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15.5.4: Ryan Hitch's Course Map for College Composition

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    Overall course narrative

    The arc of this course is a scaffolded approach to constructing an ideal argumentative research paper (getting students ready for C-ID English 105). Students start with a summary assignment that emphasizes critical reading skills and understanding argumentative texts. They build on these skills in the following two essays through evaluation and response. The research proposal allows students a relatively low-stakes chance to practice what they have been learning which leads into the argumentative research paper.

    A Sample Essay Assignment Sequence for College Composition

     

    Course objectives (See the course descriptor for C-ID English 100)

     

    Essay Assignment 

     

    Preparatory activities and assessments

    1. Read, analyze, and evaluate a variety of primarily non-fiction texts for content, context, and rhetorical merit with consideration of tone, audience, and purpose.

    3. Develop varied and flexible strategies for generating, drafting, and revising essays.

    6. Integrate the ideas of others through paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting without plagiarism

    8. Proofread and edit essays for presentation so they exhibit no disruptive errors in English grammar, usage, or punctuation

    Essay 1: Summary Assignment 

    Example Theme: Gender and Identity

    Students will write a detailed and accurate summary of an argumentative text. Equal emphasis should be applied to chapters two and three as a student’s ability to summarize comes directly from their critical reading ability, a tool that will come in handy during future essays. We can take a little extra time here to emphasize the writing process as well. 

     

    1. Read, analyze, and evaluate a variety of primarily non-fiction texts for content, context, and rhetorical merit with consideration of tone, audience, and purpose.

    3. Develop varied and flexible strategies for generating, drafting, and revising essays.

    4. Analyze stylistic choices in their own writing and the writing of others.

    8. Proofread and edit essays for presentation so they exhibit no disruptive errors in English grammar, usage, or punctuation.

    Essay 2: Summary and Evaluation 

    Example Theme: Superheroes and Film

    Students will write a thorough summary and assessment of an argumentative text. It’s important to emphasize the differences and similarities between summary and evaluation as students often conflate the terms. Review critical reading, reinforce the writing process with students, and consider introducing students to the peer review process. Now may be a good time to introduce logical fallacies.

    2. Apply a variety of rhetorical strategies in writing unified, well-organized essays with arguable theses and persuasive support.

    3. Develop varied and flexible strategies for generating, drafting, and revising essays.

    4. Analyze stylistic choices in their own writing and the writing of others.

    8. Proofread and edit essays for presentation so they exhibit no disruptive errors in English grammar, usage, or punctuation.

    Essay 3: Summary, Evaluation, and Response

    Example Theme: Politics

    Students will write a thorough summary, assessment, and response to an argumentative text. This should be a thesis-driven work. At this point, you should consider asking students to find secondary sources to reinforce their responses. Special emphasis should be given to educating students on the reasons why writers use secondary sources. This will prepare students for the upcoming research paper. Continue acclimating students to peer review.

    2. Apply a variety of rhetorical strategies in writing unified, well-organized essays with arguable theses and persuasive support.

    3. Develop varied and flexible strategies for generating, drafting, and revising essays.

    4. Analyze stylistic choices in their own writing and the writing of others.

    6. Integrate the ideas of others through paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting without plagiarism.

    7. Find, evaluate, analyze, and interpret primary and secondary sources, incorporating them into written essays using appropriate documentation format.

    8. Proofread and edit essays for presentation so they exhibit no disruptive errors in English grammar, usage, or punctuation.

    Essay 4: Research Proposal

    Example Theme: Technology

    For this essay, students will propose an essay that engages in a critical conversation about a controversial topic while using research. While this is a separate assignment from essay five, students should be able to roll over a lot of their work from this essay into the next one.

    The research proposal to research paper process gives students a chance to work directly with you on revising something. Now, theoretically, we're all good teachers and regularly work with students on work like this, so maybe it's wrong to say this is the first chance. But it is an official chance to do it that applies to each student in the class vs. revision that has been happening on an as-needed basis.

    Review MLA standards and source credibility; you may find it worthwhile to engage students on an annotated bibliography as a small additional assignment while they work on this essay. Students may focus on a specific type of argument, like definition, causal, evaluation, or proposal.

     

    2. Apply a variety of rhetorical strategies in writing unified, well-organized essays with arguable theses and persuasive support.

    3. Develop varied and flexible strategies for generating, drafting, and revising essays.

    6. Integrate the ideas of others through paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting without plagiarism.

    7. Find, evaluate, analyze, and interpret primary and secondary sources, incorporating them into written essays using appropriate documentation format.

    8. Proofread and edit essays for presentation so they exhibit no disruptive errors in English grammar, usage, or punctuation.

    Essay 5: Research Essay

    Example Theme: Technology

    For this essay, students will build on their research proposal. They will engage in a critical conversation about a controversial topic by using research to articulate their understanding of the issue/topic. In this essay, they will also make clear the larger significance of their argument, exploration, and analyses.

    Attributions

    Content by Ryan Hitch, licensed CC BY NC 4.0. Template adapted by Anna Mills from The Online Course Mapping Guide Course Map Template from the Digital Learning Hub in the Teaching + Learning Commons at UC San Diego, licensed under a CC BY 4.0 International License.

    15.5.4: Ryan Hitch's Course Map for College Composition is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.