17³Ô¹Ï

Student Learning Outcomes -

• Students can articulate a main idea at the essay level (thesis)
• Students can integrate information from texts to develop a main idea (quoting and paraphrasing)

Description -

Techniques and practice of expository and argumentative writing based on critical reading and thinking about texts. Reading focused primarily on works of non-fiction prose, chosen to represent a broad spectrum of opinions and ideas, writing styles, and cultural experiences. Fulfills the 17³Ô¹Ï reading and composition requirement for the AA/AS degree and the university-transfer general education requirement in English reading and written composition. The honors section offers rigorous preparation in analytic reading and writing skills for students intending to transfer to a four-year college or university. Provides opportunity to engage contemporary social and ethical issues through small group discussion, a structured sequence of papers requiring higher-level thinking tasks, and collaborative projects. Emphasis is placed on multiple drafts and substantive revision to produce articulate writing appropriate to academic disciplines. Research paper is required.

Course Objectives -

1. Write extended expository text-based compositions, including a research paper, that synthesize readings and extend ideas gained from class discussion.
2. Formulate an arguable thesis and substantiate it through analysis, logical and systematic organization, supporting evidence, and clarity of expression.
3. Use diction and tone appropriate to the academic community and the purpose of the specific writing task.
4. Use a variety of sentence structures.
5. Use vocabulary appropriate to audience and the sophistication of the writing task.
6. Proofread for, and revise, errors in language and mechanics to the degree that the nature and frequency of errors do not become distracting.
7. Use research techniques, textual citations, and MLA documentation.
8. Produce a collaborative report in a written or multi-media format.

1. Analyze college-level expository, narrative, and argumentative non-fiction prose written on a level of difficulty equivalent to the public letters of Martin Luther King, Jr. ("Letter from the Birmingham Jail"), the social commentary of Joan Didion ("Slouching Towards Bethlehem"), the essays of Richard Rodriguez ("Toward an American Language").
2. Comprehend and evaluate the author's line of reasoning, the overall main point, and the kind of evidence or development presented.
3. Identify the author's intended audience and rhetorical purpose for addressing that audience.
4. Draw comparisons to other works.
5. Draw reasoned inferences based on careful reading of a text.
6. Critique texts and sources.
7. Recognize differences in value systems based on culture in a given text.
8. Apply academic ideas and theoretical models to personal and real-life experience.

Special Facilities and/or Equipment -

1. Private messages within the course management system
2. Personal email outside of the course management system
3. Telephone contact weekly announcements in the course management system
4. Chat room within the course management system
5. Timely feedback and return of student work (tasks, tests, surveys, and discussions) in course management system by methods clarified in the syllabus
6. Discussion forums with appropriate facilitation and/or substantive instructor participation
7. E-portfolios/blogs/wiki for sharing student works in progress; provide feedback from fellow students and faculty in a collaborative manner, and to demonstrate mastery, comprehension, application, and synthesis of a given set of concepts
8. Field trips

 

Course Content (Body of knowledge) -

1. Write a total of at least 8,000 words: Thesis-driven compositions, the shortest of which will be 750 words, and journal responses to assigned readings
2. Focus on writing about course readings:
1. Paraphrasing
2. Summarizing
3. Synthesizing
4. Quoting and documenting (MLA)
3. Focus on writing as process (discovery and synthesis):
1. Invention, generation, collection of ideas, to include:
1. Discussion, brainstorming, journal-keeping
2. Mapping, outlining
2. Organization, development, concession and other argument strategies
3. Formulation of arguable thesis
4. Drafting, revision, editing
4. Focus on writing as product:
1. Synthesis of texts and student ideas
2. Rhetorical features (structure, analysis, insight)
3. Readability
4. Volume
5. On-task
5. Focus on patterns of error and methods of correction
6. Focus on variety of sources (print/non-print/electronic) with evaluation of credibility and relevance of same

1. Read a minimum of two book-length works (including anthologies), supplemented at instructor's discretion by additional readings, handbook, reference, and/or rhetoric
2. Complete a sequence of reading assignments arranged in order of relatively less difficult to more complex, taking into consideration such factors as overall number of words or pages, complexity of syntax, level and range of vocabulary
3. Analyze prose for the following:
1. Main idea, support, organizational pattern
2. Rhetorical form, style, voice, and purpose
3. Genre and cultural context
4. Basic concepts of critical thinking, to include:
1. Assumptions from which arguments are developed
2. Logical use of evidence
3. Internal consistency
4. Determine how the author's assumptions on the reader's background, knowledge/experience, and purpose contribute to the organization of the text
5. Examine connections among resources, e.g., personal experiences, course texts, and other materials
6. Evaluate points of view, development of arguments, and ideas in texts
7. Analyze the effects of culture on written form and content

Methods of Evaluation -

1. Collaborative projects
2. Tests and quizzes
3. Write a total of at least 8,000 words: a minimum of three out-of-class essays, including a research paper, and two timed/in-class essays, at least one of which must be proctored
4. Final examination: a composition or other written project to be completed within the allotted two-hour period

Representative Text(s) -

Disciplines -

Method of Instruction -

Lab Content -

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing and Outside of Class Assignments -

1. Reading non-fiction essays and at least one book-length work
2. Collaborative presentation in response to readings
3. Writing formal analyses of readings in college academic essay format