Course description
This course is for students who wish to upgrade their writing in order to continue their education. It is designed for advanced level students who have extensive experience writing paragraphs and short essays for a variety of purposes, and have good control of grammar and sentence structure. This course emphasizes writing with a sophistication of content and style, and a level of conciseness and accuracy expected of first-year university students. In addition to improving overall expository writing and editing skills, students will plan and develop persuasive essays and research papers. Class activities will help students to use source materials to generate topics, develop thesis statements and provide evidence. Exercises will also help students improve their skills in integrating material from several sources by documenting, summarizing and quoting.
Course content
Reading Skills
- To develop reading skills to paraphrase and summarize
- To use library sources to locate materials to supplement writing
Writing Skills
- To write informally
- write reflectively about course readings
- take research notes, including summary, paraphrasing, and quotations from source readings
- To write formal summaries, summary/analyses and comparative analyses
- take accurate summary notes from assigned articles/cases
- prepare paragraph outlines for summaries
- compose well-structured, paraphrased, accurate summaries using notes and paragraph outlines
- write analyses of summarized articles following guidelines for analyzing reports/studies
- revise based on peer and teacher feedback
- follow format instructions
- edit and proofread
- To write research essays
- generate ideas from readings
- select and narrow topics
- write focused thesis statements
- create essay outlines with inter-related body paragraph topic sentences
- write well-structured introductions
- incorporate source material (APA style)
- create coherence within and between paragraphs
- write well-structured concluding paragraphs
- revise, based on peer and teacher feedback
- follow format instructions
- edit and proofread
Accuracy
- To self-monitor for accuracy
- apply knowledge of parts of speech, speech elements, specified sentence types, and mechanics
- apply sentence structure rules
- to correctly embed appositives and introductory phrases, including reduction of adverb and adjective clauses to participial phrases
- to correctly insert evidence (direct/indirect quotes, and author introductory phrases)
- identify and correct errors as specified for this and previous levels in
- tense rules in reported speech (especially for paraphrase)
- verb tense shifts in mixed tense environments
- passive voice
- word order in questions (for questionnaires and interview questions)
- word choice and word form
- articles and other determiners, especially for abstract nouns which have both countable and uncountable uses
- format and punctuation for documenting and inserting evidence from sources
Classroom Skills
- To take responsibility for the following:
- attendance and punctuality
- class work and assignments
- participation and teamwork
Learning activities
The instructor will facilitate, observe and evaluate students’ participation in writing activities. Whole and small group instruction will be combined with individual assistance and student-directed learning. Students will participate in the setting of goals by identifying their communicative and language development needs, and will participate in the selection of learning activities.
Means of assessment
- Complete assigned skill-development tasks
- Prepare a file of self-selected articles used as source material in essays including research notes on material and a reference list (APA style)
- Develop a file of writing, all word processed, that meets instructor specified criteria for content, organization, language use and accuracy, and format
- These assignments should include:
- at least one summary
- at least one summary/analysis
- at least one research essay
- at least one comparative analysis of arguments on a common issue
- These assignments could include:
- a summary of an experiment/research report
- a response to literature documented MLA style
- In class, plan, organize and write at least one essay/report that meets instructor specified criteria for content, organization, language use and accuracy, and format
- Complete quizzes, both skill based and content based
- Complete at least one self-assessment of learning strategies, progress and classrooms skills to be discussed with the instructor
- Complete tasks to a specified level of accuracy
Student achievement will be assessed using the letter grade system in accordance with college policy.
Learning outcomes
Overall Objectives
Extend communicative proficiency and language accuracy for a broad range of academic purposes
Specific Objectives
- Read and understand academic material to support writing
- Take notes for a range of academic purposes
- Use strategies to explore academic materials
- Collect, analyze and organize relevant information from a variety of sources
- Plan, write, revise, edit and document (APA or MLA style) formal compositions such as summary, summary-analysis, research essay, comparative analysis, experiment/research report and literary response
- Monitor and apply strategies to improve accuracy in grammar, sentence structure, and word choice to a specified level of accuracy
- Participate effectively in a college classroom
- Assess progress
Textbook materials
Students may be required to purchase a textbook