English Composition I and II

Students are required to complete two courses in this category: English Composition I and English Composition II.

English Composition I is traditionally a first-year course, and English Composition II is traditionally a sophomore-year course. The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE, 1999) and the Association of Departments of English (ADE, 2009) recommend enrollment limits of twenty students.

In addition to these two required Liberal Studies English Composition courses, students must complete two additional Writing-Across-the-Curriculum (W) courses. One of these W courses must be completed in the student's primary major.

English Composition I Expected Undergraduate Student Learning Outcomes

Proposals for courses designed to fulfill the Liberal Studies English Composition I requirement must provide course content that enables students to achieve the primary Expected Undergraduate Student Learning Outcomes identified below. Proposals may identify additional objectives from the list of Expected Undergraduate Student Learning Outcomes as appropriate to the course content.

Empowered Learners are critical thinkers who demonstrate intellectual agility and creativity and the ability to manage or create change. They are able to derive meaning from experience and observation. They communicate well in diverse settings and employ various strategies to solve problems. They are empowered through mastery of intellectual and practical skills.

As Empowered Learners, students will demonstrate:

• effective oral and written communication abilities.
• ease with textual, visual, and electronically-mediated literacies.
• problem-solving skills using a variety of methods and tools.
• critical thinking skills, including analysis, application, and evaluation.
• reflective thinking and the ability to synthesize information and ideas.

Responsible Learners are engaged citizens of a diverse democratic society who have a deep sense of social responsibility and ethical judgment. They are responsible for their personal actions and civic values.

As Responsible Learners, students will demonstrate:

• intellectual honesty.

English Composition I Required Course Content

English Composition I courses designed to fulfill the Liberal Studies requirement must include attention to five areas of literate practice for college learners.

1. Writing: Students complete a variety of writing projects intended for different audiences, purposes, or formats. Each project involves students in writing processes.
2. Reading: Students read college level readings as support for experimenting with form, discussing ideas, shaping response, developing writing projects, and composing. The course includes preliminary work with the ways writers introduce and internally cite their reading.
3. Substantive Revising: Students learn ways to revise their writing in both early and late stages of composing. Projects have clearly defined stages of preparation and regular progress reviews.
4. Speaking and Listening: Students are introduced to effective classroom language use, speaking and listening in one-on-one, small-group, and large-group contexts. Faculty members must provide some individual attention to student writers. Faculty members can draw upon a variety of structures for holding conferences with students.
5. Reflecting: Students experience opportunities to reflect on their writing process and on the rhetorical effectiveness of a completed project.

The recommended assessment strategy for this course is evaluation of a valid random sample of writing portfolios. The portfolios include a major project and reflection on that project.

Faculty members preparing syllabi designed to fulfill the Liberal Studies English Composition I requirement are encouraged to include:

• sections where students create Web-based writings.
• sections designed to link with Living/Learning Communities.

English Composition I Common Learning Objectives

All courses meeting the Liberal Studies English Composition I requirement will establish common course objectives stating:

• At the conclusion of the course, the student should be able to:
  • use writing processes to generate, develop, share, revise, proofread, and edit major writing projects.
  • produce essays that show structure, purpose, significant content, and audience awareness.
  • produce a variety of essay genres.
  • understand and integrate others' texts into their own writing.
  • reflect on their own writing process and rhetorical effectiveness.

English Composition II

The Liberal Studies curriculum is built upon the concept that writing development during the undergraduate years is a shared responsibility. At the end of English Composition II, the synthesis and inquiry skills outlined below are emergent rather than secure in a disciplinary sense. The Written Communication CAC courses reinforce and extend those skills, and individual departments further instruct their majors in discipline-based, information literacy practices. The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE, 1999) and the Association of Departments of English (ADE, 2009) recommend enrollment limits of twenty students.

In addition to the criteria outlined below, English Composition II introduces students to lUP's approved Information Literacy Competency Standards (see Appendix I).

English Composition II Expected Undergraduate Student Learning Outcomes

Proposals for courses designed to fulfill the Liberal Studies English Composition II requirement must provide course content that enables students to achieve the Expected Undergraduate Student Learning Outcomes identified below. Individual course syllabi may identify additional objectives from the list of Expected Undergraduate Student Learning Outcomes as appropriate to the course content.

As Empowered Learners, students in Composition II will demonstrate:

• effective oral and/or written communication abilities.
• ease with textual, visual, and electronically-mediated literacies.
• problem-solving skills using a variety of methods and tools.
• information literacy skills, including the ability to access, evaluate, interpret, and use information from a variety of sources.
• critical thinking skills, including analysis, application, and evaluation.
• reflective thinking and the ability to synthesize information and ideas.

As Responsible Learners, students in Composition II will demonstrate:

• intellectual honesty.

English Composition II Required Course Content

English Composition II serves as a bridge between Composition I and students' professional writing. In Composition II, students develop rhetorical skills for informed inquiry. The course develops the following abilities:

1. Writing: Students propose and complete an inquiry project. They experience some of the writing forms that sustain inquiry: for example, proposal, summary, interview, critique, abstract, annotated, or analytical bibliography. They experience assignments that advance rhetorical awareness and choice when composing synthesis essays: rhetorical forms of synthesis include but are not limited to narration, report, analysis, explanation, argument, and multi-genre or mixed forms.
2. Critical Reading: Students develop advanced awareness and understanding of different discourse types as they access, read, evaluate, interpret, and use primary and/or secondary resources. Some writing assignments develop the ability to read critically: for example, writing to locate main ideas, to summarize accurately, to identify and evaluate evidence, to explain differing perspectives, to contest, or to assent. Critical reading includes the ability to use resources ethically and legally. Students therefore learn and use the writing practices that bring a body of knowledge into their own written work: transition, paraphrase, summary, quotation, and explanation. They also learn to use a citation and documentation style (MLA or APA).
3. Revising: Activities in the course develop students' ability to consider audience, purpose, language, evidence, and logical organization in written texts; to modify drafts when rhetorical, aesthetic, or logical motives change; to proofread and edit.
4. Speaking and Listening: Students meet in structured reading and writing groups to discuss inquiry problems, processes, and successes. Examples of other appropriate activities include responding to and troubleshooting drafts, giving oral status reports, discussing texts, reading aloud, or preparing and presenting individual or group projects.
5. Reflecting: Students reflect upon their reading processes, their writing processes, and the rhetorical fashioning of their project for a discourse community.

The recommended assessment strategy for English Composition II is evaluation of a valid random sample of synthesis project portfolios. Each portfolio includes a reflective cover letter.

Faculty members preparing syllabi to fulfill the Liberal Studies English Composition II requirement are encouraged to include:

• sections where students create Web-based writings.
• surveys and interviews as field resources for synthesis projects.
• sections based on a theme or topic.

English Composition II Common Learning Objectives

All courses proposed to meet the Liberal Studies English Composition II requirement will establish common learning objectives.

At the conclusion of the course, students should be able to:

• access relevant print and electronic resources, artifacts, or human resources; read, evaluate, and select resources; manage and sustain an inquiry project.
• critique own and others' essay drafts.
• compose a focused and cohesive synthesis essay.
• use a body of knowledge inside written work: paraphrase, quote, summarize, explain/interpret/comment, cite, and document (MLA or APA).
• reflect upon their reading processes, writing processes, and rhetorical effectiveness.