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Essay Writing
Skills
A student should
- be able to compose an essay of
five to six well-developed paragraphs.
- be able to create effective
introductory and concluding paragraphs.
- show some skill at developing a
focused thesis statement.
- show control over transitional
devices and strategies between sentences and between
paragraphs.
- be able to understand the
distinction between drafting, editing, and
revising.
- be able to create examples that
effectively use concrete details to demonstrate a point;
s/he should not rely on abstraction or
"telling."
- be able to write using thesis
and topic sentence structure instead of first person ("I"
voice) narrative storytelling.
- be able to create a more formal
tone and diction and not rely on a chatty, overly
familiar, and "slangy" voice.
- be comfortable using a
dictionary and thesaurus--not just spell-check--on a
regular basis during the composition and revision
process.
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Grammatical and Technical
Skills
A student should
- show consistent control of verb tenses and point of
view.
- show a consistent awareness of sentence boundaries
including confident use of the period in avoiding
fragments and run-ons.
- show consistent mastery of coordination and the
punctuation patterns that go with coordination.
- show an awareness of the differences between
subordination and coordination.
- know the differences between independent and
dependent clauses and show some skill in using and
punctuating each type of clause.
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Reading Skills
A student should
- finish the semester with a minimum score of 18 on the
RFU 3 Test.
- finish the semester able to consistently identify a
writer's thesis, topic sentences, and supporting
information.
- be able to analyze the relationships between
different elements of a reading assignment: how a thesis
shapes the form of an essay, how sequence and strategy
are served by examples and details, etc.
- not be asking the instructor or peers for definitions
and information about the reading; instead, the student
shows greater independence and self-reliance in obtaining
that information.
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