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Prof. James Wu

Course Description

This course builds on its prerequisite, ENG 1101. Together, we will explore and write within new genres, conduct research, and reflect on our writing practices. The big goal is that after you finish this sequence, you’ll be able to analyze and participate in genres inside and outside of higher ed. We’re aiming to build skills that will be useful in future coursework, the workplace, and in your personal lives. In other words, this course isn’t self-contained—we’re aiming to give you a toolbox of skills that you can apply across situations.

Course Objectives

LEARNING OUTCOMES for this course

These are the goals that all instructors in ENG 1101 and ENG 1121 want students to gain by the end of the sequence:

  1. Read and listen critically and analytically in a variety of genres and rhetorical situations. Identify and evaluate exigencies, purposes, claims, supporting evidence, and underlying assumptions in a variety of texts, genres, and media.
  2. Adapt and compose in a variety of genres. Adapt writing conventions in ways that are suitable to different exigencies and purposes in a variety of contexts, including academic, workplace, and civic audiences. When appropriate, repurpose prior work to new genres, audiences, and media by adjusting delivery, design, tone, organization, and language.
  3. Use research as a process of inquiry and engagement with multiple perspectives. Learn to focus on a topic and develop research questions that lead to propositions and claims that can be supported with well-reasoned arguments. Persuasively communicate and repurpose research projects across a variety of contexts, purposes, audiences, and media. Demonstrate research skills through proper attribution and citation gathering, evaluating, and synthesizing both primary and secondary sources. Learn how to use appropriate citation styles depending on disciplinary and situational requirements (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.)
  4. Use reflection and other metacognitive processes to revise prior assumptions about the writing processes and transfer acquired knowledge about effective reading and writing practices into new writing situations. Engage with reading and writing as a process including prewriting, writing, and continuous revision. Students write essays that demonstrate their reflection of their own writing process from the beginning and throughout the semester with the intention to transfer their acquired knowledge about genre and composing practices into new writing situations.
  5. Demonstrate the social and ethical responsibilities and consequences of writing. Recognize that first-year writing includes academic, workplace, and civic contexts, all of which require careful deliberation concerning the ethical and social ramifications concerning fairness, inclusivity, and respect for diversity. Write and revise for academic and broader, public audiences accordingly.

6.  Compose in 21st Century Environments. Learn to choose among the most current and effective delivery methods for different composing situations, including composing in new media environments, including alphabetic texts, still and moving images, sonic, and mixed media compositions. Use digital media platforms appropriate to audience and purpose.