City Lab "W" Competency Requirements

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As W course, we will work collaboratively toward fostering:

• the logical development of argument, clear and precise diction and a coherent prose style;

• the development of general skills of expository writing as they apply in the academic disciplines; and

• the responsible, appropriate and effective use of sources and special or technical language.

 

Additionally, the faculty established that the W course will attempt to help students with

• the uses of writing and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating;

• flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proof-reading;

• how readers perceive and respond to different forms of writing;

• writing assignments as a series of tasks, including finding, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing, and acknowledging appropriate primary and secondary sources;

• collaborative and social aspects of writing processes.

 

According to the faculty, students completing the W should be able to:

• write with fluency, demonstrating control of such surface features as syntax, grammar, punctuation and spelling;

• write and revise in ways that go beyond corrections to spelling and grammar by addressing higher order structural, argumentative, and stylistic elements;

• write appropriately for different writing tasks, demonstrating an ability to control the focus of papers and paragraphs;

• use appropriate documentation;

• respond to the needs of different audiences by adopting an appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality.

 

Students who have already earned their W are required to take the W portion of this class.  Those earning their W will have two writing consultations with me, and they will engage in peer critique of other student’s drafts for two writing assignments.  Additionally, student writing will be workshoped by sets of students from the larger City Lab workshop participants.  Failure to complete all the assigned steps in the W process will result in your not earning the W, no exception.