Catalog Description

Formerly known as ENGL 1A
Prerequisite: Placement as determined by the college’s multiple measures assessment process
Hours: 72 lecture
Description: In this course, students receive instruction in academic reading and writing, including writing processes, effective use of language, analytical thinking, and the foundations of academic research. (C-ID ENGL 100) (CSU, UC)

Course Student Learning Outcomes

  • CSLO #1: Read analytically to understand and respond to diverse academic texts.
  • CSLO #2: Compose thesis-driven academic writing that demonstrates analysis and synthesis of\\nsources as appropriate to the rhetorical situation.
  • CSLO #3: Demonstrate strategies for planning, outlining, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading\\nwritten work.

Effective Term

Fall 2025

Course Type

Credit - Degree-applicable

Contact Hours

72

Outside of Class Hours

144

Total Student Learning Hours

216

Course Objectives

  1. Read analytically to understand and respond to diverse academic texts. 
  2. Compose thesis-driven academic writing that demonstrates analysis and synthesis of sources as appropriate to the rhetorical situation. 
  3. Demonstrate strategies for planning, outlining, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading written work.
  4. Analyze stylistic choices in their own writing and the writing of others.
  5. Find, evaluate, analyze, and interpret primary and secondary sources, incorporating them into written essays using MLA documentation format.
  6. Use style, diction, and tone appropriate to a diverse academic community and the purpose of the specific writing task; proofread, edit, and revise essays so English grammar, usage, or punctuation do not impede clarity.

General Education Information

  • Approved College Associate Degree GE Applicability
    • AA/AS - English Composition
    • AA/AS - Reading Skills
    • AA/AS - Writing Skills
  • CSU GE Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU approval)
    • CSUGE - A2 Written Communication
  • Cal-GETC Applicability (Recommended - Requires External Approval)
    • Cal-GETC 1A - English Composition
  • IGETC Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU/UC approval)
    • IGETC - 1A English Composition

Articulation Information

  • CSU Transferable
  • UC Transferable

Methods of Evaluation

  • Classroom Discussions
    • Example: Example 1: In small group or full-class discussions, students will be evaluated on their accuracy in synthesizing information from multiple assigned readings via oral feedback. Example 2: In small groups or full-class discussions, students will be evaluated on their accuracy in identifying rhetorical modes in student and professional writing via oral feedback.
  • Essay Examinations
    • Example: Example 1: Students will choose and narrow a topic related to a contemporary issue and write an argument developed in a full-length essay with a clear sense of audience and purpose using information technology research. Essays will be evaluated for logic and critical thinking via a common departmental rubric shared with students. The rubric requires the assessment of A) awareness of audience (as determined by academic appropriateness of topic, academic use of tone and language; B)logical progression of ideas, including transitional elements; C) thorough development of ideas, including explanations, reasoning, evidence and support, and effective use of rhetorical devices. Example 2: Students will write various essays throughout the semester (analysis, comparison/contrast, definition, etc.) using academic conventions of punctuation, grammar, MLA documentation. Student essays will be evaluated via departmental rubric for appropriate use of academic conventions including grammar, punctuation, usage, in-text citations, and MLA documentation.
  • Objective Examinations
    • Example: Example 1: Students will read and annotate the essay, "Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission?" by Andrea Hacker and Claudia Dreifus. In a written exam, students will identify claims and bias. Students will be evaluated by reading quizzes that assess the students' comprehension of ideas, identification/recognition of bias in reading material, and skill in inference. Example 2: Students will bring draft copies of essay to class. Based upon readings and lectures on revision, students will work in peer groups to provide feedback on drafts to include suggestions and questions for the author about better organization, development of ideas, use of logic, use of language, awareness of audience, and academic conventions. Via written comments in peer response groups, students will be evaluated on the quality of their comments on student drafts in regards to logic, critical thinking, structure/organization, development of ideas, documentation, and academic use of language.
  • Skill Demonstrations
    • Example: Example 1: In the textbook, They Say/I Say, students will read chapter 3, "The Art of Quoting" and annotate it. After class discussion and practice, students will include quoted material in their next essay that demonstrates their understanding of 1. reasons to quote vs. paraphrase; 2. why and how to provide signal phrases in introducing quoted material; 3. why and how to provide in-text citations. In quizzes, presentations, or essays, students will be evaluated on the effective use of signal phrases in in-text citations. Example 2: Students will write a works cited page to be included with each essay that includes source material. The works cited page will be formatted according to MLA guidelines. In quizzes, presentations, or essays, students will be evaluated on proper application of MLA documentation in a Works Cited page.

Repeatable

No

Methods of Instruction

  • Lecture/Discussion
  • Distance Learning

Lecture:

  1. Instructor will organize or lead library tour and lecture on data bases, including EBSCOhost, Gale, JSTOR, etc. Students will search databases and practice saving and sending information and creating appropriate citations.
  2. Instructor will lecture on rhetorical modes. Students will use various and appropriate rhetorical modes to meet audience and purpose in their essays.

Distance Learning

  1. Instructor will write and post Discussion Board questions eliciting analysis and critique of the logic in assigned reading. Students will identify logical errors and explain pattern of thought in assigned reading.
  2. Instructor will set up and monitor peer review/editing groups in Canvas. Students will work with online partners to revise and edit drafts of essays.

Typical Out of Class Assignments

Reading Assignments

Example 1: 1. Read "Women and Work." Look over questions 1 and 2 following the essay and consider the following as well: - As far as you can tell from the essay, what does Lesueur seem to see as the essential value of work? To what has she devoted herself, and why? What does she get out of it? - What issues or concerns does Lesueur's essay illuminate? To what extent does her essay reflect your experience or the experience of others, given the time frame in which she wrote? - What objections might you have to her essay, if any? - What do you think Lesueur would think of Franklin's essay? 2. Respond briefly to the following assertions (do you agree or disagree): - Your work should have social and political value. - All work should be or can be fulfilling. 3. Free write briefly on the following: - What is the origin of your attitudes toward work (or your ideas about it)? - How do your experiences of work and your views about it compare to those of the writers you have read so far? - What conclusions can you draw from your thoughts and experiences: - a) about your views and about the specific work you’ve done; - b) about work as a concept or fact; - c) about the social value, impact, or significance of work Example 2: 1. Read "Work Union," and "Behind the Counter." Then respond briefly to the following questions: - What do you think of Gilb's argument in "Work Union"? How does your own experience help to create this response? - Is Gilb's essay fair? - What is your response to Schlosser's essay? What seems to be his central point? (If you've ever worked in a fast food restaurant, does the essay accurately describe your experience?) - Look over question 4 following Schlosser's essay; how would you answer it, and why?

Writing, Problem Solving or Performance

Example 1 1. Read "'By Means of the Visible' . . . " Although the essay is somewhat dense, as you read it, consider what Mitchell Stephens says about the effects of images--in some cases their limitations, in others, their value. In the process of his argument, he also takes you--quickly--through controversies, assertions, and examples taken from history and current media. After you read the essay, look over questions 1-6 following the essay and then do the following: - Bring to class, from whatever source, one sample of an image connected to text (e.g., a picture of a street in 19th Century New York along with the accompanying text). To what extent does Stephens' exploration help you to look at the relationship between images and ideas, as well as words and ideas - Respond to the following statement in writing: we have no true ideas apart from words? What would Stephens say? What do you think? Why? - What were your reactions to the essay? Why did you think the way you did? What role do images play in your understanding of your experience? 2. Look at any one photograph or other image (not photographs of you, your family, or your friends) and consider it in Plato's terms: how might it "hide" truth? In what ways isn't it "real"? 3. Then, look at it in other ways: to what does it refer? What meanings does it suggest? Does the image get at something "real" (social, cultural, scientific, etc.), something important for us to understand? Example 2: 1. Read "Crimes against Humanity." The introduction to the essay makes clear what its central concerns might be, and the essay itself is fairly direct. In any case, consider the questions #'s 1, 3, and 6 following the essay and then respond to the following: 2. Write a brief statement addressing the following questions: what are the thesis and major arguments of Churchill's essay? 3. Write down your own response to the essay. You may want to consider the following questions as you think of your response: - What do you think of Churchill's arguments? Why? - Do the arguments make sense? - Do you accept his conclusions? - Even if you have doubts, how well does he make his case? 4. Consider other stereotypical images (not simply racial, but occupational, economic, etc.) and briefly note down how these stereotypes are like or unlike those described in Churchill's essay. Do these other stereotypes support Churchill's argument? 5. Distance education students will post papers to the class discussion board and critique the posts of their papers.

Other (Term projects, research papers, portfolios, etc.)

1. Write a minimum of four major papers, of which at least one includes research and requires the selection and evaluation of sources, plus shorter writing assignments which will include one or more of the following: reading responses, in-class assignments, journal entries, shorter full-process essays, and essay or short answer exams.

Required Materials

  • Just Mercy
    • Author: Stevenson
    • Publisher: Pearson
    • Publication Date: 2019
    • Text Edition:
    • Classic Textbook?:
    • OER Link:
    • OER:
  • They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing
    • Author: Graff and Birkenstein
    • Publisher: W.W. Norton
    • Publication Date: 2024
    • Text Edition: 6th
    • Classic Textbook?:
    • OER Link:
    • OER:
  • A World of Ideas
    • Author: Lee Jacobus
    • Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's
    • Publication Date: 2019
    • Text Edition: 11th
    • Classic Textbook?:
    • OER Link:
    • OER:
  • A Writer's Reference
    • Author: Hacker, Diana
    • Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's
    • Publication Date: 2020
    • Text Edition: 10th
    • Classic Textbook?:
    • OER Link:
    • OER:
  • Reading Critically, Writing Well
    • Author: Axelrod and Cooper
    • Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's
    • Publication Date: 2019
    • Text Edition: 12th
    • Classic Textbook?:
    • OER Link:
    • OER:

Other materials and-or supplies required of students that contribute to the cost of the course.