Writing Sequence Learning Outcomes

Overall Writing Sequence Learning Outcomes

ENGLISH 110 Composition Competencies

Students who successfully complete this course should be able to:

1.)  in regard to writing processes,

• produce texts that exemplify facility with

• invention (freewriting, looping, clustering, listing, outlining, brainstorming individually and in groups, using the journalist's questions and the topoi to discover ideas)
• arrangement (outlining, employing discovery drafting, preparing descriptive outlines from notes taken from research materials);
• composition (draft texts fluently in response to requests for specific kinds of writing);
• revision (returning to the draft and "seeing" it again to evaluate the focus, development, and arrangement--revising according to those needs); and
• editing (distinguishing errors and inappropriate word choices that detract from the meaning and attractiveness of a text);

• implement effective collaborative writing strategies;

• apply technology effectively in composing processes when and where appropriate;

• evaluate the need for revision in one's own work and in others' writing through guided editing (i.e., peer evaluation sheets, revision checklists, oral presentations);

2.)  in regard to critical awareness when reading and writing,

• identify rhetorical situations represented in print, verbal, film, and electronic texts;

• illustrate a central idea in a text through selection of an effective organizational pattern;

• differentiate and present ideas that move beyond general topics, clichés, or common knowledge;

• select and apply pertinent ideas in primary and secondary sources to the development of written ideas;

• distinguish and apply effective strategies of argumentation and/or creative production appropriate to a given rhetorical context;

• analyze texts for effectiveness in addressing audience's needs, including support, genre, rhetorical appeals (logos, pathos, and ethos), tone, and authorial stance;

3.)  in regard to stylistic fluency and technical accuracy,

• illustrate proficiency with a variety of sentence structures, among them subordination and coordination, to emphasize ideas;

• distinguish and implement the grammar, usage, documentation style, and punctuation appropriate for a particular audience;

• select and implement appropriate, effective strategies for revising and editing to produce a proficient text suitable for class circulation and/or online publication, such as in a first-year writers' anthology.

WRIT 311: Advanced Composition Competencies

Students who successfully complete this course should be able to:

1.)  in regard to facility with writing  processes,

• interpret production of diverse discourses in terms of their process demands;

• implement a repertoire of invention, arrangement, composing, and revising/editing strategies in the diverse communication contexts students select;

• apply strategies for effective collaborative writing, including web-based collaboration;

• apply pertinent technologies to carrying out the operations of the composing process when and where appropriate;

• critique peers' written drafts effectively by role-playing intended readers;

2.)  in regard to critical acumen when reading and writing professional-level discourses,

• interpret the ways in which rhetoric manifests genders, races, cultures--entire worlds;

• extrapolate rhetorical principles in real-world situations, in particular in everyday oral, written, and visual texts in the academy, the workplace, technology, home-life, and the media: articulate how writing functions (and has functioned) both in students' own lives and the world around them;

• apply the metadiscourse of rhetoric to analyses of both students' texts and those of other writers;

• analyze the particular demands of global communication by reading and evaluating online writing venues (e.g., wikis, blogs, websites, etc.) that provide students global audiences; 

• distinguish in their discourses a clearly articulated value system, incorporating ethical standards and practices in their writing to communicate in an ethically responsible manner;

• distinguish and implement effective choices in regard to content, focus, form, argumentative design, audience, conventions, and language use to create diverse texts typical of advanced study in rhetoric, such as memoirs or other varieties of creative non-fiction; Classical and/or Rogerian discourses; varieties of public discourses; ethnographic case studies; innovative, multi-genre researched writing; summaries, abstracts, and literature reviews; and texts designed for websites, wikis, and blogs;

• design strategies for researching, interpreting, and responding to information and arguments from both original research and scholarly publications in students' diverse fields;

3.)  in regard to stylistic fluency and technical accuracy at the professional level,

• extrapolate from professional-level texts and public discourses appropriate writing styles applicable to students' various disciplinary specializations;

• apply design principles where and when appropriate to preparing tables, charts, graphs, and photograph layouts for supportive inclusion with print texts;

• distinguish writing conventions specific to professional writing contexts from those that transfer across writing contexts;

• plan effective strategies for revision and editing to produce texts suitable for circulation and/or publication in the academy, the workplace, and public arenas.

WRIT 312: Technical Writing Competencies

Students who successfully complete this course should be able to:

1.)   in regard to facility with writing processes,

• interpret production of technical documents in terms of their process demands;

• apply a repertoire of invention, arrangement, composing, and revising/editing strategies to a variety of technical communication contexts;

• implement strategies for effective collaborative writing, including web-based collaborations;

• distinguish and apply pertinent technologies to composing technical documents where and when appropriate;

• critique peers' written drafts effectively by assuming a role in the audience the technical communication is addressing;

2.)   in regard to critical acumen when reading and writing professional-level technical discourses,

• identify rhetorical situations technical communicators face in addressing technicians, managers, experts, and non-specialists;

• identify genres of technical documents appropriate for the needs of various audiences;

• distinguish and select support for claims from researching trade and scholarly publications;

• produce effective modes of discourse typical of technical writing, such as electronic and/or hard-copy letters, memoranda, formal reports, short informal reports, manuals, instructions, informational reports, summaries, abstracts, proposals, literature reviews, and material for discipline-specific websites;

• produce texts that demonstrate language and values that define the discourse community of the student's technical discipline;

• analyze the particular technical demands of global communication by reading and evaluating online writing venues (e.g., wikis, blogs, websites, etc.) that provide students global audiences;

3.)   in regard to stylistic fluency and technical accuracy at the professional level,

• apply design principles where and when appropriate to preparing tables, charts, graphs, technical illustrations, and photograph layouts for supportive inclusion with print texts;

• implement effective strategies for preparing and delivering oral presentations;

• select and implement effective strategies for revising and editing to produce texts suitable for the technical writing workplace.

WRIT 316: Business Writing Competencies

Students who successfully complete this course should be able to:

1.)   in regard to facility with writing processes,

• interpret production of business documents in terms of their process demands;

• apply a repertoire of invention, arrangement, composing, and revising/editing strategies to a variety of business communication contexts;

• implement necessary changes for effective business discourses in a timely, deadline-driven fashion;

• implement strategies for effective collaborative writing, including web-based collaborations;

• distinguish and apply pertinent technologies to composing and distributing business texts where and when appropriate;

• critique peers drafts effectively by role-playing as an intended business reader;

2.)   in regard to critical acumen when reading and writing business documents,

• identify in business discourses audiences' needs and, in turn, apply a clear sense of purpose and intended consequences, realizing that writing can produce unintended consequences as well;

• identify the discourse features that distinguish students' own field and institutional community from others, such as, for example, the diverse discourses of economics, finance, marketing, management science, or accounting;

• identify and select effective strategies for researching and reporting business and scholarly information from trade and scholarly publications to support claims;

• illustrate in speaking and in writing an understanding of the professional literature of students' field of study; their perspectives on the practices and communication of people working in their field; and the life and issues of the larger world of business and technology;

• distinguish in business writing a clearly articulated value system, incorporating ethical standards and practices in their writing to create business communications in an ethically responsible manner;

• analyze the particular demands of global business communication by reading and evaluating online writing venues (e.g., wikis, blogs, websites, etc.) that provide students global audiences;

• produce effectively modes of discourse typical of writing in business contexts: electronic and/or hard-copy letters, memoranda, informal reports, formal reports, recommendations, summaries, abstracts, proposals, literature reviews; documents of the job search, such as cover letters, resumes, strategic interview plans, and letters of thanks; correspondence writing for websites, wikis and blogs; students' own websites, wikis, and blogs; 

3.)   in regard to stylistic fluency and technical accuracy at the professional level,

• apply where and when appropriate design principles in regard to preparing tables, charts, graphs, technical illustrations, and photograph layouts for supportive inclusion with print text;

• implement effective strategies for oral presentation planning, drafting, and delivery;

• implement effective strategies for revision and editing to produce texts suitable for circulation and/or publication in the workplace.

WRIT 318: Web Writing and Content Management Competencies

Students who successfully complete this course should be able to:

1.)   in regard to facility with writing processes,

• identify and distinguish conventions in web content writing;

• identify and distinguish conventions in web content writing with visuals;

• identify and define content types and audiences for content types.

2.)   in regard to critical acumen when reading and writing professional-level web content,

• analyze and evaluate writing in published web content;

• analyze and evaluate when, why, and how an organization may (or may not) need a content management system to effectively create and maintain content.

3.)   in regard to professional-level stylistic fluency and technical accuracy,

• write appropriate and effective content for web spaces and adapt writing for different audiences, different website designs/layouts and use appropriate genre conventions;
• describe and use the entire writing process of invention, arrangement, composition, and revising to produce genre appropriate content;

• demonstrate innovations in web content strategies to meet the needs of diverse writers and readers.

WRIT 319: Science Writing Competencies

Students who successfully complete this course should be able to:

1.)   in regard to facility with writing processes,

• identify and produce writing that meets audience and genre expectations of scientific discourse;

• identify and produce writing that meets audience and genre expectations of public accommodations of scientific research;

2.)   in regard to critical acumen when reading and writing scientific documents,

• analyze and evaluate rhetorical use of verbal and visual qualitative and quantitative evidence;

• strategically accommodate scientific research for specific non-specialist audiences;

• identify and select effective strategies for researching and reporting business and scholarly information from trade and scholarly publications to support claims; 

3.)   in regard to stylistic fluency and technical accuracy at the professional level,

• describe and use the writing process of invention, arrangement, composing and revising in both internal science texts and texts for non-scientists;

• offer specific and constructive peer evaluation of fellow students, modeling the peer review process.