Description:
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 everyonealready
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.
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.
Course Requirements
- Attendance and participation
- Weekly informal papers
- Four 4-5 page formal papers
- Peer review workshops
- Quizzes
Textbook:
Lunsford, Andrea, et al. Everyone’s an Author. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013.
ISBN: 978-0393932119.
The textbook will be available at the UHM bookstore.