This course is designed to
introduce students to college-level writing and is based on the assumption that
all of us already engage in writing-related activities in our day-to-day
lives—the editors of our textbook even go as far as to claim that everyone already is an author. Although
this may sound like an overstatement, it seems safe to say that the number of
people who do not regularly engage in writing activities like blogging, emailing,
or texting is dwindling. Even the most mundane writing task requires us to
think rhetorically: e.g. what is the writer’s purpose and stance, who is the
audience, and what is the context? Which genre and media are best suited for a
particular purpose and audience? These are key questions that writers—both in
digital forms of communication and in academia—routinely ask before composing
texts. This course, then, will build on students’ experience in composing a
variety of texts to provide them with the writing skills required to succeed in
college.
Objectives:
In accordance with the
Student Learning Outcomes for ENG 100, by the end of the course students will
be expected to 1) compose college-level writing that achieves a specific
purpose and responds adeptly to an identifiable audience; 2) provide evidence
of effective strategies for generating, editing, and proofreading a text in order
to produce finished prose; and 3) 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. All assignments and course work are intended to
help students meet these objectives.
Methods:
The methodology of this
course is twofold. First of all, we will engage in writing as a process. This
means that writing assignments are designed to go through prewriting, drafting,
revising, and editing stages. A fair amount of class time will therefore be
devoted to learning and practicing strategies that will assist students during
different stages of the writing process. Secondly, writing is ultimately a
social act: though we often write in solitude, we almost always write foran audience. Since we will have the
luxury of being part of a community of writers in this course, we will take the
opportunity to engage in peer review and workshopping in class.
Assignments:
Students in this course will
engage in a variety of writing related tasks, both informal and formal.
Informal writing assignments will include reading responses, discussion posts,
and other “low stakes” written work. Formal writing assignments will include a
review, an analytical essay, an argumentative essay, and a final research
paper. In conjunction with the research paper, students will also submit an
abstract, an annotated bibliography, and give an oral presentation to the
class. Finally, there will be regular reading assignments, which will serve as
the material for the informal writing assignments and for class discussion.
Textbook:
Lunsford, Andrea, et al, eds.
Everyone’s an Author with Readings. New
York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013. ISBN: 978-0-393-91201-2.
The textbook will be
available at the UHM bookstore.