English 101 Guidelines for Instructors

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Writing Skills Requirement | E-mail Mary Lenard

Mission statement:

English 101 should prepare students for college level writing, which means having mastered rhetorical, logical, and analytical skills, as well as mechanical competence.

English 101 course goals/ objectives:

1. Students should have a thorough understanding that all argumentative writing uses the three major rhetorical appeals:
   • ethos--the appeal to the speaker's credibility and self-presentation
   • logos--the appeal to logic and reason, consisting both of the clarity of the message and how well it is supported with credible evidence
   • pathos--the appeal to the audience's values, emotions, and concerns
     
     
2. Students should have a thorough understanding of these general logical principles:
   • all claims have to be supported with clear reasoning and valid evidence
   • all claims inherently depend on larger assumptions, which also need to be argued and supported
   • counterarguments (opposing points of view) need to be anticipated and addressed
   • qualifying words (such as probably, may, often, etc.) can be used to make arguments more supportable
     
     
3. In English 101, the organizational principles taught in English 100 (see course goals/ objectives for English 100) should be reinforced. In addition, however, English 101 students should be taught to see organization in the context of rhetorical choice, ie; that a single 5 paragraph theme format does not work for every single paper.
   
   
4. As in English 100, peer assessment or evaluation should be built into the syllabus, not only to help with the revision of papers, but to help students become more critical and sophisticated readers of their own writing.
   
   
5. As in English 100, students should do some kind of reflection or self-assessment, either for each paper, or as a reflective essay at the end of the course, or both.
   
   
6. In English 101, students should understand grammar and style in the context of rhetorical choice--namely, that poor grammar and/or spelling injures a writer's credibility, undercuts his or her reasoning, and detracts from his or her appeal to the audience. English 101 students should also understand how some choices (e.g., slang, contractions, colloquialism, technical terms) that might be appropriate in some rhetorical contexts, are not appropriate in other rhetorical contexts.
   
   
7. The extent to which grammar is taught in class in English 101 should depend on the needs of the class. Students should be encouraged--if not required--to research their own individual mechanical problems and learn how to identify and fix them with the use of a handbook and/or dictionary.
   
   
8. English 101 should also allow students to investigate writing style in a more sophisticated manner, not just in terms of grammatical correctness. An English 101 student should come to understand that writing can be grammatically correct and still not work stylistically, because of poor diction, syntax, or a lack of cohesion.
   
   
9. By the time they have finished English 101, students should have an understanding of research techniques, although the manner in which these techniques are incorporated into the syllabus is at the instructor's discretion. Students should learn how to find books, articles, and/or Internet resources on particular topics, using modern library technology, and learn how to evaluate the credibility of these sources. Students should also learn how to document their use of sources correctly using MLA documentation, with the understanding that there are other documentation systems (APA, Chicago Manual of Style) that they may be required to use in some other academic disciplines.

Types of assignments for English 101:

1. Students should do at least one paper that involves a rhetorical analysis of something--whether it be a literary work, essay, speech, movie, TV show, advertisement, whatever--but they must be able to go beyond a simple summary of a "text," to write an analytical argument that uses an explication of that "text" to support its claims.
   
   
2. Students should write at least one paper that involves the use of researched evidence to support an argument.

Grading and course policy requirements for English 101 instructors:

1. Course policies should be clearly explained in the syllabus--these policies should cover absences, late assignments, grading criteria, how much each assignment is worth, etc. English 101 instructors should have some kind of attendance policy that lowers students' grades for excessive absences and gives the instructor justification for failing them if they miss more than two weeks of class, with possible exceptions for documented illnesses, family emergencies, etc.
   
   
2. For essay assignments, instructors need to give students written assignment sheets, which clearly explain goals, length requirements, expectations, etc.
   
   
3. As with English 100, the revision of at least some papers should be built into the syllabus, although the policies regarding these revisions are left to the instructor's discretion.
   
   
4. In English 101, instructors should evaluate and assess student writing based on the same logical and rhetorical principles that they are teaching. In other words, grading criteria should be ranked by their relative importance, commensurate with course goals.