ENG 1020 Department of English Course Description

The following description must appear on every ENG 1020 syllabus:

Building upon students’ diverse skills, English 1020 prepares students for reading, research, and writing in college classes.  The main goals of the course are (1) to teach students to consider the rhetorical situation for any piece of writing; (2) to have students integrate reading, research, and writing in the genres of analysis and argument; and (3) to teach students to develop analyses and arguments using appropriate content, effective organization, and appropriate expression and mechanics, all while using a flexible writing process that incorporates drafting, revising, editing, and documenting sources. 

To achieve these goals, the course places considerable emphasis upon the relationship between reading and writing, the evaluation and development of information and ideas through research, the genres of analysis and argumentation, and the use of multiple technologies for research and writing.

ENG 1020 Learning Objectives

These Learning Objectives are based on the WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition (http://wpacouncil.org/positions/outcomes.html).  The following learning objectives must appear on every 1020 syllabus:

• to develop analytical and critical strategies for reading complex texts with varied sources of information, multiple perspectives, and complicated arguments

• to identify and analyze the structure of analysis and arguments in a variety of texts and media, identifying authors’ claims, evidence, appeals, organization, and style, and evaluating their persuasive effect

• to consider the rhetorical situation for any given piece of writing, including audience, purpose, and context

• to conduct research by finding and evaluating print and electronic sources, generating information and ideas from research, and synthesizing them with respect to the topic and ideas of the writer

• to write effectively in multiple analytical and argumentative genres, generating a clearly defined topic and purpose/thesis, organizing and developing complex content and reasoning, and using standard text conventions for academic writing

• to use a flexible writing process that includes generating ideas, writing, revising, providing/responding to feedback in multiple drafts, and editing text and tone for multiple audiences

• to make productive use of a varied set of technologies for research and writing