Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Students write at least one paragraph and a minimum of two to three essays (2-3 pages each).

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

1. Read to understand main ideas, supporting details, and a writer’s purpose in a variety of texts.

2. Use composing and reading strategies for comprehension.

3. Use reading strategies to write coherent texts that develop ideas in support of a central idea.

4. Use writing conventions (content, form, format) to communicate the writer’s ideas.

5. Use strategies to enhance and diversify knowledge of vocabulary.

6. Follow a process to access information in textbooks and other reference texts.

7. Use flexible strategies for pre-reading, reading, reviewing, rereading, correcting comprehension, drafting, revising, and editing.

This course may be designed and delivered with a diversity of approaches, respecting instructor autonomy and the needs of students. This list describes some activities that students might engage in to meet the outcomes listed above. It does not prescribe activities which must take place.

1. Read to understand main ideas, supporting details, and a writer’s purpose in a variety of texts.

• Identify main ideas in texts of varying lengths

• Develop strategies for distinguishing key details from minor ones

• Notice personal connections to texts

• Distinguish author’s meaning and purpose from one’s own

2. Use composing and reading strategies for comprehension.

• Use stages of reading

• Develop self-reflection and metacognitive habits and strategies

• Adjust reading rate to needs of the text.

• Ask questions of a text to increase comprehension and focus

• Write for audience and for self; produce polished as well as unpolished work

3. Use reading strategies to write coherent texts that develop ideas in support of a central idea.

• Evaluate one’s own reading and writing processes in order to increase comprehension, clarity, and communication

• Notice commonalities and characteristics of different types of writing based on class readings

• Practice emulating forms based on models

4. Use writing conventions (content, form, format) to communicate the writer’s ideas.

• Write clear and coherent sentences and paragraphs

• Focus writing through use of topic sentences or clear topics

• Consider paragraph unity

• Develop a variety of adequate and relevant support

• Practice use of proofreading conventions

5. Develop strategies to enhance and diversify knowledge of vocabulary.

• Recognize common Greek and Latin roots

• Analyze roots and affixes of words

• Use context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words

• Navigate reference text entries, including dictionaries, glossaries, and thesauri

• Practice using new vocabulary in appropriate contexts

6. Develop a process to access information in textbooks and other reference texts.

• Use reading strategies to predict the location of useful and relevant information

• Accurately interpret reference materials, such as dictionary and glossary entries

• Employ reference texts as resources and support

7. Learn flexible strategies for pre-reading, reading, reviewing, rereading, correcting comprehension, drafting, revising, and editing.

• Practice annotation and self-monitoring skills when reading and revising

• Develop multiple techniques for previewing, prewriting, recalling, note-taking, and revising

• Write to discover attitudes and inconsistencies; develop and determine thesis

• Improve writing through revision, incorporating instructor feedback

• Consider structure, purpose, word choice, and conventions in one’s own written work, as well as that of authors and of peers

• Portfolio

• In-class writing

• Out-of-class writing, which may include a range of genres: e.g. expository, classification, definition, personal narrative, formal letters and emails, application essays, reading responses.

• Responses to assigned texts

• Group/individual work demonstrating comprehension strategies

• Group/individual work demonstrating vocabulary usage

• Book review/project of novel, biography, or autobiography

• Conference with instructor

• Individual projects, such as dictionaries, artist statements, journals, flash cards, outlines, maps, diagrams, multi-media compositions, note-taking methods, career exploration readings, Service Learning

• Midterm and/or comprehensive final

• Quizzes on vocabulary and correct usage

• Class participation
• Attendance policies may vary.  Students missing 4 or more classes may not pass the course.

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)

• Identifying reasons to write;

• Writing for particular purposes and audiences;

• Supporting claims by the use of general and specific examples;

• Addressing clarity as a component of good writing;

• Reading other writers as models;

• Developing familiarity with a range of texts:

  • Textbooks

  • Articles

  • Books

  • Online media

• 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

  • Introductions

  • Conclusions

  • Audience

  • Purpose

  • Summary

Competencies and Skills:

Recurring themes and concepts that students will work with include

• Reading actively

• Identifying a writer’s stated thesis

• Using experience, observation and analysis as part of the writing process;

• Monitoring one’s own reading and composing skills and abilities;

• Developing strategies to correct errors in comprehension and composition

• Building vocabulary through context and word parts study;

• Understanding key ideas and details; summarizing

• Attribution of authorship

• Recognizing and avoiding plagiarism.

• Understanding correct sentence structure;

• Developing the ability to identify structural elements in an author’s work and to make generalizations about sample texts

• Adjusting reading rate to text