Learning Outcomes
Through the First-year Writing Course, students should. . .
Be introduced to:
- conventions of formal academic writing in contrast to informal writing
- some types of writing assignments in the discipline, e.g. a public policy paper, close literary analysis, a primary research paper analyzing data, or analysis of empirical research
Gain guided practice in:
- critical reading
- analyzing student writing
- writing as a process
- incorporating feedback and revision
- writing appropriately for a given audience
Know:
About writing
- that conventions of good writing are different from spoken language and are dependent on discipline, audience, subject and media
- that writing is an iterative process
- the distinction between topic and thesis (thesis=assertion)
- the distinction between primary and secondary sources
About writing as a process
- that pre-writing, composing, and revising are distinct intellectual activities
- the value of varied pre-writing activities (brainstorming, critical reading, etc.)
- the distinction between revising and editing/correcting
- some useful roles readers can play in the revising process
About academic honesty
- when to document sources
- ethical, legal, and professional reasons for documenting sources
- that citation styles vary among disciplines
Be able to do the following at the basic level:
Literacy
- read critically
- identify a thesis
- identify and paraphrase argument
Writing
- limit scope of argument appropriately
- develop a clear, arguable thesis
- introduce and conclude a topic
- develop and sustain an argument
- target claims to specific text/data
- judiciously select and effectively integrate evidence/supporting details
- follow conventions of formal academic writing
- make appropriate stylistic choices
- cite and document sources properly
- write grammatically
- strive to write with clarity, coherence, and unity, whether writing narrative, argument, or summary