ENGL-102 English Composition II

Credits 3 / 3 Contact Hours
Pre-requisite: Placement into ACRD 080 ; Successful completion of ENGL-101  or ENGL-103  with a grade of 2.0 or higher.
This course builds on English 101. Students will continue to develop their understanding of writing as a public, rhetorical, audience-driven act, with an increased emphasis on analysis and composition of arguments. Students will learn to recognize and resist manipulative arguments and, in their own writing, to use ethical rhetorical strategies and credible evidence to reach a critically-thinking audience.

Course Outcomes
1. Demonstrate an understanding of persuasion and argument by writing for particular audiences and purposes and writing within the conventional frameworks of academic discourse when appropriate./ This will be measured through student writing pieces for different audiences and purposes and then reflecting, in writing, on the particular writing choices they made to reach those audiences and achieve those purposes.
2. Participate in a community of writers by sharing, reading, and discussing works-in-progress with peers and instructor to better understand audience and purpose, reflecting and revising to improve effectiveness./ This will be measured through student participation in peer workshops, sharing of drafts with the instructor, and revising based on feedback.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the processes through which scientists, researchers, and journalists find and verify facts./ This will be measured through writing assignments, discussions, and or tests/ quizzes about these processes.
4. Think critically about the differences between belief, informed opinion, and fact in texts (including journalism and social media) and reflect about the audience and purpose for which each is appropriate./ This will be measured through writing assignments, discussions, and or tests/ quizzes.
5. Use credible research with clarity and academic integrity: introducing, quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, explaining and analyzing, citing and documenting in the MLA style. / This will be evaluated through the required research paper as well as other assignments in which students will engage with the words and ideas of others.
6. Write a research-based argument paper on a topic of personal interest and public relevance, using ethical rhetorical strategies and credible sources, including peer-reviewed academic articles and pieces from news organizations with rigorous editorial standards./ This is an essential assignment in the course.
7. Identify and analyze the effectiveness of ethical rhetorical strategies (for example: connotation, ethos, logos, and pathos) in texts, both written and visual./ This will be evaluated through the students’ responsive/ analytical/ evaluative, and/or research writing
and discussion participation about assigned texts.
8. Identify and analyze the use of manipulative rhetoric (for example: scare tactics, overly emotional appeals, slippery slope, dogmatism, logical fallacies, propaganda, etc.) in a variety of written and visual texts and media./ This will be evaluated through
the students’ responsive/ analytical/ evaluative, and/or research writing and discussion participation about assigned texts.
9. Reflect about the importance of recognizing one’s own worldview and biases and apply a critical thinking process in the contexts of academic writing, citizenship, and interpersonal communication./ This will be evaluated by students’ reflective writing and discussion participation.
10. Engage in low-stakes, writing-to-discover activities that support and develop higher-stakes writing assignments./ This will be evaluated in numerous short writings.
11. Refine a personal writing process (including pre-writing, drafting, gathering audience feedback, revising, and proof-reading/editing for sentence-level clarity) that considers more academically-driven or field specific audiences. / This will be evaluated in the context of students’ major writing assignments.