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The Composition Program  


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COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

  - English 100/101

  - English 302

ENGL 101 CREDIT BY EXAM

ENGL 302 CREDIT BY PORTFOLIO

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Course Descriptions  

ENGL302
ENGL302, Advanced Composition, is designed to focus students on the kinds of reading, writing, and thinking required of them in their majors. In order to match students' majors as closely as possible, the course is offered in four versions, described below. Students are advised to take the section designated for their major.

Prerequisites
All students, regardless of discipline, who register for ENGL302 must meet the following prerequisites:

  • A minimum of 45 credit hours
  • Credit or requirement waiver for ENGL100 or ENGL101
  • In degree programs that require 6 hours of literature, at least 3 must be taken prior to ENGL302; 3 credits may be taken concurrently with ENGL302

Student Learning Goals for ENGL302
All versions of ENGL302 adhere to the following Student Learning Goals. By the end of ENGL302, students should have demonstrated the ability to:

  • Use strategies that focus on writing as a communicative process, to include invention, drafting, revision, editing
  • Give and receive useful criticism of their writing from their teacher and their peers in order to promote effective revision
  • Produce writing that demonstrates basic proficiency in Standard Edited American English
  • Recognize and write within different rhetorical situations, to include purpose and audience, especially as related to their majors and possible future work places
  • Produce writing that employs the organizational techniques and formats typical in their disciplines
  • Recognize that way(s) that knowledge is constructed in their disciplines
  • Use newly emerging technologies for communication, to include email and word processing
  • Identify and use research sources (print and electronic), to include advanced online library searching of databases pertinent to their disciplines and the critical use of web sites, and documentation styles preferred in their majors
  • To compose and present work-place related documents, which may include resumes, proposals, reports, and web pages, produced either individually or collaboratively
  • Use campus support resources (the University Writing Center, the Disability Resource Center, and the Counseling Center) as needed to enhance their success in ENGL302

In order to accommodate the design of the course to specific majors, ENGL302 is offered in one of four versions: Business, Humanities, Natural Sciences/Technology, and Social Sciences.

Each semester certain sections of English 302 for Business and for Natural Science/Technology are designated as Distance Learning sections. These sections follow a specific procedure for enrollment.

Business
(accounting; decision sciences and management information systems; finance; management; marketing)

NOTE: The School of Management requires that its majors take ENGL302-Business.

Analysis, description, and reporting are the writing focuses in areas of business. Critical reading and well-organized presentation are important in every major, and standard principles of effective business writing should be taught and practiced. APA style should be required of the business majors in the course, though non-business majors may use the bibliographic style favored in their majors. Students should write most of their assignments in typical business formats and should be introduced to and use typical business research tools for their research projects.

Humanities
(classical and modern languages and literature; history; philosophy; art history; art studio; dance; music; theater)

Interpretative and analytical writing is primary in these fields. Critical reading and well-organized presentation of critical points of view are important across fields, although the types of texts to be understood and the critical vocabularies differ widely. ENGL302-Humanities should stress the writing of interpretative/analytical essays, but students should have experience with a wide range of "texts" from the arts, e.g., literature, visual art, music, film, and television. MLA style should be required of the humanities majors in the course, though non-humanities majors may use the bibliographic style favored in their majors.

Natural Science/Technology
(biology; chemistry; physics; earth systems science; geography; geology; nursing; medical technology; mathematics; computer engineering; computer science; electrical engineering; systems engineering; urban systems engineering)

Scientific writing and its principles should be stressed, as well as writing for the non-specialist. Some reading of belletristic essays about science is useful as examples of writing for a more general audience, but the course should also focus on formats and principles (e.g. lab reporting, procedures, technical definitions, technical reports, reviews of the scholarship in the field) needed for more typical writing in these fields. CBE or APA styles are preferred.

Social Sciences
(administration of justice; anthropology; communication; economics; government and international politics; health, fitness, and recreation resources; physical education; psychology; public administration; social work; sociology)

The social sciences consider the many manifestation of human and societal behavior. As such, the majors and assignments within them vary perhaps more greatly than in any other area of the curriculum. Genres within the social sciences typically include abstracts, critique, and reviews; proposals for project/research funding; and position papers. APA style is recommended; MLA style should not be taught or required.

Composition Program at George Mason University
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