EN 101 - English Composition I

1.  Identify key elements of the rhetorical situation in a variety of texts (e.g. genre, audience, purpose, context, author, style).
2. Explain the rhetorical strategies used by writers.
3. Practice flexible reading, writing, and comprehension strategies (i.e. collaboration, critical reading, drafting, revision, reflection, synthesis, analysis).  (GELO2)
4. Compose texts for at least three different rhetorical situations, including academic, professional, and community/civic.  (GELO2)
5. Apply information literacy skills in a research-based writing project.  (GELO5)

Opportunities for reading, rhetorical analysis, synthesis, and discussion will be built into the curriculum. 

II. The Rhetorical Situation

Instructors will highlight the relationship between the following elements as a means of helping students make effective stylistic and organizational choices as writers: audience, purpose, text/genre, writer/rhetor, context.

III. Writing Processes

Instructors should think of the processes in which writers engage as diverse, recursive, dependent upon the situation, and even messy. There is no definitive list of required writing steps to complete in any specific order. Instructors will, therefore, encourage flexible writing processes which may include some combination of the following (formally or informally): inquiry research, outline, draft, peer review, proofread, edit, revise, reflect. 

IV. Information Literacy

All EN 101 students will be introduced to a minimum set of Information Literacy skill areas. Instructors will use the Information Literacy Toolkit modules to teach, practice, and assess the following skills: 1) Choosing and Narrowing a Topic; 2) Identifying Keywords; 3) Searching for Sources; 4) Evaluating Sources; 5) Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Sources; 6) Synthesizing Sources; 7) Integrating Sources; 8) Documenting Sources Using MLA.

V. Reflection

Instructors will embed opportunities for reflection throughout the course so that students can identify their own writing choices and growth in areas that could include but are not limited to the following: effective writing processes; organization and style; revision; impact and transfer of thinking, writing, and research skills; information literacy; inquiry as a means of knowledge creation.

Facilitated Discussion: 5-30%

Writing, Application, & Reflection: 10-30%

Peer or Group Work (Thinking, Writing, Reviewing): 10-30%

Technology-Mediated Writing & Research: 10-30%

1. Three scaffolded writing projects culminating in three final writing-based pieces taken through multiple drafts
2. A minimum of two unique scaffolded assignments per project
3. An academic essay of at least 6 pages in length that uses sources
4. Completion of the Information Literacy Toolkit
5. The department-wide common assessment project: A comprehensive portfolio composed of a minimum of the following: 3 scaffolded assignments, 2 drafts in progress, 1 final project, and a reflective text articulating student’s learning and growth; the portfolio represents at least 20% of each student’s overall course grade, and the department rubric is applied for assessment.

• IRW 98  or above (C or above) OR
• SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing of 450 and above OR
• ACT English and Reading Combined Score of 31 and above (valid February 2018 forward) OR
• Accuplacer Writing of 5 and NextGen Reading of 249 and above (valid October 2018 forward) OR
• Accuplacer Writing of 6 or above (valid October 2018 forward)