ENC 1101: Expository and Argumentative Writing
This course examines the rhetorical and practical elements of writing effective arguments for contemporary academic audiences.
The first part of this course (Unit 1) will define argument for an academic audience. To foster our development as academic writers, we will establish a writing culture in which we learn how to analyze both our own and our peers’ writing. In the second part of the course (Units 2 and 3), we will explore various forms of analysis used in academic reasoning. In particular, each student will use a classification analysis to define or evaluate a culture that will be his or her focus for the rest of the course; and we will use a causal analysis to determine what brings about a problem the particular culture faces. In these units, we will apply our knowledge of rhetoric and persuasion to real-world issues revolving around the theme of writing for social change. In the culminating section of the course (Unit 4), we will be writing to change the world in a very literal way. In a proposal argument, students will describe a significant problem and a reasonable solution. Applying all of the skills developed in the first parts of the course, students will put their ideas into action in such a way that moves an audience to act, not hypothetically, but in the real world and for a real audience.
As we practice our argumentative skills through the theme of writing for social change, we will also improve our critical thinking through reading, writing, and discussion, and will attend to basic research skills, including documentation and avoiding plagiarism. Additionally, we will examine and practice academic conventions of word choice, sentence structure and variation, and paragraph formation. Texts will include traditional sources such as a writing handbook, textbook, and reader, but we will also examine the arguments in other texts—in popular culture, advertisements, and websites.
