WR 201 Curriculum

How is Writing 201 different from other writing courses at IVC?

How is it different from other courses taught at other colleges?

The answers begin in the curriculum.

As you design, revise and write your syllabus and assignments you should be directed by the curriculum which outlines topics for the course. The curriculum is approved by the state and adherence to it helps maintain the integrity of our writing sequence and composition program.

When we agree to teach WR 201, we agree to teach the curriculum as written at Irvine Valley College.

Here is the WR 201 curriculum:

COURSE CONTENT

(Lecture Topics Covered) 

Critical Thinking/Reading Evaluation of Texts: Reading with a Critical Eye Determining the author's purpose, audience, and tone Recognizing the author's strategies for developing and supporting a claim Recognizing the author's deployment of organizational structures and matching of structures with rhetorical context Identifying and recognizing the characteristics/traits of a variety of texts The Making of Meaning: Juxtaposing the Reader's Context with the Text Relating the text to the personal experiences of students Relating the text to historical and/or current events Relating the text to other texts Relating the text to other courses Secondary Sources: Basic Library Skills Recognizing the availability and utility of library sources Employing basic library skills Considering the reliability of secondary sources Considerations for Analytical Writing Rhetorical Context: Recognizing the Elements and Understanding Their Significance Matching audience, purpose, and tone Selecting appropriate essay formats Text Generation: Conceptualizing and Creating a Text Recognizing and using a variety of strategies to generate ideas Recognizing and using a variety of strategies to develop and support a claim Recognizing and using a variety of organizational structures, matching structures with rhetorical contexts Recognizing and using strategies for revision in order to achieve unity and readability Text Generation: Using Sources Distinguishing among quotations, summary and paraphrase Using quotations, summary and paraphrase to support a claim Syntactical Considerations: Linking Audience Awareness with the Uses of Language and the Function of Correctness Revision strategies Reseeing concepts, rethinking ideas and reevaluating organization to achieve global revisions that create unity and coherence Reconsidering syntax, diction, grammar, mechanics, and reference to achieve local revisions that create clarity, coherence, and readability Manuscript Considerations: Matching Format with Rhetorical Context Adopting Standard Essay Format Distinguishing among various essay formats Considering the rhetorical context in order to match essay format to rhetorical purpose Observing the Conventions of Manuscript Preparation Recognizing the conventions of manuscript preparation Considering the rhetorical context and matching the conventions of manuscript preparation to rhetorical purpose

COURSE CONTENT (Learning Objectives)

Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:

1. Explain and apply the role of audience, tone and purpose in writing, adapting the writing to match audience, purpose, and tone.
2. Read critically to determine the writer's purpose, point of view, methods and manner of presentation.
3. In response to a written text, propose and articulate a thesis, developing that thesis with effective and sufficient support, including support from primary and secondary sources.
4. Identify, select and use various essay forms and assigned manuscript formats, matching organizational structures with rhetorical contexts.
5. Revise for coherence, unity, content, and audience impact and edit to demonstrate competency in Standard Written English.
6. Revise for conventions of manuscript preparation.

COURSE CONTENT 

(Methods of Evaluation) 

Evaluation of the student will be based upon the following items:

· In-class activities and formal essays that demonstrate student's ability to read critically a text to determine the writer's purpose, point of view, and methods and manner of presentations.

In-class and formal essays demonstrating the student's ability to adapt one's writing to match audience, purpose, and tone.

Prewriting activities such as journals, quotation charts, outlines, etc. that demonstrate student's ability to articulate and develop a thesis.

Peer-response and review activities, revision and metacogntion exercises that deomonstrate the student's ability to revise for coherence, unity, content, and audience impact and revise for conventions of manuscript preparation.

COURSE CONTENT

(Assignments) 

Reading:
Assigned texts, reflecting a broad spectrum of expression from the personal (memoir, personal experience) to the analytical and argumentative that support and enhance lecture topics.
Writing:
A minimum of four essays written in response to the critical reading of a text written by published author, a peer and/or self that require student to propose and articulate a thesis including support from primary and secondary sources. Exercises and scaffolded activities leading to the formulation and reconsideration of a completed essay in terms of coherence, unity, content, and audience impact.
Other:
Prewriting activities such as journals, quotation, charts, mini-essays, outlines, responses to questions, etc. Peer review. Research activities for primary and secondary sources.
Oral:
Presentations of an essay, group presentations, and/or debates/discussions.

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