Composition Program Outcomes

Outcomes Statement for Composition 101 (ENEX 101)

Introduction

This statement describes the common knowledges, skills and attitudes sought for students in ENEX 101 at the University of Montana.

This document defines only “outcomes,” or types of results, and not “standards,” or precise levels of achievement sought for ENEX 101 students. Standards, determined by the grade descriptors and portfolio assessment process, are available.

Learning to write is a complex process, both individual and social, that takes place over time with continued practice and informed guidance. Therefore, it is important that students imagine these outcomes as describing areas they will learn about and practices in which they will engage.

This outcomes statement describes what students should strive to acquire by the end of first-year composition. It is divided into three categories: rhetorical knowledge; critical thinking, reading, research, and writing processes; and knowledge of conventions.

Rhetorical Knowledge

By the end of first-year composition, students should be able to:

• Focus on a purpose appropriate to different writing situations, including different audiences
• Write in multiple genres with an awareness of how genres shape reading and writing situations
• Use specialized language from the discipline of composition to support learning

Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing

Critical Thinking
By the end of first-year composition, students should be able to:

• Engage in inquiry as a means of learning, particularly strategies like exploration, explanation, evaluation, and reflection as inter-related means of inquiry.
• Understand the collaborative and social aspects of learning
• Appreciate the challenges of communicating effectively across differences

Reading, Research, and Writing Process
By the end of first-year composition, students should be able to:

• Develop multiple, flexible strategies for writing, particularly inventing, drafting, copyediting
• Learn to give and receive feedback on written texts
• Understand reading as a recursive transaction between a reader and a text
• Understand research as a process of gathering, assessing, interpreting, and using different data to compose texts
• Use a variety of technologies to facilitate research and drafting

Knowledge of Conventions
By the end of first-year composition, students should be able to:

• Use documentation appropriately and demonstrate an understanding of the logic of citation systems, especially MLA
• Control punctuation, grammar, syntax, and spelling