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Writing

Throughout the process of producing a range of typical college assignments, students will receive instruction in how to improve their ability at the following core skills:

1. Pre-writing

• understanding assignments and academic expectations
• using strategies for getting started
• dealing with procrastination and writer's block
• choosing and narrowing topics
• composing thesis and topic sentences
• devising research strategies for collecting information
• gathering evidence and making notes
• adjusting content and style of writing to suit purpose, audience, and situation

2. Drafting

• handling time and other constraints
• constructing beginnings and endings
• adjusting content and style of writing to suit purpose, audience, and situation;
• making connections and transitions between ideas in a text;
• inserting quotations;
• documenting sources and avoiding plagiarism;
• composing essay-type answers in exam conditions;

3. Revising

• using feedback to revise drafts;
• revising and editing work to improve content, organization, word choice, phrasing, grammar, sentence  and paragraph structure, spelling, and punctuation;
• recognizing and editing for clichés, jargon, slang, and wordiness;
• using complex and compound sentence structures;
• using parallel constructions and correct misplaced or dangling modifiers;
• developing advanced spelling strategies;
• preparing final documents; gathering, evaluating, and organizing information into a research assignment using appropriate documentation (MLA or APA);

4. Writing paragraphs and essays in a variety of rhetorical modes including exposition and persuasion;

5. Writing a summary;

6. Writing a review of a book, movie, play, television program, documentary, piece of music, or other non-print material;

7. Identifing, discussing, and evaluating literary elements (plot, theme, character, setting, conflict);

8. Analyzing and responding to editorial comment, magazine articles, technical or investigative writing, or advertising.

Reading

Using materials selected from a variety of academic disciplines and reflecting a range of sources, organizational patterns, topics and points of view, students will receive instruction in the following skills areas:

1. identifying main ideas and central themes;
2. acquiring content-area vocabulary and terminology;
3. using context clues and word structure analysis (prefix, suffix, root) to determine meaning;
4. using a dictionary and a thesaurus to expand vocabulary and to learn homonyms, antonyms and synonyms;
5. using in-book reference tools (index, table of contents, glossary);
6. using skimming and scanning techniques and developing flexibility in reading speed;
7. reading to locate specific information;
8. recognizing author's tone, intent, and point of view;
9. recognizing illogical argument, fallacies, stereotypes, bias and propaganda;using a variety of reference materials;
10. developing  note-taking skills;
11. developing research skills and compiling information from a variety of sources  (internet and library catalogue searches);
12. critically evaluating, making inferences, and drawing conclusions;
13. differentiating main ideas and themes from supporting details;
14. distinguishing fact from opinion;
15. recognizing author's tone, intent, and point of view;
16. making generalizations;
17. making comparisons and synthesizing ideas from different sources;
18. analyzing organization of text structure as an aid to comprehension;
19. taking an historical perspective.