SUU English 101: Core Curriculum
for All Introductory Composition Classes

Goals:
- The most important goal of English 101 is to help students work
through a variety of writing processes in the context of an
academic setting. Students shall learn how to generate and develop
ideas, to draft and to revise, and to evaluate papers in workshops
that emphasize the way writing is influenced by context, genre,
purpose, and audience.
- In creating 101 assignments, instructors shall aim to help
students write college-level papers that confidently assert and
support significant theses. Although instructors shall emphasize
traditional organizational patterns, they also shall be careful not
to give students the impression that the form of an essay is more
important than its content.
Requirements:
- Students must write and revise FOUR MAJOR ESSAYS.
- At least two of those essays must be three or more pages long.
- At least one of those essays must be based on sources other than
personal experience. (For example, a problem/solution paper might
be based on interviews with campus experts; a literary analysis, on
a short story; a cause/effect essay, on magazine articles.)
- That essay must include MLA-style parenthetical citations and a short "Works Cited" listing.
- At least two of the essays must be written in third person.

Priority list for teaching rhetorical patterns:
- Expressive patterns expressing a first-person point of view
must not occupy more than a fourth of the quarter's class time
or make up more than 25 percent of the final grade. No more
than one major paper emphasizing the following forms shall be assigned:
- Description
- Narration
- Dialogue
- Informative and explanatory modes
featuring deductively organized essays with clear
thesis statements supported by well-developed examples,
reasons, and evidence will be strongly emphasized.
- Instructors must discuss and demonstrate all of the patterns
listed below (except for the optional process analysis and analogy
assignments). Students must complete at least two major informative
papers during the quarter. Instructors may ask students to follow
designated patterns or to combine modes in whatever way best suits
the ideas being explored.
High priority patterns:
- Exemplification (also called thesis/example or illustration)
- Comparison/contrast
- Definition
Medium priority patterns:
- Summary
- Classification
Low priority modes (instructors may opt not to discuss these):
- Analogy
- Process analysis

- Analytical modes
featuring papers requiring students to support
their interpretation of a text or situation shall
receive a moderate emphasis.
- Instructors must choose from the following patterns
in requiring students to complete one major analytical assignment:
- Cause/effect
- Problem/solution
- Literary analysis

Comments?
E-mail the director of composition

Go to syllabus