Course Descriptions

By the end of the composition sequence, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate rhetorical knowledge through analyzing and composing a variety of genres and modalities for multiple audiences and purposes.
   
2. Practice critical reading and writing by challenging assumptions, exploring multiple perspectives, working through ideas, problems, or issues, and supporting conclusions appropriately.
3. Use flexible strategies to compose both short- and long-term projects through multiple drafts, participating in the collaborative and social aspects of the writing process.
4. Demonstrate the ethical responsibility of being a writer and a researcher in the English Composition Program.
5. Reflect on one’s own thinking, composing, and learning to understand how knowledge is made in diverse contexts and to apply that knowledge to future situations.

Before the start of the fall semester each year, students will take a guided self-placement to assess their readiness for college composition. After completing the guided self-placement, students will choose ENGL 1001 with or without assistance. For those that have chosen ENGL 1001 with assistance, the Academic Writing Center will work with students for more guidance and support during the term. For questions or concerns about the guided self-placement, email Samantha NeCamp (necampsa@ucmail.uc.edu).

English Composition 1001 is a writing-centered course that emphasizes the careful reading, analytical thinking, and persuasive strategies inherent in researching and writing within an academic community. Students learn that rhetorical knowledge is the basis of composing while learning to write with purpose, audience, context, and conventions in mind. Students develop rigorous academic research practices: how to locate and evaluate primary and secondary sources relevant to their line of inquiry and position their own ideas in conversation with public writing. Students also engage in regular self-reflection: articulating what they know, what they can do, and how to apply their knowledge and skills in various contexts.

By the end of ENGL 1001, students will be able to:

• Analyze rhetorical situation by examining audience, purpose, and context.
  
• Compose multiple genres for a variety of audiences and purposes, using sources as a foundation for writing in most projects, and adopting appropriate composing processes and conventions.
• Use inquiry-based research practices to identify potential gaps, conflicts, or new ideas in an existing conversation about a topic.
• Locate, evaluate, and synthesize source material appropriate to research inquiry that reflects a range of perspectives.
• Articulate what they know about reading, research, and writing processes and how they can apply that knowledge in various contexts. 

English 1012, Advanced First-Year Composition, is designed for students who have an ACT score of 28 or higher on the writing portion of the exam or an SAT score of 630 or higher.

English Composition 1012 is a writing-centered course that emphasizes the careful reading, analytical thinking, and persuasive strategies inherent in researching and writing within an academic community. Students learn that rhetorical knowledge is the basis of composing while learning to write with purpose, audience, context, and conventions in mind. Students develop rigorous academic research practices: how to locate and evaluate primary and secondary sources relevant to their line of inquiry and position their own ideas in conversation with public writing. Students also engage in regular self-reflection: articulating what they know, what they can do, and how to apply their knowledge and skills in various contexts. In addition, English 1012 requires students to participate in active learning through service-learning projects, experiential learning activities, digital mediums, or other activities designed to enhance classroom-based learning.

By the end of ENGL 1012, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate advanced rhetorical knowledge through analyzing and composing in a variety of genres and modalities, creating sustained writing projects that integrate and account for multiple perspectives
  
• Analyze complex argument strategies and persuasive appeals by reading and responding to a variety of texts, including lengthier and more complex texts than typically assigned in ENGL 1001
• Develop clear, compelling arguments that incorporate ideas and evidence from both field-based research and secondary sources, juxtaposing and integrating these as well as and citing them appropriately
• Use flexible strategies to compose both short- and long-term projects through multiple drafts and participate in collaborative and social aspects of the writing process, including providing constructive feedback to peers
• Reflect on one’s own thinking, composing, and learning to understand how knowledge is made in diverse contexts and to apply that knowledge in concrete ways to future situations. 

Intermediate Composition is a writing-centered course that builds on what students learn in first-year composition and focuses students’ attention on theoretical underpinning of how meaning is made, understood, and communicated within and across various discourse communities and genres. The course emphasizes critical reading and writing, advanced research and analysis skills, and rhetorical sensitivity to differences in academic, professional, and public composing. This course challenges students to engage in substantive projects drawing on primary research and source analysis methods and asks students to document, communicate, and reflect on their research.

By the end of ENGL 2089, students will be able to:

• Analyze how multiple discourse communities make, communicate, and debate meaning through various genres and writing practices.
• Use multiple tools and methods to conduct focused inquiry-based research and formulate original conclusions that are important to specific discourse communities.
• Produce various genres that reflect knowledge of the writing practices, purposes, and conventions of relevant discourse communities.
• Select appropriate social and collaborative processes for drafting and revising.
• Articulate what they know about how discourse communities make, communicate, and debate meaning, and how that knowledge can be used in their own academic, personal, social, and professional lives.