Guidebook Learning Goals

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Writing Programs' Goals for ENG 101 and 102 Courses

The English Department’s Writing Programs Committee has established learning goals for students of College Composition. The specific goals for each course are described in the following two sections.

ENG 101: Introduction to Academic Writing and Reading

By the end of ENG 101, you should understand and use various writing processes and demonstrate skill in a number of specific areas of writing.

Writing Processes. You should be able to understand the following processes and demonstrate the use of these processes in your writing by the time you complete this course.

Using Invention Activities and Journal Writing

To generate ideas for the purpose of writing

To develop ideas and think on paper

To analyze the writing of others

Drafting and Revising with Response from Readers

To understand where writing needs development

To understand where writing needs clarification

To understand the needs of readers (including establishing common ground with them)

Analyzing Your Writing and Class Performance

To cultivate distance from your writing in order to see it more clearly

To guide you in asking for your instructor’s assistance

To become a capable evaluator of your own writing

Writing Skills. By the end of ENG 101, you should be able to demonstrate skill in the following areas:

Using Writing as an Analytical Tool

To examine your experiences and environments critically in writing

To write accurate self-analyses of your own writing

Reading Critically

To identify the main idea in a piece of writing

To identify the elements (description, details, organization, tone, voice, etc.) that shape a piece of writing and make it effective

To see the ways in which ideas are supported or argued in essays, the assumptions on which those arguments are based, and the context within which the writing was originally written (for example, its original audience)

Writing Clearly and Effectively

Extended journal entries on various subjects

Lengthy invention materials and drafts in which you explore your subject

Thoughtful revisions that go beyond instructor comments to greater consideration of your subject and your writing strategy

Three to four page essays that use various sources of information

Carefully edited and proofread, grammatically correct final drafts

Working with Others through Effective Speaking and Listening

To improve your writing through group activities, peer response, joint projects, etc.

To discuss your writing and reading, both in groups and in the class as a whole

Identifying, Assessing, and Presenting Your Best Work

By describing the strengths and weaknesses of your work, using examples from your own writings

By compiling a portfolio to demonstrate your abilities and your work in the course

ENG 102: Writing in Academic Discourse

ENG 102 requires you to build on what you learned in ENG 101 in order to develop your abilities to think, read, and write in ways appropriate to the tasks you will face in other courses. After completing ENG 102, you should be able to demonstrate greater skill in reading critically as well as the additional skills of constructing appropriate arguments, recognizing the integrity of readers, and clearly, effectively, and accurately writing academic prose (such as logical arguments and research papers). Specific goals for ENG 102 include:

Reading Critically

To identify the main idea in a piece of writing and the ways in which that idea is supported or argued

To identify the assumptions on which the argument is based and the context in which the writing was originally created (its original publication, audience, and author’s identity)

To evaluate, analyze, and synthesize appropriate primary and secondary sources

Arguing Appropriately

By finding sufficient appropriate sources to inform yourself about your topic

By using a range of viewpoints on your topic

By using authoritative support when you write

By incorporating sources in your writing in meaningful ways:

Using relevant information of quality appropriate to the writing situation

Providing adequate evidence for your assertions

Using facts accurately

Avoiding blanket generalizations

Avoiding fallacious arguments (that may mislead or manipulate readers)

Presenting the views of others fairly and with balance

By using appropriate forms of logic and emotion in your arguments

By defining key terms

By writing with precise statements and attention to accurate language

Recognizing the Integrity of the Reader

By assuming a real and open-minded reader

By avoiding stereotyping possible readers

By affectively balancing terms (no inflammatory or biased language)

By establishing common ground with readers, seeking to understand that you may disagree with them in ways that demonstrate good will and intention

By developing appropriate counterarguments to acknowledge other points of view

Writing Clearly, Effectively, and Accurately

You should be able to effectively write brief analytical papers (critiques or arguments) and three to four page essays with various sources:

By choosing appropriate organizational structures

By accurately summarizing others’ writing,

By accurately paraphrasing others’ writing and incorporating these paraphrases into your own work

By citing source materials fairly and accurately, using MLA or APA format

By using correct grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and spelling

Identifying, Assessing, and Presenting Your Best Work

By compiling a portfolio that demonstrates your:

Writing abilities and your work in the course

Continued use of the writing processes learned in ENG 101

By describing the strengths and weaknesses of your work, using examples from your own writings

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