University of Mississippi

Writing 250

ADVANCED COMPOSITION Students using eportfolios

Course Purpose:

Using outcomes and objectives that have been developed by a curricular revision committee for WRIT 250 and that map to the five QEP outcomes, the proposed course will provide students opportunities to advance in research skills, methods, and projects; deepen their awareness of audience-specific and rhetorical conventions and mechanics; focus on critical thinking skills in all parts of the composing process; use effective rhetorical strategies to effectively analyze lengthier, complex readings and synthesize external sources and ideas into logically sound arguments, and develop a style suitable for specific academic purposes and audiences. Students enrolled in the course will be asked to think about the core outcomes in terms of digital composition and the Internet.

 

Course Outcomes:

Process: Building on the foundations of WRIT 101 and 102 (or their equivalents), students will

  • Advance in their understanding of writing as a process for composing in multiple modes and media, using a variety of strategies that involve the steps of planning, researching, drafting, peer review, revising, editing, and proofreading.
  • Advance in use of critical thinking skills, developing and articulating an understanding of their own personal writing processes.

Exploration and Argumentation: Building on the foundations of WRIT 101 and 102 (or their equivalents), students will

  • Gain skill in applying rhetorical strategies effectively and ethically to different genres and modes of composition, in order to respond critically to multimodal arguments.
  • Explore the nature of writing and reading, analyzing lengthier, more complex readings than in first-year composition courses, questioning thinking different from their own, synthesizing external sources and ideas into sound arguments that logically argue the student’s point of view based on his or her own claim.
  • Reflect creatively and respond logically to complete texts based on something other than personal experience, while they explore the nature of writing and reading as both a social practice and a cognitive process.

Purpose and Audience: Building on the foundations of WRIT 101 and 102 (or their equivalents), students will

  • Advance in their understanding of composition as people taking action through writing, accomplishing rhetorical aims in situated actions suitable for a variety of purposes, with an emphasis on academic purposes.
  • Demonstrate proficiency in matching writing styles to specific purposes and audiences, understanding the purpose of citation within/for a text, the relationship between evidence and audience, and applying academic writing to the wide variety of audiences that can be accessed by technological means, promoting a better understanding of personal context and choices within the context of a larger, global population.

Research: Building on the foundations of WRIT 101 and 102 (or their equivalents), students will:

  • Engage in research using sophisticated web search strategies and an understanding of the effect of the invisible web (understanding human- vs. machine-produced information)
  • Discern and evaluate sources for research projects
  • Integrate primary and secondary sources with their own ideas, synthesizing the information from sources, following and using appropriate citation practices
  • Verify and evaluate sources, both digital, oral, and textual
  • Compose persuasive texts in multiple modes that demonstrate an inquiry-driven, research-based product, integrating supporting evidence for claims made
  • Conduct comprehensive, research-based explications of arguments addressing complex, globally-themed issues
  • Become familiar with research methods and methodology, including the role of style guides in research-based products

Conventions and Mechanics: Building on the foundations of WRIT 101 and 102 (or their equivalents), students will:

  • Produce writing that is free of logical fallacies and mechanical errors that distort meaning or interfere with clarity and comprehension
  • Produce writing that is audience-specific and rhetorically sound
  • Produce compositions that adhere to the conventions of standards developed for written American English