EngL5630: Theories of Writing and Writing Instruction Sp06

-Understand the structure and flow of APA-style journal articles
For any given article:
-Be able to identify the research question, and operationalization of the research question, for any given article succinctly
-Identify potential threats to validity, potential limits to generalizability

-Write an APA-style research proposal that:
a) identifies gap in existing psychological literature
b) identifies application to a real-world problem
c) clearly states a testable hypothesis
d) develops a research design to test hypothesis that is reasonably free of potential threats to validity
e) describes the research design with enough precision to be replicable
f) identifies the appropriate statistical test
f) uses scientific tone and conforms to APA-style

-Be more questioning and critical when presented with so-called “conclusive� findings/evidence/�proof�

[Note that my syllabus contains an Expectations section which contains more of the softer stuff like being respectful of peers' opinions, giving constructive feedback, etc. I don't include them here under course objectives because I do not believe it is for me to explicitly teach these soft skills].

Posted by Laura barron at 8:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

The syllabus I inherited for Comp 1011 for NNS contains a laundry list of very specific objectives. If I were to reword them in more general terms, I think they would look something like this.

Students will

- become familiar with the basics of academic writing, such as forming and supporting a thesis and incorporating outside sources

- learn to evaluate, revise, and edit their own writing

- begin to read critically, considering issues such as an author's purpose, credentials, arguments, and evidence

- recognize the importance of treating writing as a process, and become comfortable with the fact that the process is a messy one

- learn to appreciate the value of writing - not just to display their knowledge, but as a tool for learning and for meaningful communication

Posted by Heather Gregg at 7:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

María Eugenia Domínguez-Mujica
EngL5630: Theories of writing and Writing Instruction
Mar, 05, 2006

Here are my Course Objectives.
The following Course Objectives are created for Language and Communication, a writing composition class for freshman in the Humanities, in a national university in Venezuela.
Usually in Venezuela the students don’t receive any kind of specific training for writing before starting College; they are expected to learn this by themselves.

University of Los Andes. Venezuela
Language and Communication

In this course students will:

a) Relate their personal communicative competence with concepts of discourse analysis, such as stereotype, register of formality, standard norm, etc.

b) Use references for writing such as dictionaries, thesaurus, handbooks for writers, web sites, etc.

c) Identify and use models for their specific writing interest, especially articles found in peer-reviewed journals

d) Experiment and practice writing keeping in mind concepts such as audience, genre and tone.

e) Prioritize time effectively, taking into account the complexity of each writing assignment.

f) Understand what “objective� (versus subjective) means in academic discourse

g) Understand how orthography, punctuation and other formal aspects of writing serve as both an inclusive as well as an exclusive code in the academic world.

Posted by Maria Dominguez-Mujica at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

In composition courses at the University of Minnesota, you will learn to

Explore diverse contexts and styles of reading and writing
Read and think critically to identify an author’s audience, purpose, argument, and assumptions
Craft a thesis in persuasive and logical ways
Evaluate and present evidence to support your ideas
Describe, analyze, and synthesize ideas among different readings
Explore cultural functions of literacy

Develop a process of writing
Interpret the contexts of your writing, its audiences and purposes
Practice the activities of writing, including generating ideas, organizing arguments, revising, editing, and creating multiple drafts
Identify and practice forms of writing most effective for your ideas and audience(s)
Learn to produce, receive, and integrate constructive feedback in your writing process
Rewrite to achieve clarity and grace of expression

Practice disciplines of research and study
Use your time and resources efficiently
Locate, analyze, document, and integrate potential sources from the library, the Internet, print sources and other media into your writing
Recognize differences between popular and scholarly sources
Demonstrate an understanding of grammar and style conventions in standard written American English
Find resources to teach you what you don't know or remember

Posted by Pamela Flash at 7:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Here is my revised list of course objectives. They're still rough, as I've bothered course objectives on my syllabus before. I'm actually still not sure that I would do so.

-Be able to recognize different kinds of political arguments and the value systems underlying those arguments.
-Understand the traditional strengths and weaknesses of those arguments
-Apply those arguments to one's own politics
-Recognize the difference between scholarly and non-scholarly articles
-Master basic research skills, i.e. be able to locate scholarly articles
-Master a style of documentation
-Have an improved understanding of grammatical conventions
-Be a more perceptive reader; one more sensitive to details and word choices
-Be a more perceptive proof reader of your own and others' writing

Posted by Steven Koskela at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I wrote these in anticipation of teaching composition. They seem vague and unruly to me at this point; perhaps objectives always seem vague until you fill in the course with assignments and activities designed to further the objectives.

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Posted by Ann Linde at 9:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

These objectives are for GC 1422, Writing Laboratory: Communicating in Society (second semester writing course):

At the successful conclusion of the course, students should be able to:

o Demonstrate a solid understanding of conducting research using a range of sources, including online, print, and personal/experiential;

o Identify and analyze different rhetorical contexts (for example, websites, newsletters, pamphlets, essays, stories) as effective ways to convey information, ideas, and arguments;

o Analyze and explore a particular topic from a variety of perspectives and contexts;

o Continue to work effectively with the writing process (brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing) and other writing strategies to solve particular writing problems in your own writing and in your classmates' writing;

o Demonstrate an awareness of the choices a writer must make when writing for different audiences and purposes in terms of content, style, and word choice;

o Summarize, paraphrase, quote, and accurately cite sources, including integrating research with your own ideas;

o Apply guidelines for using and documenting sources according to MLA style;

o Understand the definition of plagiarism and its implications, including ways to avoid it in written work.

Posted by Gary Peter at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Marcia Lynx Qualey at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)