WRT 95: Integrated Reading and Writing
4 units, CR/NC grading
Course Learning Outcomes:
Outcome 1: Understand and engage in reading, writing, and dialogue as
interdependent and collaborative processes.
Criteria:
1. Understand own reading and writing process.
2. Make conscious choices in applying reading and writing strategies.
3. Identify and value existing literacy skills.
4. Engage in effective peer review and group activities.
5. Practice active and respectful speaking and listening.
6. Identify and make appropriate use of writing resources including reference tools,
tutors, and meetings with faculty.
Outcome 2: Understand and apply critical reading and writing skills.
Criteria:
1. Use pre-reading, reading, and post-reading strategies to comprehend, interpret and
evaluate texts.
2. Develop and ask critical questions.
3. Reflect on own and others’ perspectives.
4. Use freewriting, invention techniques, journaling, summarizing and paraphrasing to
respond to texts, to explore and create ideas, to ask questions, and to identify and
develop perspectives.
5. Effectively use recursive writing strategies that include reading, dialogue, prewriting,
drafting, revision, and peer and instructor feedback.
6. Gather, evaluate and utilize evidence appropriate to the genre and area of study.
Outcome 3: Understand and apply elements of audience, purpose, and occasion for
ethical and effective communication.
Criteria:
1. Make linguistic choices appropriate to the cultural context.
2. Use appropriate rhetorical conventions for composing academic essays.
3. Provide coherent and appropriate structure and organization in essays.
4. Ethically integrate external texts for writing and accurately provide documentation
where needed.
Outcome 4: Use appropriate conventions of Standard American English, including
grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and syntax.
Criteria:
1. Understand how the construction of sentences affects meaning.
2. Compose sentences that convey intended meaning.
Course assignments:
Four essays of increasing complexity, requiring readings (some assigned and some
identified by students in searches using library databases.
Essays are often scaffolded, with feedback provided by instructor and/or peer at each
step. For example, students may first be asked to propose a researchable question that is
presented to instructor and peers for feedback and then revised and resubmitted.. The next
step may be to identify some scholarly sources and provide summaries of them and explanation
for how they address the research question. Next a draft may be submitted, again receiving
feedback and undergoing revision.
Assessment:
Each essay is scored on the “Shared Criteria.”
A midterm portfolio is produced that includes a reflective essay along with drafts and
revisions of the first two essays. The portfolios is assessed holistically, and assigned a grade of
high pass, pass or fail.
A final portfolio is produced that includes a reflective essay along with drafts and
revisions of the 3rd and 4th essays as well as one of the first two essay with additional revision if
the midterm portfolio did not pass.
Below is a composite of the types of essays assigned in WRT 95:
Essay 1
Length: 3-5 pages
Genre: summary and response; textual analysis; description; autobiography
Topic/theme: literacy narrative/autobiography; sense of place; personal recollection; literacy
and language
Resources: 3-6 assigned from course anthology--personal narratives, language and/or literacy
autobiographies as models
Essay 2
Length: 2-6 pages
Genre: narrative; report based on interviews; generally requires elements of summary;
point of view, comparing two perspectives; argument—with prompt provided;
textual analysis
Topic/theme: metaphor and symbolism; challenges of first year students; cell use in classroom;
technology/virtual reality; language
Resources: assigned readings from course anthology; textbook readings process, nature of
genres, mechanics, etc.; videos; outside reading
Essay 3
Length: 3-7 pages
Genres: Argument (with 2-3 options provided); literary analysis—evidence based;
argument/interpretation; synthesis/position—contextualized; textual analysis
Topic/theme: speech code; welfare/workfare; innocence and experience; same sex marriage;
poetry in song; two advertisements
Resources: assigned readings from course anthology; 3 short stories; 1-5 outside courses,
including scholarly source
Essay 4
Length: 3-10 pages
Genre: argument; informed opinion; multiple perspectives; informed decision; essential
questions; research with evaluative annotated bibliography
Topic/theme: research question of students’ choice with some guidelines or limitations; list of
topics provided
Resources: requiring 1-5 scholarly sources; addition sources may include popular but reliable
sources; “expert” websites; newspapers
Additional assignments/activities:
Peer review
Revision
Citation exercises
Habits of mind
Debate
Free write
Searching databases
Framing research/open-ended questionsthesis (answer)
Prewriting
Polls—on metacognitive questions