic" has been disputed when framed around issues of writing proficiency in "Standard English," increasingly racially/ethnically diverse college demographics, which both resulted from post-secondary desegregation mandates. For example, the term "basic writing" has been attributed to the SEEK program started by Mina P. Shaughnessy at the City University of New York, which she designed to help incoming college students from open admissions who had not historically been able to attend college. Consistent with then-current educational theories, many of these courses focused on what were at that time believed to be core concepts of formal English, like spelling, usage, and organization, though as the field has advanced these courses are increasingly aligned with the curricula found in mainstream first-year composition. Basic writing coursework has diversified considerably since its beginnings in non-credit-bearing 'pre' college courses, including stretch, studio, and accelerated offerings, although they remain typically understood as precursors to or supplements for mainstream first-year composition. First-year composition Most US universities have a required first-year composition course, also referred to as FYC. Although both are typically housed in Departments of English,