Course Objectives:
To study and practice the principles of rhetoric in written discourse. The course includes analysis of rhetoric and logic in argumentative essays, writing agrumentative essays, and practice in research and documentation techniques. A research paper is required.
Objectives Enumerated:
1) To understand and demonstrate the writing process through invention, organization, drafting, revision, editing, and presentation.
2) To understand the importance of specifying audience and purpose and to select appropriate communication devices.
3) To understand and appropriately apply modes of expression, i.e. descriptive, expositive, narrative, scientific, and self-expressive, in written communication.
4) To participate in groups with emphasis on listening, critical and reflective thinking, and responding.
5) To understand and apply basic principles of critical thinking, problem solving, and technical proficiency in the development of exposition and argument.
Characteristics of Basic Intellectual Competencies:
Competency in writing is the ability to produce clear, correct, and coherent prose adapted to purpose, occasion, and audience. Although correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation are each expected in any composition, they do not automatically ensure the composition itself makes sense or that the writer has much of anything to say. Students need to be familiar with the writing process, including how to discover a topic, how to develop and organize it, and how to phrase it effecitvely for their audience. These abilities can be acquired only through practice and reflection.
