Course Description

Course Title:	Writing and Research Skills
Course Number:	ENG 1108
Credits:	4 semester credits
Prerequisites:	Pass in ENG 0099 or recommended by Assessment.
Meets (MnTC) Minnesota Transfer Curriculum - Goal #1:	To develop writers and speakers who use the English language effectively and who read, write, speak, and listen critically. As a base, all students should complete introductory communication requirements early in their collegiate studies. Writing competency is an ongoing process to be reinforced through writing-intensive courses and writing across the curriculum. Speaking and listening skills need reinforcement through multiple opportunities for interpersonal communication, public speaking, and discussion.
Competency for MnTC Goal # 1:	Understand/demonstrate the writing and speaking processes through invention, organization, drafting, revision, editing and presentation. Locate, evaluate, and synthesize in a responsible manner material from diverse sources and points of view. Select appropriate communication choices for specific audiences. Construct logical and coherent arguments. Use authority, point-of-view, and individual voice and style in their writing and speaking. Employ syntax and usage appropriate to academic disciplines and the professional world.
Meets (MnTC) Minnesota Transfer Curriculum - Goal #2:	To develop thinkers who are able to unify factual, creative, rational, and value-sensitive modes of thought. Critical thinking will be taught and used throughout the general education curriculum in order to develop students’ awareness of their own thinking and problem-solving procedures. To integrate new skills into their customary ways of thinking, students must be actively engaged in practicing thinking skills and applying them to open-ended problems.
Competency for MnTC Goal # 2:	Gather factual information and apply it to a given problem in a manner that is relevant, clear, comprehensive, and conscious of possible bias in the information selected. Imagine and seek out a variety of possible goals, assumptions, interpretations, or perspectives which can give alternative meanings or solutions to given situations or problems. Analyze the logical connections among the facts, goals, and implicit assumptions relevant to a problem or claim; generate and evaluate implications that follow from them.
Course Description	Emphasizes expository and persuasive writing skills with attention to rhetorical modes, audience awareness, logical reasoning, critical reading, and research techniques.
Outcomes	Demonstrate knowledge of the writing process Write effective expository and argumentative essays Write grammatically correct prose Generate meaningful discourse through field and/or library research Respond critically to text
Topics	Exposure to Rhetorical Modes Expository Writing Techniques (evolving thesis, developing support) Persuasive/Argumentative Writing Techniques Introduction to Research Techniques (field and/or library) Critical Response to Text Demonstration of Audience Awareness Elements of Logical Reasoning Revision and Editing Skills It is unrealistic to assign time allotments to these topics since they overlap in significant ways. For example, students will investigate rhetorical modes while they demonstrate expository writing techniques, address audience awareness and revise/edit.
Outcome Measures	Formal and informal essays (expository/argumentative) Revisions Critical writing response to text Tests, quizzes

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