The ability to communicate in writing is a vital skill in an individual’s personal, educational, and vocational success. The capacity to produce a clear and cogent argument in an essay is fundamental to a generally educated person. Therefore, courses meeting the General Education English requirement must, at a minimum, achieve the following:
- Require that students produce college-level, expository writing through planning, exploring and limiting topics, researching, drafting, revising, and editing
- Distinguish the forms and uses of rhetoric
- Require the ability to express logical thought in writing
- Promote the use and application of critical thinking skills in writing
- Enhance the use of standard English
- Analyze tone in writing and generate written work appropriate for a specific audience and purpose
To meet these goals, courses in English will require students to complete, at a minimum, the following:
- At the beginning level:
– Produce a minimum of 4-5 essays (at least two must be 1250 words in length each, and no more than one essay will focus on narration or description)
– One essay must involve library research and demonstrate effective analysis and proper incorporation of research
– Students will have frequent opportunities to draft and revise essays
- At the intermediate level:
– Produce a minimum of 2-3 essays totaling approximately 1800-2000 words (essays will emphasize analysis and persuasion)
– Produce, in addition to the shorter papers, a 10-12 page research that incorporates a sufficient number of sources
– Students will have frequent opportunities to draft and revise essays