Overview
Students will have the ability to develop and present ideas clearly in writing. Communication skills include "those required for effective reading, writing, speaking and listening" and "awareness of the challenges of cross-cultural communication" (PASSHE BOG Policy 1993-01).
Educational Goals:
Knowledge and Comprehension
- To demonstrate a capacity to carry out the planning, drafting, revising and editing stages of the writing process;
- To construct, explain and illustrate the interpretations of readings; and
- To recognize both what a text says and how it works (its rhetorical strategies).
Application and Analysis
- To analyze the elements of the writing situation (subject, purpose, audience) as a foundation for writing, and
- To apply rhetorical strategies in writing.
Intermediate Composition
Intermediate Composition is not required for all academic majors. Please consult with your adviser or department chair to determine the specific requirements for your program.
Educational Goals:
Application and Analysis
- To produce prose that is clear, coherent, convincing and correct; and
- To apply strategies for effective cross-cultural communication.
Synthesis and Evaluation
- To write papers that formulate original positions on a problem or issue in the context of a synthesis of multiple primary and/or secondary sources;
- To assess the usefulness and reliability of potential print, electronic and primary research for a proposed research report; and
- To plan, develop and write appropriately documented and formatted academic and/or professional texts.
NOTE: "Effective cross-cultural communication" here entails writers paying attention to how their texts might best be crafted for particular audiences, whether those audiences be professional or general.