W340 Learning Objectives - The Writing Program

Rhetorical Knowledge and Judgment

At the end of WRIT 340, students should understand how to

Choose unique positions regarding established and emerging issues, and negotiate the complexities in those issues with a sophisticated and judicious sense of audience
Recognize potential challenges to the legitimacy of how they utilize evidence in contextualizing and/or supporting their arguments
Display rhetorical aptitude when engaging with academic, professional, and lay audiences, including the ability to anticipate what different readers need from a text

At the end of WRIT 340, students should understand how to

Interrogate not only the assumptions of others, but also their own beliefs about and understanding of the forces that influence knowledge in their disciplines, professions, and/or civic lives
Avoid a summary of research, and instead integrate outside sources in ways that are appropriate, ethical, and stylistically sound
Embrace the complexities of the research process while recognizing its benefits in academic, professional, and civic inquiry

At the end of WRIT 340, students should understand how to

Employ heuristics in the initial stages and throughout the process of constructing a paper, including during the revision phase
Produce structured, vibrant prose that provides an audience with what is needed to be grounded in the discussion and open to the author’s position
Exhibit an intellectually committed and authentic voice, free of clichés, idioms, hackneyed phrasing, extraneous information, and predictability

At the end of WRIT 340, students should understand how to

Adhere to conventions ranging from structure and paragraphing to tone and mechanics, but also bend those conventions when appropriate to the author’s purpose
Demonstrate mastery of a scholarly apparatus for the inclusion of outside sources
Create flowing syntax free of errors in punctuation, grammar, and spelling