Outcomes Statements for First-Year Writing Courses

 1.      Critically analyze and question a text (explicate; evaluate; factor in contexts; consider genre, audience, purpose, tone, language)—and do so with confidence

2.      Create thesis for coherent extended argument; desire and ability to engage and work      through evolving and complex ideas

3.      Integrate several texts—both literary and critical sources—into an argument that is at least 5 pages long

4.      Appreciate nonfiction and fiction and know the difference; see relevance and importance of literature to life (see that literature may have something to say to you)

5.      Approach differing writing assignments by recognizing the rhetorical expectations created by differing purposes, audiences, and genres

6.      Know how and when to revise and get feedback without external stimulus (i.e., a teacher or tutor)

7.      Conduct research based on pursuit of a question/problem (not just to collect a bunch information on a topic), and generate material that supports an original idea or reading of a text.

8.      Follow MLA style (formal, academic) in formatting text and citing sources

9.      Conduct research both in the library and online with a critical eye for the nature of source

10.   Create meaningful connections among various disciplines (e.g., analysis of Iago using the language of drama and the language of psychology)

11.   Choose language and form appropriate to a chosen genre; this would mean awareness of rhetorical and grammatical conventions 

To come to an idea or conclusion about a text which starts from an initial response and proceeds towards an investigation of how the text works on you to make you feel that way. This first step, ideally, should be followed by a study of how other people who have read the text have felt about, responded to, and investigated the text in much the same way. Then, you should be able to take your place in the “conversation” of informed critics.

To learn all the above in such a way that you can transfer this knowledge to other disciplines and courses