Written Communication Competency
Courses in the writing competency curriculum focus on student aptitudes rather than on a particular content because composing is a recursive process that depends not on specific knowledge but on fluent, flexible, creative thinking. To concentrate on the essentials of composing, the program explicitly treats stages of process such as discovery, drafting, etc. It concentrates on exposition and argument as the modes most useful for the student and the citizen. It teaches students how to use library resources so that students may expand their access to knowledge essential for informed discourse. The program emphasizes critical thinking as well as traditional rhetorical skills because only insight can generate substance for the writer’s craft to shape.
The following program learning outcomes define the written communication competency. Students who have completed the general education written communication requirements can:
- Create, identify, and engage in significant research questions.
- Engage rhetorically and integrate a variety of appropriate sources to support a central claim.
- Select and use appropriate methods and rhetorical strategies that suit the purpose and audience of a specific context and discipline.
- Organize sentences and paragraphs to communicate central points with logical connections and a minimum of grammar and punctuation errors.
- Format documents and cite sources in accordance with the conventions in the individual disciplines.
- Demonstrate methods of inquiry and rhetorical strategies, including form, media and style relevant to the discipline. Identify and explain writing strategies used in their writing.