ENGL 097 - Basic Expository Writing

Credits: 5
LEC hours per week: 5
This course focuses on the composition of well-developed sentences, paragraphs, essays, and the writing process. Students will develop critical thinking skills through the use of expository, narrative, critical, analytical, and persuasive writing techniques. Instructors use the WWCC writing rubric to evaluate competencies and ensure developmental progression.
Prerequisite(s): Appropriate placement score or grade of C or higher in ENGL 087; or permission of the Division Chair or designee.
Course Outcomes:

Apply writing process concepts.
Create organized, unified, coherent and well-developed paragraphs and short essays.
Demonstrate clarity in writing through good grammar, punctuation, spelling, and manuscript skills.
Apply academic writing style in voice, wording, and sentence construction.
Analyze rhetorical structure in college-level texts.
Synthesize key ideas from college-level texts.
Use information literacy skills, including writing summaries, researching outside sources, and avoiding plagiarism.
Manage the academic demands of college classes independently.

Course Topics:

This course will cover the following topics (note: this is a representative, not an exclusive, list):
The writing process and understanding the WWCC writing rubric
Establishing academic tone in writing
Reading for the main idea, annotating texts, creating evidence-based claims and summaries
Finding and employing outside sources as well as simple formatting of in-text citations
Structuring both the paragraph and the essay as well as employing patterns of organization
Review of grammar, sentence structure, and punctuation
Working with writing modes (narrative, expository/argumentative, persuasive)