IMPORTANT: Course Prerequisites
This course is built on the assumption that you have the skills required of those who have completed Writing 150 (See the list below). If you are not yet comfortable with the following skills, you may wish to complete Writing 150 before enrolling in Psychology 307:
Writing 150 Skills:
WRITING 150 introduces students to college-level writing, reading, and research with an emphasis on argumentation and rhetorical analysis and pays particular attention to the ways arguments work within discourse communities. Individual sections require extensive writing, reading, and research.
1. Use rhetoric responsibly to compose arguments in a variety of genres for specific audiences and purposes.
2. Critically read texts:
· Analyze how a text functions in a specific situation, community, or public;
· Analyze the nuances of language (diction, figures of speech, tone, etc.);
· Identify and evaluate elements of an argument-claims, reasons, assumptions, assumptions, and ethical, emotional, and logical appeals
3. Write coherent and unified texts (effective intro's, clear thesis, supporting details, transitions, and strong conclusions) using a flexible and effective writing process, including prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing.
4. Use style-diction, figurative language, tone, grammar, punctuation, spelling, mechanics-genre, conventions, and document design correctly and for rhetorical effect.
5. Navigate the library to locate primary and secondary sources, evaluate the appropriateness and credibility of those sources, and effectively incorporate and accurately document outside sources in a research paper.
1. Write clearly and appropriately
Students will demonstrate that they can write clearly, focus on a well-defined purpose in writing, use conventions of format and structure appropriate to their discipline, and adopt a voice, tone, and level of formality suited to multiple purposes and audiences, including audiences both within and outside the discipline in which the course is offered.
Measurement: Informal in-class writing assignments will be given and formal writing assignments will be assigned in multiple drafts with peer- and instructor-review. Genres could include a personal writing journal, letter of intent, letter to the editor, literature review, research proposal, book review, and poster presentation. Explicit focus on the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
2. The role of writing in the discipline
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the roles that writing plays in their particular discipline, major, or career as a way of learning, as a way of demonstrating and evaluating what one has learned, and as a way of communicating with others.
Measurement: See (1).
3. Productive and flexible collaborative writing processes
Students will develop productive and flexible individual and collaborative writing processes, including prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading. These processes could include the following: collecting data, finding supporting evidence, and creating good arguments; organizing the materials for a paper, writing successive drafts of the same paper; group writing, seeking and using peer responses; revising; editing grammar, usage, and punctuation; and using conventional formats. These processes will reflect processes of inquiry within the student's discipline.
Measurement: See (1).
4. Library research
Students will demonstrate the ability to use appropriate research tools and processes of research within their particular discipline, including library research. Students will demonstrate their ability to identify and evaluate sources, retrieve and evaluate data, take notes, and follow conventions of quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. They will cite sources properly and demonstrate an understanding of ethical issues related to research, including how to avoid plagiarism.
Measurement: Complete the library-usage module provided by the Lee Library.
5. Genres, forms, styles, and documentation conventions
Students will understand the genres, forms, styles, and documentation conventions of writing for their discipline. They will also demonstrate knowledge of edited syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Measurement: See (1).
