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Elementary Composition I Overview

English W131, Elementary Composition I, is required of almost every Indiana University and Purdue University undergraduate student. 

 

In the W131 standard curriculum, students write a series of papers, exploring various forms of prose writing. Generally, a nonfiction book provides an anchor around which students, in collaboration with their instructor, pursue a set of related ideas, each grounded in the overall thematic focus of the book. Paper assignments are based on these ideas and allow students to choose a topic within the common dialogue about the book.

 

In addition, because paper assignments promote experience with different kinds of writing for various audiences, students learn to develop important rhetorical skills, such as developing a purpose, identifying a viable audience, writing to appeal to that audience, and negotiating the language requirements for success with selected genres.

 

  

The First Half of W131

The first half of W131 encourages students to explore their responses to readings and to life experiences to understand how those responses can help them to participate in broader discussions of social concern. As they read texts of multiple writers, students also will be asked to consider what makes those texts successful, i.e., what decisions writers make about how to use writing to communicate effectively.

 

This work during the first half culminates in a midterm portfolio, a body of work that includes the pre-writing, drafts, and final version of one of the papers written to this point, plus a reflective paper. These documents demonstrate, among other things, the process a student is developing to bring a paper to completion and is evaluated based on how well a student is progressing on the six course goals. The grade for this portfolio is worth roughly 1/3 of the semester grade.

  

  

The Second Half of W131

The second half of W131 focuses on developing more fully the skills learned in the first half. A key feature is learning to analyze and synthesize instructor-provided outside sources to produce more sophisticated writing that contributes substantively to a discussion of cultural significance. Students should show a range of abilities with different kinds of writing and present their work in a final portfolio that is typically comprised of two papers of the student’s choosing (one of which is from the second half), plus a reflective paper. 

 

This final portfolio is evaluated based on how well the student has met the course goals and is worth roughly 2/3 of the semester grade.  

  

  

English W131 Course Goals

Students completing W131 should be able to demonstrate that they:

  

  

  

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