Courses Detail Information

ENGL1000J – Academic Writing I


Instructors:

Ryan Mallory Thorpe;Joelle Tybon;Andrew Yang;Michele Campbell;Kyung Min Kim

Credits: 4 credits

Pre-requisites:

Description:

The Vy100 and Vy200 academic writing courses aim to teach students the principles, conventions, and styles of writing for an academic audience. Writing assignments offer students opportunities to demonstrate critical thinking skills, engage in a multi-draft writing process, observe disciplinary conventions, and develop research skills in response to primary texts of varied genres and in conversation with scholarly literature. The writing courses are organized around central topics chosen by faculty to represent their diverse research/writing backgrounds and to be accessible and of interest to students Vy100,  Academic Writing I, focuses on the building blocks necessary towards producing evidence-based academic writing in response to texts from multiple genres, including scholarly text

Course Topics:

Writing Topics

  1. Elements of Persuasive/ Argumentative writing such as • introductory remarks• statement of problem and reasons for writing • argumentative thesis statement
  • critical analysis •effective representation of sources • concession • refutation
  • deployment of relevant evidence • concluding remarks
  1. Summary
  2. Critical Response /Critical Summary
  3. Argument styles and argument development in conversation with class texts
    demonstrating • structural coherence and effective transitions • logical development • integration of sources ; ability to compare and contrast
  4. MLA style
  5. Logical Fallacies
  6. Library resources and databases
  7. Academic register and overall accuracy

 Selected Grammar and Style Topics

  1. Language that builds common ground*
  2. Understanding Vocabulary in Context *
  3. Word Forms (e.g. changing noun- >verb- >adverb->adjective)*
  4. Punctuation: commas, semicolons, colons, periods, capitalization
  5. Subject-verb agreement*
  6. Complete sentences: comma splices, run-ons, fragments
  7. Compound sentences: coordination
  8. Complex sentences: subordination
  9. Compound-complex sentences
  10. Modifiers
  11. Parallelism

*Denotes areas of concern for non-native speakers. NOTE: These are suggested topics. Topics can be altered or deleted depending on class needs, which can be assessed through a written diagnostic.

Public Speaking Topics

No required assignments

Suggested: Activities that allow students to practice class participation and overall public speaking skills including

  • debates (structured and unstructured)
  • acting out dialogues,
  • short, informal presentations
  • whole-class and group discussion