English 1230: Course Outline
Course Overview
A general education writing course, English 1230 is a continuation of English 1130’s process-oriented approach
to writing with particular emphasis on the rhetorical situation constructed of author text and audience, research
and analysis of research materials through self-directed critical reading, drafting and revision strategies, and the
rhetorical skills necessary to generating a persuasive research supported essays directed to a well defined
audience.
All course activities in English 1230 are directed toward the students’ application of the formal skills and
rhetorical principles learned in English 1130 to the more complex and purposeful goals of generating persuasive
research-oriented texts with an emphasis on audience and purpose. Through the examination and analysis of
topics and texts (both the students’ and the writing of published experts) we will move outward into a world of
readers that demands a strong persuasive style founded upon sound rhetorical strategies, efficient research
tactics, a firm understanding of the audience/self relationship, and various other concerns intrinsic to efficient
persuasive style.
Prereqs/Coreqs
P: English 1130 or testout
Course Objectives
 To understand and practice active critical reading strategies aimed toward comprehension and rhetorical
analysis.
 To fully comprehend what is meant by the terms rhetorical situation, argument, invention, process, and
revision.
 To learn how to use the ideas of others to generate/influence a personal position and then to use these
same ideas to support that position.
 To learn efficient research techniques and strategies for reference and citation.
 To provide an ample opportunity for the study of language and culture through various reading and
writing opportunities.
 To explore various formal patterns and developmental strategies and to realize their potential as
rhetorical devices.
 To apply the above rhetorical strategies in conjunction with audience expectations.
 To realize the importance of dialogue in all communication—all stories have multiple sides, not just the
writer’s side.
 To develop critical reading skills.
All English 1230 instructors will design critical reading assignments in this regard. Subject texts will represent
multi-genres including editorials, essays, scientific research, relevant magazine articles, etc.
Canonical literature, i.e., novels, short stories, poetry is discouraged in this process inasmuch as English 1230 is
a general education writing course and not a literature course per se.
Types of Writing
Students will write a substantial number of pages dedicated to informal writing for the purpose of writing-tolearn, reader-response exercises, and invention strategies. In their move toward a formal product, students will
generate a substantial number of pages dedicated to the process-oriented drafting and multiple revision of the
various assignments related to argumentation, analysis and research mentioned above.
Suggested number of pages per semester:
 Informal writing, 15–20 pages
 Process-oriented writing (with revisions), 20–30 pages
 Formal finished writing, 20–30 pages
Argumentative
Students will learn the basic rhetorical strategies necessary to the development of a sound thesis statement and
the formal skills necessary to presenting their ideas to a specific audience. As well, students will identify,
classify, evaluate, and arrange logically evidence related to their position. They will then work to develop a
viable persuasive essay using that information to support the thesis.
Part of the 1230 learning experience is to help students realize that all writing is done for a purpose and that
purpose is ultimately related to audience. It is from this basic comprehension of purpose and audience that a
deeper understanding of genre and writing-in-the-disciplines will accrue.
Analytical
Students will write response-essays based on the analysis of printed matter.
While many assignments in 1130 are structured to enable students to write from personal experience, in 1230
the aim of the assignments is to move them beyond their previously explored world to an understanding of
textual experience. Toward this aim, printed material from diverse areas—from the literary to the scientific—
ought to be presented for discussion and analysis and used as material for assignments aimed at developing
sound and responsible analytical writing and a clear sense of style.
Research-based
Students will write papers in which they draw together materials from primary and secondary sources on a given
topic and develop and support conclusions based on an analysis of these materials.
At least three to six of these writing assignments will be formally documented. Some of these papers can be
based on primary and secondary sources drawn from the course’s subject matter. Assignments requiring the use
of the library and the internet for research are especially valuable training now, not only because they provide
research experience in the classical setting, but also because they familiarize students with the library and the
internet as vast reservoirs of information. Therefore English 1230’s primary research project will be based on
significant library research and qualified internet research.
The Principles of the Research Process
Compiling Sources
Students must be made aware of the extensive research aids available in the library and must be taught to collect
a diverse and substantial list of possible sources of information related to a specific topic. They should be
brought to see the importance of both primary and secondary sources, the necessity of evaluating sources for
such things as authority, obsolescence, and bias, and they should understand the need to compile sources
representative of a variety of viewpoints.
Paraphrasing
Students must discover efficient ways of saying what they found in a research source, both to achieve a unity of
tone and style in a piece of writing and to increase their understanding of the source material. Care must be
taken to insure that students understand the difference between paraphrase and plagiarism.
Summarizing
Students should be taught the good judgment necessary to determine what can be omitted from a source without
losing or distorting the author’s idea.
Quoting
Students must learn to achieve a balance in their use of quotations; they must also learn when quotations are
appropriate and why. This is extremely important to the student’s control of style.
Synthesis
Synthesis is the ability to combine relative information from several sources in order to present information with
the purpose of discovering, generating, or supporting a well developed thesis. All instructors will design and
present at least one full assignment dedicated to the synthesis of sources. The synthesis of sources assignment
will be built upon the previous Paraphrase/Summary assignment which will have provided the prerequisite
skills.
Documentation
Students must gain facility in implementing at least the most basic forms to be used in documented papers and
must know where to find and how to use information relating to the less commonly used forms of
documentation. MLA and APA forms of documentation must be presented in all sections of English 1230.
Revised 2/08/11