BCAcademicCatalog2016

Students will be able to acquire information through reading and critical analysis and to communicate their own synthesis of the information in a clear and convincing manner.

Student Learning Outcomes In writing assignments students will be able to: • Content

• Provide sufficient supporting details and examples • Synthesize information from appropriate sources • Structure • Create a clear, focused, debatable thesis • Organize the essay in a clear and logical manner • Language Use • Choose appropriate levels of diction • Vary sentence structures with attention to reinforcing thesis • Mechanics • Exhibit minimal errors in spelling punctuation or grammar

These specific outcomes will be measured on the rubric that evaluates incoming students and students at the end of each academic year. These criteria are also assessed on grading rubrics for individual writing assignments across the disciplines. ENGLISH PLACEMENT Students entering Bluefield College without prior English Composition credit will be placed into one of two introductory writing courses: ENG 1013-Regular or ENG 1013-Intensive. Both courses have the same objectives, to: • use the writing process to interpret their world and make discoveries about their values, • apply prewriting methods to discover topics and strategies for essay development, • establish a thesis, • develop an essay through the use of details, examples, evidence, and analysis, • utilize a variety of paragraph and sentence structures, • make rhetorical choices dependent upon audience and purpose, • employ punctuation and grammatical conventions for rhetorical effectiveness, • revise their own essays, making substantial changes in the above categories, • read closely the essays of other students and make detailed, constructive suggestions for revision. and • implement strategies and techniques discovered through close analysis of essays by published writers. ENG 1013-Regular has three contact hours per week. ENG 1015-Intensive has five contact hours per week. The Intensive class uses the additional contact time to focus more intensely on grammatical issues and to give students opportunities to receive additional tutoring fromthe professor and student interns during all stages of the writing process. Placement will be determined by SAT (Critical Reading and Writing) or ACT (English and Reading) scores. Students dissatisfied with their Composition placement may take the English Department Assessment Test in order to determine whether they qualify for a different level course.

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