teaching with writing

2008-2009 Learning Outcomes for First-Year Composition Courses
at the University of Minnesota

These outcomes are internal guidelines to help teachers think about their courses. At this stage, before we have begun to flesh out the way the three courses will be presented as syllabi, we have been as comprehensive as possible in outlining the various issues that the courses might address.

1201 Outcomes

By the successful conclusion of WRIT 1201, students will learn to:

Recognize the contexts and requirements of typical academic writing tasks:

• understand writing assignments and craft effective, relevant approaches in response
• find approaches to a topic that are worthwhile to explore and relevant to the assignment

Develop a process of writing

• practice prewriting, planning, drafting, organizing, revising, editing, and proofreading so that those steps and their recursive nature is part of the writing process
• craft thesis statements for a paper and topic sentences for paragraphs that clearly indicate the direction of ideas
• focus, develop, and organize claims and backing (evidence) to flesh out an argument
• use computers in the writing process to take the full benefit of word processing software, communicate with e-mail, and access electronic resources

Practice disciplines of research and study

• identify an author’s audience, purpose, argument, and assumptions (i.e., critical reading) in an analysis paper or class discussion
• develop a vocabulary to discuss the rhetorical choices a writer makes at all levels
  distinguish between popular and scholarly sources; evaluate the credibility of sources
• show an understanding of the principles of ethical and accurate documentation, and practice using a standard format for citing sources
• consistently use complete, grammatically correct sentences, find and eliminate errors in usage and mechanics
  

1301 Outcomes

By the successful conclusion of WRIT 1301, students will learn to:

Develop a process of writing

• control prewriting and planning strategies to arrive at a focused topic for a paper
• craft thesis statements that indicate a clear position on a topic and tie the paper together
• develop a topic through clearly structured paragraphs and the whole paper so that ideas are fully explained, assertions are backed up, supporting evidence is sufficient and claims are credible
• through the sequence of assignments, develop a body of knowledge and growing perspective on a topic
• produce an outline or prospectus for a researched paper

Explore diverse contexts and styles of reading and writing

• communicate their ideas and those of others to specific audiences
• write in appropriate academic genres and computer media to communicate with different audiences
• make choices in their own writing and articulate other options

Practice disciplines of research and study

• identify an author’s audience, purpose, argument, and assumptions (i.e., critical reading) in an analysis paper or class discussion
• locate and evaluate relevant scholarly and popular sources on a research topic using library resources
• properly and ethically use MLA or APA documentation format for in-text and external bibliographic citations of scholarly, popular, and electronic sources
• consistently follow standards of written, edited English

1401 Outcomes

By the successful conclusion of WRIT 1401, students will learn to:

Develop a process of writing

• use writing to develop new ideas
• explore and explain the potential complexities of a topic
• write a proposal for a paper, and know how to revise it as the paper evolves
• craft thesis statements that focus on the results and conclusions of the paper, and are interesting to potential readers
  
• use evidence from sources other than print—interview, visual and graphic, statistical and quantitative, vocal and auditory

Explore diverse contexts, resources, and choices in writing

• show how writing on a topic fits into an academic conversation, and advances knowledge or understanding in a (disciplinary) community
• use language resources and linguistic variation to make choices for a desired style, tone, and rhetorical effect
  
• write in several genres and media for different audiences and situations

Practice disciplines of research and study

• identify an author’s audience, purpose, argument, and assumptions (i.e., critical reading) in an analysis paper or class discussion
• locate and critically evaluate scholarly and popular sources, and articulate the criteria used for evaluation
• properly and ethically use MLA or APA documentation format for in-text and external bibliographic citations of scholarly, popular, and electronic sources
• consistently follow standards of written, edited English