Courses and Outcomes

About Our Courses

EMU’s First Year Writing Program is committed to five core principles based on contemporary research in rhetoric and composition/writing studies: rhetoric, process, conventions, multimodality and reflection.

These five core principles guide both of the courses we offer at EMU:

  • WRTG 120 Composition I: Writing the College Experience
  • WRTG 121 Composition II: Researching the Public Experience

Students can expect to see these five core principles and the specific outcomes (below) in the major projects, daily activities and evaluation of writing composed in all first-year writing courses at EMU—and, we hope, beyond first-year writing in other EMU writing courses, too.

Our Course Outcomes

  • WRTG 120 Course Outcomes

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    Composition I: Writing the College Experience

    WRTG 120 introduces using writing and reading for inquiry. Students write extended projects about subjects relevant to the college experience using conventions of standard written English; assignments may also incorporate other genres and styles. The course will focus on using writing and reading as a process for discovery, and on communicating ideas to audiences.

    Rhetorical knowledge

    You will have practiced using language consciously and identifying rhetorical qualities in composing situations.

    Writing process

    You will have engaged in invention, drafting and rewriting, providing explicit evidence of a writing process.

    Genre conventions

    You will have demonstrated awareness of academic writing genre conventions, including mechanics and syntax.

    Multimodal transformation

    You will have adapted your writing to distinct rhetorical contexts, drawing attention to the way composition transforms across contexts and forms.

    Reflective practice

    You will have applied feedback from instructor, peers, and individual reflection to rethink, re-see, and ultimately revise your work.

  • WRTG 121 Course Outcomes

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    Composition II: Researching the Public Experience

    WRTG 121 focuses on academic writing and inquiry. Students use different kinds of research to develop literacy used in academic and public contexts. Through reading and writing, students engage in the process of writing researched projects that reflect conventions of standard written English and standard documentation styles.

    Rhetorical performance

    You will have enacted rhetoric by consciously constructing persuasive texts.

    Research process

    You will have practiced different research methods, which includes analyzing and using sources and developing primary research.

    Style conventions

    You will have developed awareness of conventions of academic research processes, including documentation systems and their purposes.

    Multimodal design

    You will have composed using digital technologies, gaining awareness of the possibilities and constraints of electronic environments.

    Reflective interaction

    You will have shared your work with your instructor, peers and/or the university community and accounted for the impact of such interaction on composition.

EMU’s First Year Writing Program updated its program principles and course outcomes in 2014, based on input from an instructor survey and a student portfolio assessment. Our outcomes are adapted from The Council of Writing Program Administrators' (CWPA) "Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition" (2008) and the "Framework For Success in Postsecondary Writing [PDF]" (2011), jointly developed by CWPA, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the "National Writing Project". Our application of these five core principles has emerged from contemporary writing research, including Adler-Kassner, Majewski, and Koshnick’s "The Value of Troublesome Knowledge" (2012); Adler-Kassner and Wardle’s "Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts and Composition Studies" (2015); and Wardle and Downs' "Writing About Writing, 2nd edition" (2014).

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