Writing Objectives
Introduction
Hamilton’s FYC writing objectives focus on three main areas: Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing; Writing Processes; and Knowledge of Conventions. These objectives were adapted from the Council of Writing Program Administrators 2014 Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition (full statement?). As the WPA notes, first-year writing outcomes “are supported by a large body of research demonstrating that the process of learning to write… is both individual and social and demands continued practice and informed guidance.”
This page provides a description of each main area and lists specific objectives within those areas. It also includes links to relevant resources from the Writing Center that may be useful as you consider how to support first-year students learning to write at the collegiate level.
These objectives set the foundation for the long-term growth of student writing. While they are not equally applicable to all FYCs, they should serve as a guideline for setting course expectations, designing assignments, and evaluating student work. FYCs provide an introduction to skills that students will continue to build throughout their time in college. You do not need to cover all the objectives listed in every area, but should aim to incorporate pertinent writing skills that can be further developed in subsequent courses.
Objectives
Critical thinking is the ability to analyze, synthesize, interpret, and evaluate ideas, information, situations, and texts. When writers think critically about the materials they use—whether print texts, photographs, data sets, videos, or other sources—they separate assertion from evidence, evaluate sources and evidence, recognize and evaluate underlying assumptions, read across texts for connections and patterns, identify and evaluate chains of reasoning, and compose appropriately qualified and developed claims and generalizations. These practices set the foundation for advanced academic writing.
By the end of a First Year Course, students should:
- Use composing and reading for inquiry, learning, critical thinking, and communicating with various audiences
- Read a diverse range of texts, attending especially to relationships between assertion and evidence, patterns of organization, the interplay between verbal and nonverbal elements, and how these features function for different audiences and situations
- Locate and evaluate (for credibility, sufficiency, accuracy, timeliness, bias, and so on) primary and secondary research materials, including scholarly and professionally established and maintained databases or archives, and informal electronic networks and internet sources
- Use strategies—such as interpretation, synthesis, response, critique, and design/redesign—to compose texts that integrate the writer's ideas with those from appropriate sources
See the ?Writing Center’s website? for relevant resources on topics including Creating a Thesis Statement, Questions to Ask While Reading Literature, A Guide to Introductions, Writing About Gender and Sexuality, and Writing About Ethnicity, Social Class and Disability.
Writers use multiple strategies, or composing processes, to conceptualize, develop, and finalize projects. Composing processes are seldom linear: a writer may research a topic before drafting, then conduct additional research while revising or after consulting a colleague. Composing processes are also flexible: successful writers can adapt their composing processes to different contexts and occasions.
By the end of a First Year Course, students should:
- Develop a writing project through multiple drafts
- Develop flexible strategies for reading, drafting, reviewing, collaborating, revising, rewriting, rereading, and editing
- Use composing processes and tools as a means to discover and reconsider ideas
- Experience the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes
- Learn to give and to act on productive feedback to works in progress
- Adapt composing processes for a variety of technologies and formats
- Reflect on their composing practices and how those practices influence their work
See the ?Writing Center’s website? for relevant resources on topics including Habits of Effective Writers, Revision Strategies, Writing Longer Papers, and Peer Review.
Conventions are the formal rules and informal guidelines that define genres, and in so doing, shape readers’ and writers’ perceptions of correctness or appropriateness. Most obviously, conventions govern such things as mechanics, usage, spelling, and citation practices. But they also influence content, style, organization, graphics, and document design.
Conventions arise from a history of use and facilitate reading by invoking common expectations between writers and readers. These expectations are not universal: they vary by genre (conventions for lab notebooks and discussion-board exchanges differ), by discipline (conventional moves in literature reviews in Psychology differ from those in English), and by occasion (meeting minutes and executive summaries use different registers). A writer’s grasp of conventions in one context does not mean a firm grasp in another. Successful writers understand, analyze, and negotiate conventions for purpose, audience, and genre.
By the end of a First Year Course, students should:
- Develop knowledge of linguistic structures, including grammar, punctuation, and spelling, through practice in composing and revising
- Learn common formats and/or design features for different kinds of texts
- Recognize and appreciate differences in conventions for structure, paragraphing, tone, and mechanics across genres and for different audiences
- Practice applying citation conventions systematically in their own work, and understand the purpose and importance of doing so
See the ?Writing Center’s website? for relevant resources on topics including Essentials of Writing, Habits of Effective Writers, Using Sources, Quotations, Footnotes, and Citation Guidelines.
