How do you know what you
know? How is academic knowledge created? Using such questions as the basis for
formulating knowledge, we begin our work developing your ability to comprehend
academic discourse, write academic arguments, and approach research as a form
of personal and academic inquiry through written assignments, PowerPoint
lectures, and student-led weekly reading discussions.
In
this course, students will be introduced to the rhetorical, conceptual, and
stylistic demands of writing at the college level and instructed in composing
processes, search strategies, and composing from sources. This course also
provides students with experiences in the library and on the Internet and
enhances their skills in accessing and using various types of primary and
secondary materials.
Course Requirements:
Class Participation and
Preparation
You will
write informally in class, analyze short texts for rhetorical, theoretical, and
linguistic features, discuss what you read and write, listen to and show
respect for everyone in our learning community, and use relevant feedback with
the goal of improving all aspects of your written work.
Assessed Writing
You will write four formal
pieces of polished prose including a literary response, a rhetorical analysis,
an argumentative essay, and a research essay. As you gain proficiency in
selecting sources and using and citing them appropriately, you will be expected
to incorporate a greater number and variety of academic sources into your work.
You may resubmit any of these papers within a reasonable time frame for a
higher score provided the quality of the piece is sufficiently improved.
Required Texts
This is a Laulima based
course. All texts can be accessed from Laulima.