WRIT 150 is intended to provide students with a rich and rewarding intellectual experience during their first year at USC, as it develops sound practices of writing and reasoning within a context that encourages students to explore topics of relevance to themselves and their generation. Versions of WRIT 150 address different themes (see below), and each version promotes the skills necessary for success in general education and major courses, while inviting students to join on-going scholarly and cultural conversations regarding salient issues. Toward this end, WRIT 150 fosters active, self-directed learners for whom information and ideas are not simply material for examinations but rather “equipment for living” in the academic context and beyond.
Writing Project 1
Most instructors use the first writing project of the semester to help students break the habits of the five-paragraph essay. The prompts ask students to grapple with complex questions, ones that require a nuanced examination of overlapping social issues (rather than a simplistic, yes/no response).
At the same time, students work through a series of related exercises to craft a conceptually coherent essay, one in which each body paragraph follows logically from the previous paragraph. To that end, classroom activities and homework emphasize invention – the business of generating ideas – as well as thesis development and the crafting of body paragraphs.
By the end of the first unit, students should be familiar with the dimensions of a compelling academic argument, and they should have the vocabulary to begin thinking and talking about writing as a process.
Writing Project 2
Writing Project 2 asks students to engage actively in an academic conversation. Whereas students may not always be required to conduct research or use outside sources for Writing Project 1, they must now frame their arguments in the context of or in response to arguments that have preceded theirs.
In addition to invention and the early stages of the writing process, the focus will now be on developing students’ ability to arrange an essay effectively and hone critical thinking skills. Particular emphasis will be placed on rough plans, paragraph structure, and transitions.
Ultimately, Writing Project 2 asks students to produce a thoughtfully structured analysis of another author’s argumentation and rhetorical strategies.
Writing Project 3
Writing Project Three emphasizes the use of research as a means of enabling students to enter a specific discourse community. Students will focus on employing critical reasoning in order to add to a larger social or cultural conversation in a meaningful way.
Additionally, students will learn how to critically engage with outside sources and integrate them into their own writing. They will also learn how to strengthen their own argumentative positions by skillfully addressing opposing viewpoints and forming counterarguments. Students will continue their study of arrangement by focusing on holistic coherence and writing effective conclusions.
After the third assignment cycle, students should have refined their research techniques and grown comfortable with analyzing other sources and incorporating them into their own writing.
Final Portfolio
Students round out the semester by composing a two-part Final Portfolio consisting of Writing Project 4, typically a thoroughly researched proposal essay, and a Supplemental Assignment requiring students to reflect on some aspect of their experience in Writing 150. Both assignments require students to show proficiency using the writing and critical reasoning skills they have cultivated over the course of the semester.
Students will further hone their analytical and argumentative abilities while employing the research techniques acquired during the previous assignment cycle. Moreover, they will learn to formulate more limited research questions and, by extension, compose more measured, practical solutions. In addition, they will learn to develop advanced holistic revision skills, as well as more sophisticated approaches to style.
By the end of assignment cycle four, students should be able to analyze and address limited research questions using appropriate, well-integrated sources, demonstrate greater stylistic maturity, and revise their work with enhanced organizational insight.