First-Year Composition Outcomes

Learning to write is a complex, individualized process which takes place over time and with continued practice. Therefore, the Department of Writing and Linguistics has adopted outcomes which reflect an understanding of how students actually learn to write better. These outcomes are a careful integration of practice, research, and theory, and they describe what first-year students should have achieved by the end of the two-course sequence.

As students move beyond the two-course sequence, their writing abilities do not merely "increase." Rather, students' abilities both diversify along disciplinary and professional lines and move to new levels where demands for writing expand, multiply, and diverge. The development of the ability to write, which is fostered by the core composition courses, is essential for achieving academic excellence. Therefore, the University community should recognize that writing education needs to continue throughout students' college careers and build on these outcomes.

Rhetorical Knowledge
By the end of the first year composition sequence, students should

• Focus on a purpose
• Respond to the needs of different audiences
• Respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations
• Use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation
• Adopt appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality
• Understand how genres shape reading and writing
• Write in several genres

Critical Thinking, Reading and Writing

• Use writing and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communication
• Understand a writing assignment as a series of tasks, including finding, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources
• Integrate their own ideas with those of others
• Understand the relationships among language, knowledge, and power

Processes

• Be aware that it usually takes multiple drafts to create and complete a successful text
• Develop flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proof-reading
• Understand writing as an open process that permits writers to use later invention and re-thinking to revise their work
• Learn to critique their own work and others' works
• Learn to balance the advantages of relying on others with the responsibility of doing their part
• Use a variety of technologies in the writing process

Knowledge of Conventions

• Learn common formats for different kinds of texts
• Develop knowledge of genre conventions ranging from structure and paragraphing to tone and mechanics
• Practice appropriate means of documenting their work
• Demonstrate the competent use of syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling

Revised: May 1, 2000