Composition I

In this course, you will learn how to write effectively for a variety of audiences and in a variety of forms so that you will be better prepared to identify and work across the writing contexts that you’ll encounter in your college courses and, even, outside of them (e.g., in your job). You will learn to identify and effectively address an audience, to conduct research and engage with source material, as well as planning and revision strategies. To offer you a way into these processes and to deepen your relationship to them, you will be asked to choose a major sociopolitical issue to explore in a variety of exercises (written and verbal) in this course. Issues might include race, gender, culture, consumerism, and the mediation of technology and privacy. We’ll first explore these issues (and maybe others) in response to a young-adult novel (M.T. Anderson’s Feed), which we’ll read as a brainstorming exercise. You will then set to work in researching the issue you choose. Don’t worry: I will support your efforts at each step. In the end, you will produce a research-based persuasive paper in which you construct and weigh in on an informed conversation about the issue you’ve selected and that calls readers to respond in some way to the issue.

Student Learning Outcomes:

  • Compose college-level writing, including but not limited to academic discourse, that achieves a specific purpose and responds adeptly to an identifiable audience.
  • Provide evidence of effective strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading a text in order to produce finished prose.
  • Compose an argument that makes use of source material that is relevant and credible and that is integrated in accordance with an appropriate style guide.