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Course Content and Outcome Guide for WR 115

Date:

02-AUG-2012

Posted by:

Curriculum Office

Course Number:

WR 115

Course Title:

Intro to Expository Writing

Credit Hours:

4

Lecture hours:

40

Lecture/Lab hours:

0

Lab hours:

0

Special Fee:

 

Course Description

Introduces college level skills in reading critically, exploring ideas, and writing. Students compose essays which support a thesis through structure appropriate to both thesis and reader and learn to revise for clarity and correctness. Prerequisites: (Placement into WR 115 or completion of WR 90 or ESOL 262) and (placement into RD 115 or completion of RD 90 or ESOL 260). Audit available.

Intended Outcomes for the course

 

• Write a 3-page thesis-controlled coherent essay.
• Demonstrate grammatical conventions without patterns of major usage errors.
• Practice writing as a process.
• Employ strategies that acknowledge specific audiences and purposes.
• Begin to explore ways to write with style.
• Analyze college-level texts for structure and content and theme.
• Explore unfamiliar points of view through reading and writing.
• Use writing as a tool to begin to develop an authentic voice.
• Interpret and apply feedback.
• Access and use library and Internet sources.
• Seek out and engage assistance from a variety of tutoring centers on campus.
• Write a multi-paragraphed essay in class that is focused on a main idea, shows an understanding of sentence structure, and illustrates a sense of organization through topic sentences and paragraphs.

Outcome Assessment Strategies

All Writing 115 students must pass an in-class timed Exit Exam with a grade of C or better.

The instructor will assess students by using the following methods:

• Regular in class writing;
• Assigned essays.

The instructor will assess students by using some or all of the following methods:

• Written and oral responses to assigned study questions;
• Written and oral responses to assigned readings;
• Writing journals.

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)

• Identifying reasons to write;
• Understanding the relationship of the writer to the topic;
• Identifying which arguments one has a stake in;
• Understanding that the thesis is a contract between writer and reader;
• Writing for particular purposes and audiences;
• Supporting claims by the use of specific examples;
• Addressing style as a component of good writing;
• Reading other writers as models;
• Having respect for other points of view and developing sensitivity to the social and political implications of a variety of texts, including one’s own;
• Understanding the elements that make up a piece of writing:

            Sentences

            Paragraphs

            Tone

            Introductions

            Conclusions

            Audience

            Purpose

            Summary

            Paraphrase

            Citation

 Competencies and Skills:

• Speaking and listening attentively;
• Analyzing audiences for appropriate language and content;
• Working in small groups;
• Joining in classroom discussions;
• Identifying a writer’s stated or implied thesis;
• Analyzing the writer’s use of style and logic to affect audience;
• Using experience, observation and analysis as part of the creative process;
• Appraising one’s own writing skills and abilities;
• Building vocabulary;
• Summarizing, paraphrasing, and citing sources;
• Understanding correct sentence structure;
• Getting exposure to new ideas in a spirit of open interaction;
• Developing the ability to integrate and connect one writer’s ideas with another’s;
• Recognizing and avoiding plagiarism.