Student Learning Outcomes Translation Into Simpler Words

As writing staff, we understand that many of these skills are similar, and often happen at the
same time. We are also aware that rhetorical awareness and critical thinking happen throughout
all writing, and it is not realistic to try and separate the two. We have done so to help a variety of
audiencesstudents, colleagues in other departments, for exampleto better understand
concepts introduced and reinforced in FYW so that they will continue to be practiced and
developed throughout a students lifetime of literacy development.

Rhetorical Knowledge
Rhetoric is the art of persuasive speaking or writing, rhetorical knowledge would be the ability to
identify and apply that across a range of texts and writings. Using their own writing processes,
the writer should compose their work understanding how genre, purpose, and context impact
how their writing is portrayed.
By the end of FYW, students should be able to:

Use rhetorical concepts to read and write many different texts using a range of
technologies that are geared toward a certain audience/for a specific purpose.
Assess how genres are shaped by and take part in shaping readers and writers
experimentation with the way something is done, including inner workings, structure, and
style.
Develop ability to change voice, tone, formality, design, and layout to accommodate
specific situations and context.

Critical Reading
Reading critically is the ability to analyze, synthesize, interpret, and evaluate ideas, information,
and text. When writers think critically about materials they use, they separate beliefs from
evidence, evaluate sources and evidence, recognize and assess assumptions, read across texts for
connections and patterns, and identify and evaluate chains of reasoning. These practices are very
important for advanced academic writing.
By the end of FYW, students should be able to:

Use reading for analysis, learning, and discovery.

Go over their own work/work of others critically, including examining diverse texts and
expressing the value of numerous rhetorical choices of the writer.
Locate and evaluate (for credibility, sufficiency, accuracy, timeliness, bias) primary and
secondary research materials, including journal articles and essays, books, scholarly and
professionally established and maintained databases or archives, and informal electronic
networks and internet sources.

Use a diverse range of texts, attending especially to relationships between assertion and
evidence, to patterns of organization, to the interplay between verbal and nonverbal
elements, and to how these features function for different audiences and situations.

Composing Processes
Writers use multiple strategies or composing processes, to form an idea of, develop, and finalize
projects. Composing processes are rarely sequential: a writer might do research before writing a
first draft then do additional research while revising or after asking someone to go over their
work. Composing processes are also flexible: successful writers can adapt and use their
composing processes to different writing situations.
By the end of FYW, students should be able to:

Show ability to draft, review, collaborate, revise, rewrite, reread, and edit.
Be able to identify and use socialization in their writing, brainstorming, and taking
criticism.
Use their writing processes to get deeper into their work, their ideas, ideas of others, and
use them to strengthen their arguments.

Knowledge of Conventions
Conventions are formal rules and guidelines that define genres. By knowing these, conventions
help shape readers and writers expectations of correctness. Most obviously, conventions
control things like usage, mechanics, spelling, and citation skills. Also, they influence content,
style, organization, graphics, and document design.
By the end of FYW, students should be able to:

Demonstrate how to negotiate differences in conventions by genre, from print-based, to

multi modal compositions.
Know why genre conventions for structure, paragraphing, design, formatting, tone, and
mechanics are different.
Understand how to cite and respect others work and thereby copyright.
Practice writing and rewriting to gain skills in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Critical Reflection
Critical reflection is a writers ability to express what they are thinking and why. A writer should
be able to explain anything and everything about their writing.
By the end of FYW, students should be able to:

Consistently practice reflection.

Use writing as a way to reflect.
Demonstrate their rhetorical awareness, their writing process, and their knowledge of
conventions with regard to their own writing.
Illustrate that reflection is a necessary part of learning, thinking and communicating.