For Teachers: Course Description

The University Writing Program bases its goals on the WPA Outcomes Statement.

English 1001 focuses on the following:

  • Purpose for writing
  • Audience for whom we write
  • Genre (norms, format and context in which we write) as well as the conventions guiding writing correct and readable prose.

Our students will be able to better read the rhetorical situation in which they write, because they will always write and communicate within such constraints. Our composition courses are based on rhetorical study and the backgrounds of our faculty.

In addition, our 1001 students will be learning how to do research: they will learn what primary and secondary research is and how they interact. They also need to learn to be critical readers of others' primary and secondary research through undergoing the process of selecting and de-selecting information on the basis of the rhetorical effect they want their text to have. Each paper will require a draft subject to peer review and teacher commentary.


Outcomes:

  1. Demonstrate ability in written analysis and synthesis.
  2. Undertake writing as a recursive process that develops and transforms thought.
  3. Learn how to conduct basic research and use it effectively in written works.
    • Learn how to use the resources of the LSU library.
    • Interpret, evaluate, integrate, and document information gathered from print and online sources.
    • Understand a research assignment as a series of tasks that include finding, analyzing, and synthesizing information from primary and secondary sources.
    • Integrate information from sources into writing, and document this information appropriately.
  4. Respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations, with a focus on purpose and the needs of various audiences, using appropriate genre conventions.
  5. Adopt appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality.
  6. Apply knowledge of structure and organization, paragraphing, and mechanics.

More specifically, in a course that achieves these outcomes, students will demonstrate the following skills:

  1. Demonstrate and reflect in their writing analytical skills in reading and thinking.
  2. Demonstrate the ability to pinpoint a specific purpose governing the content of the essay.
  3. Demonstrate an ability to do audience analysis and address specific needs of various audiences.
  4. Demonstrate an ability to use a rhetorical situation as a basis for adopting the appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality in their writing.
  5. Show evidence of taking their writing through multiple stages.
  6. Demonstrate competence in style and conventions.
  7. Write essays that consist of a logically-sequenced progression of focused and coherent paragraphs.
  8. Demonstrate skill in using multiple research resources in order to locate and synthesize information.
  9. Evaluate and then integrate secondary information into an original, plagiarism-free, research-based essay.
  10. Use effective paraphrase, summary, quotation, and proper documentation of sources.
  11. Produce an appropriately formatted list of works cited.

 

 

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