Course Philosophy
All Missouri freshmen are required to complete English 1000. Our section, however, is the first to be designed exclusively for MAE majors. Our curriculum will satisfy the requirements for all English 1000 sections and provide a broad foundation for academic argumentation and exposition. But everything we do will be influenced by the unique composition of our class. We will read texts that deal with MAE-relevant applications, complete practicum-based projects to reflect writing that MAE majors might work with professionally, and attempt to engage current issues that demand MAE expertise and action. At the least, you’ll benefit from working with your peers in the MAE program. Hopefully, you’ll complete the course with a sense of the ways you can use composition as a scholar, professional, and citizen.
Learning Objectives and Outcomes
By the end of the semester you will have completed assignments that share the following features with every other English 1000 section taught at MU:
- practice with close reading and analysis of scholarly texts
- three formal papers that go through peer review, instructor review, and multiple levels of revision
- informal writing that leads toward the formal papers
- experience with peer review and peer editing
- practice with a formal documentation style (We will use Young’s Technical Writing A-Z.)
- instruction on avoiding plagiarism and maintaining academic integrity in written work
By the end of the semester, you should:
- be able to use essential steps in the writing process: invention, drafting, revising, and editing
- have developed an ability to engage texts critically
- carry a basic understanding of rhetorical tactics employed by authors in constructing texts
- understand how to argue a claim convincingly and credibly
- feel confident in your ability to express yourself in a range of academic and social contexts
- know the importance of documenting sources properly , and
- be prepared to transfer this knowledge to other MU courses.