Course Outcomes - WR 121

WR 121: English Composition: Introduction to Academic Writing

Prerequisite:  Appropriate scores on Lane's Writing Placement Test or a passing grade (C- or better) in WR 115.

This fundamental course for all writing students introduces students to the conventions of academic writing. It emphasizes defining and developing a significant topic and using principles of clear thinking to support an assertive or argumentative thesis. Students will gain an understanding of their subject matter, audience, purpose, and point of view, and demonstrate that understanding through the organization and development of their essays. Students will learn how to analyze and evaluate other writers' work to sharpen their critical abilities as readers and writers.

The course also introduces students to skills in source analysis, documentation, and beginning research methods.

A. Engage in and value a respectful and free exchange of ideas.

B. Demonstrate critical thinking and reading skills of situations or challenging college-level texts:

• Read actively and rhetorically: engage with complex ideas in order to evaluate and interpret texts;
• Evaluate, use, and synthesize sources in support of the thesis, which may include primary and secondary sources and those found in media-captured, electronic, live, and printed forms;
• Engage in the research process as part of an inquiry process.

C. Make appropriate and effective rhetorical choices during all stages of the writing process:

• Adopt a point of view, which takes into account voice, tone, and ethos, appropriate for a defined purpose and audience;
• Choose strategies of development appropriate for the purpose and audience, which may include, narration, cause/effect, description, comparison/contrast, classification, process, and definition.

D. Develop and Organize Essays:

• Develop essays through a flexible process of pre-drafting, planning, drafting, revising, and editing;
• Write at least one essay that demonstrates an understanding of the basic principles of argumentation;
• Develop support using methods that may include: adequate explanatory details, sensory and narrative detail, dialogue, examples, illustrations, reasons, analogies, and forms of evidence such as summary and synthesis of outside sources.

E. Begin to use the library and Internet resources to conduct research:

• Use a database and the Internet to locate information and evidence;
• Demonstrate an ability to summarize, paraphrase, and quote sources in a manner that distinguishes the writer's voice from that of his/her sources.

F. Effectively and correctly use accepted conventions and formatting:

• Demonstrate the ability to use Edited Standard Written English (ESWE) to address an academic audience;
• Type and format final drafts with appropriate headings, titles, spacing, margins, demonstrating an understanding of either MLA or APA citation style;
• Use the handbook or other resources for style, grammar, and citation.