Writing Program

Coordinator/Contact:  Carole Marrone

Course Description:
College Writing and Research  is designed to meet the needs of transfer students who have received credit for Expository Writing (355:101) at another institution but who need to take a second-level writing course at Rutgers University.  Most transfer students enter the University with credit for at least one, if not two, semesters of composition. Their previous courses, however, may have emphasized different skills from those we emphasize at Rutgers.  The first half of the course covers the skills necessary to compose expository essays that define a project and that demonstrate thoughtful engagement with complex readings, which are the goals of Expository Writing. The second half of the course, comparable to Research in the Disciplines, develops these skills further through research and writing on a specific project related to issues discussed in the first half of the semester.  In three successively longer and more complex drafts of a research paper, students use independent research to analyze their topics and to revise their arguments to produce an analytical essay that engages with the text and involves substantial research.  You can download a PDF document describing all sections of College Writing and Research (355:301) for Spring 2010.

Course Texts:
Ruszkiewicz, Friend, and Hairston, Handbook for Writers
Any portable college-level dictionary

Other readings for College Writing and Research can be found on the Rutgers University Libraries' electronic reserves under each individual instructor’s name.  They can also be accessed through each section's Sakai site.

Course Requirements:

• A reading requirement of a minimum of four selections from the course reader and at least five additional texts from the student’s own research.
• Two five-page papers in the first half of the course, for a minimum of ten typed pages of graded work.
• A formal research proposal with an accompanying research log and/or annotated bibliography, for a minimum of five pages of graded work.
• A research essay of eight to ten pages (2000-2500 words), using a minimum of six substantive sources. These include a maximum of two in-class texts and a minimum of four sources found through independent research.
• Two drafts and a final revision of the research essay, all typed.
• A folder for all rough and final drafts, proposal, and annotated bibliography or research log, which teachers will collect at mid-term and at the end of the term for folder review.
• Active participation in class discussion and peer group work.

Attachments:

301 Course Offerings, Spring 2010	135 Kb	Dec-31-1969
Grading Criteria for Final Research Essay	68 Kb	Dec-31-1969