The materials provided in this guide were developed for Colorado State Univeristy's upper-division writing in the sciences course. The course focused on analysis of current contexts where writing about the sciences for non-academic audiences appears and writing texts designed for those contexts.
As you'll see in the course descriptions and sample syllabi, we recommend focusing the course on
Some of the materials collected here repeat in the online resources listed under CO301A: Writing in the Arts and Humanities. But many of the resources here include variations on assignments, class activities, and readings developed by teachers as they've taught CO301B. Assignment sheets, daily activities, workshop sheets, and sample papers are all clustered under the assignment types.
The first linked item is the course description as approved by the English Department and the University curriculum committees. The next five links provide more extended descriptions required for approval as a University core course; these details combine for the fullest explanation of the course goals and implementation. You can see the ways teachers have interpreted and developed this course description in the overviews and policy statements from individual teachers.
CO301 A,B,C,D Intermediate Composition
Prerequisite: CO150 College Composition
CO301 focuses explicitly on reading and writing strategies for accommodating the rhetorical demands of specialized subjects to the needs of diverse audiences, particularly those audiences outside the students' disciplines. The course will be taught in four subsections that address topics and issues of interest in one of four, broad, disciplinary areas:
A. Arts and Humanities
B. Sciences
C. Social Sciences
D. Education
Although students may sometimes write to readers well educated in one of these fields, their work in CO301 is not designed to substitute for disciplinary writing in a field. Rather, CO301 assumes that students will write to more general audiences. The first six weeks of the course focus on analyses and responses to readings while the rest of the semester is devoted to preparing a portfolio of original pieces.
As an intermediate composition course, CO301 assumes complete control of skills developed in CO150 so that students can go well beyond introductory academic writing. Like the other intermediate composition courses offered through the English Department, the course emphasizes (1) writing processes with a special emphasis on revising and editing, and (2) critical reading processes with an emphasis on reading from a writer's point of view.
Unlike CO300, which focuses on one mode of written discourse--argument, CO301 focuses on multiple modes and genres of written discourse. Students taking the course will learn about and practice writing a wide range of essays, including those that explain, interpret, react to, or reflect on specific issues for general audiences. The focus on general audiences is another point of distinction between CO300 and CO301. Whereas CO300 focuses on audience concerns only from the perspective of argumentative discourse, CO301 addresses a broad range of issues concerning how writers adapt their texts to diverse audiences, including which genres are most appropriate for specific rhetorical purposes.
Unlike CO302, which focuses on adapting to the rhetorical demands of writing in online contexts, CO301 addresses issues related to writing online only indirectly, through use of a class Web site, use of electronic communication with the instructor and classmates, and regular posts to a class Web discussion forum. Although faculty and students in the course will make use of online communication tools, they will not be writing specifically for audiences who are reading their texts online.
CO301B Writing in the Sciences
This course emphasizes expository and argumentative writing about the sciences for lay audiences. Although you may sometimes write to readers with a science background, your work in CO301 will not include technical writing to readers expert in your scientific disciplines. You will practice appropriate forms and techniques for adapting writing about science to the needs of different non-expert audiences, including readers of Scientific American, Discover, Natural History, National Wildlife, National Geographic, Science News, Smithsonian, and Colorado Outdoors, among others. You will write analyses and explanations of scientific and technical topics; argumentative papers on current controversies in science, technology, or science education; and investigative and research essays. Throughout the course, you will practice adapting form and style to your audience.
To be approved for the new all-University Core Curriculum, CO301 needs to meet several key goals established by the University Curriculum Committee. First, we include the criteria and then the explanations of how CO301 meets the objectives.
2. Advanced Writing
The objective of this option is enhancement of skills in written communication. This option further develops the writing competencies of the II.A. requirement. Courses designed to achieve the objective should develop students':
a. awareness of and ability to implement basic strategies of written communication for specialized purposes, contexts, and media;
b. command of Standard English syntax and specialized usage;
c. awareness of which modes and styles of language are appropriate to specialized kinds of communication and audience;
d. understanding of how specific objectives and audiences determine the choice of strategy, mode, and medium of written communication;
e. skills specific to the desired effects, presentation strategies, modes, and media of advanced or specialized forms of written communication. These include the ability to:
f. understand linkages to Foundations and Perspectives courses.
A. Implement Basic Strategies of Writing for Specialized Purposes: CO301A-D builds on the core competencies in writing developed in CO150 and extends them to more specific rhetorical contexts. In section A, students focus on Arts and Humanities, in B on Sciences, in C on Social Sciences, and in D on Education. In CO301A-D students will read a variety of texts written about a general, disciplinary topics in order to analyze how purpose and audience affect how a final text is written. Drawing from these analysis skills, students then will target their own audiences and purposes for writing about disciplinary issues and subjects, and compose texts for those contexts, choosing the appropriate genre, organization, and style for their intended context. Both the students' reading and writing will address specialized purposes related to their disciplinary focus for more diverse audiences, typically non-experts.
B. Command of Standard English Syntax and Specialized Usage: In reading and writing for specific contexts and audiences, students will be targeting specific venues for their writing, including targeted publications. Students will be required to edit and proofread their texts to provide professional final drafts as well as to make choices about when specialized, disciplinary language is appropriate within these contexts.
C. Adapt Style to Audience: Since CO301A-D emphasizes audience throughout, students will be required both to know how to analyze a written text to determine how its style is affected by its audience, and to write texts for similar audiences, adapting their style to fit the rhetorical context.
D. Adapt Strategies, Mode, and Medium to Specific Objectives and Audiences: CO301A-D's primary focus is on this objective. By requiring students to identify, analyze, and construct a text with a specific objective and audience, the course emphases how genre, strategy, organization, medium, and style must be chosen in accordance with that context. Final drafts are evaluated on how well the writing strategies used address the text's specific purpose and audience.
E. Skills Specific To Desired Effect: CO301A-D requires students to practice the basic elements of good writing covered in CO150 including identifying a thesis, locating and evaluating sources, synthesizing information, defining and developing a specific purpose, choosing and maintaining an organizational strategy, and using appropriate forms of documentation, style, and medium for delivery. In CO301A-D these skills are applied to more complex rhetorical contexts, and instruction on adapting these skills to audiences and contexts in the public sphere is emphasized throughout. Most importantly, these skills are directed toward writing at a more professional level about specialized topics from the student's discipline.
F. Understand Linkages to Foundations and Perspectives Courses: Through investigation of a general, disciplinary theme, students will read and write texts focused on issues specific to their discipline to audiences across the disciplines. CO301A-D asks students to apply their foundational knowledge of their own discipline in their writing, while adapting that knowledge to address multiple audiences and purposes. To reach wider audiences, an understanding of diverse perspectives and the connections/divergences among disciplinary perspectives and contexts is necessary.
What are the instructional modes to be used to achieve the learner-oriented course objectives and outcomes?
During the first six weeks of the course, students will read and analyze articles written in the arts and humanities. The goal of this reading activity is to help students understand how the rhetorical context in which a text is produced (author/purpose/audience/subject) affects the final product. Students will write three analyses of selected articles. The goal of writing analyses of the readings is to help students understand that the choices writers make are intentional and influenced by a variety of rhetorical factors. These analyses will also help students develop skills such as reading with a writer's eye and understanding how to make informed choices in their own writing.
Class time during this unit will be devoted to discussion of readings, in-class writing, peer review, and small group work.
During the next eight weeks of the course, students will focus on writing texts for multiple audiences. One goal of this unit is to help them learn about the demands of writing for different rhetorical situations and of adapting information and arguments for varying audiences. A second primary goal is to enhance their ability to write with appropriate style and register for particular audiences. A third goal is to help them learn to adapt organization strategies and select appropriate forms of evidence for their audiences. A fourth goal is to enhance their planning, drafting, and revising skills.
In this unit, students will select an individual or group topic in the broad disciplinary area upon which the course focuses, conduct a rhetorical analysis of the topic, create a research plan identifying:
These essays will consist of a total of at least 15 finished pages of final, polished work and must represent at least two separate pieces written to different types of audiences.
Class time during this portion of the course will be devoted to workshops, conferences, strategy sessions, and student group presentations on style issues.
This course assumes complete control of the skills developed in CO150 so that students can go well beyond introductory academic writing. Students in the course will learn rhetorical strategies for accommodating the demands of specialized subjects to the needs of diverse audiences, particularly those audiences outside the students' discplines.
Specifically, the course aims to teach:
The course will be taught in four subsections that address topics and issues of interest in one of four, broad, disciplinary areas:
A. Arts and Humanities
B. Sciences
C. Social Sciences
D. Education
Although students may sometimes write to readers well educated in one of these fields, their work in CO301 is not designed to substitute for disciplinary writing in a field. Rather, CO301 assumes that students will write to more general audiences.
Weeks 1 - 6: Unit I: Text Analysis. During the first six weeks of the course, students will read and analyze articles about a specific theme within the disciplinary focus of the course (i.e., section A-Art and Humanities; B-Sciences; C-Social Sciences; D-Education). The goal of this reading activity is to help students understand how the rhetorical context in which a text is produced (author/purpose/audience/subject) affects the final product. Students will write three analyses of selected articles. The goal of writing analyses of the readings is to help students understand that the choices writers make are intentional and influenced by a variety of rhetorical factors. These analyses will also help students develop skills such as reading with a writer's eye and understanding how to make informed choices in their own writing.
Week 1: Course overview; assign readings and first homework assignments; in-class writing and discussions focus on rhetorical situation and students' previous writing experiences
Week 2: Assign first analysis essay; assign additional readings and homework; in-class writing and discussions focus on analyzing rhetorical situations and varieties of text analysis
Week 3: Workshop and revise first analysis essay; assign additional readings and homework; in-class writing and discussions focus on revision techniques, analytical techniques, and workshop techniques
Week 4: Collect first analysis essay; assign second analysis essay; assign additional readings and homework; in-class writing and discussions focus on additional techniques for analyzing texts and rhetorical contexts
Week 5: Workshop and revise second analysis essay; assign additional readings and homework; in-class writing and discussions focus on revision techniques, additional analytical techniques, and workshop techniques
Week 6: Collect second analysis essay; assign third analysis essay; assign additional readings and homework; in-class writing and discussions focus on additional techniques for analyzing texts and rhetorical contexts
Weeks 7 - 14: Unit II: Writing Texts. During the next eight weeks of the course, students will focus on writing texts for multiple audiences. One goal of this unit is to help them learn about the demands of writing for different rhetorical situations and of adapting information and arguments for varying audiences. A second primary goal is to enhance their ability to write with appropriate style and register for particular audiences. A third goal is to help them learn to adapt organization strategies and select appropriate forms of evidence for their audiences. A fourth goal is to enhance their planning, drafting, and revising skills.
In this unit, students will select an individual or group topic in the broad disciplinary area upon which the course focuses, conduct a rhetorical analysis of the topic, create a research plan identifying:
These essays will consist of a total of at least 15 finished pages of final, polished work and must represent at least two separate pieces written to different types of audiences.
Week 7: Collect third analysis essay; introduce Unit II; create topic groups; discuss research techniques; begin research on topics
Week 8: Assign rhetorical analysis of a topic paper; homework and in-class writing focus on rhetorical and textual analysis techniques; provide opportunities for topic groups to meet and plan during class
Week 9: Collect rhetorical analysis of a topic assignment; assign research plan paper; homework and in-class writing focus on rhetorical and textual analysis techniques; discuss advanced research techniques; provide opportunities for topic groups to meet and plan during class
Week 10: Collect research plan assignment; assign major writing assignment for the unit (at least two essays totaling at least 15 pages of polished prose written for different audiences); homework and in-class writing focus on generating ideas for the essays; discuss writing processes
Weeks 11 - 14: Workshop mode for the remainder of the unit; classes begin with a daily writing assignment (tied into their essays), then move to brief full class discussions, then move into drafting and workshopping activities adapted to the needs of individual students; teacher confers and reviews essay drafts with students
Weeks 15 - 16: Unit III: Course Wrap-Up. Collect major essay assignment; class discussions focus on student efforts to adapt their writing to specific audiences and contexts; review analytic techniques for texts and rhetorical situations. The last week of class will be devoted to presentations of student writing and self-analysis of student learning in the course. The final exam will focus on adapting student essays for an additional audience specified by the teacher.
This course will be taught using traditional grading. In addition to grades on writing assignments, grades will also be assigned for in-class writing activities (e.g., daily writing activities, peer-review workshops), posts to a class Web discussion forum, and out-of-class writing and reading activities (homework). Typically, the course grade will be based on in-class writing and homework assignments (15%), regular participation in discussions of course readings on a Web discussion forum (10%), and formal essays (75%).
As you'll see in the detailed syllabi linked below, each teacher works out different timelines for collecting papers or portfolios.
Some teachers find portfolios too time-consuming to evaluate, and so they may choose to collect individual papers. That's certainly an option for CO301B. Many teachers of the course, however, have found that portfolios benefit students in many ways. So we include here one teacher's description of the portfolio elements (overview), as well as several pieces examining the pros and cons of using portfolios in a writing class.
We include here both specific text analysis assignment sheets (usually from the first half of the semester) and activities to help students complete the text analysis assignments. You may need to modify assignment sheets and activities to fit the specific tasks you assign.
As you'll see when you look through the assignment sheets collected here, teachers often sequence the early text analysis assignments to build increasing complexity into the tasks. Other teachers use the text analysis tasks in the first part of the semester to give students repeated practice with basically the same task. Students then collect their most effective analysis papers for evaluation in the mid-term portfolio. You may want to look at a teacher's syllabus next to the assignments to get a fuller sense of how the writing tasks fit into a teacher's conception of the course overall.
Some of the following class activities and workshop sheets were developed specifically for CO301B but others were developed for CO300 or another subsection of CO301. Please feel free to revise or edit as you need to for your course. And if you give us a copy of your revision, we can add it to our resources here.
In general, CO301B moves from the analysis of texts in the first half of the semester into student-directed work on individual topics in the second half of the semester. (That's why the Individual Topics are often referred to in this resource as the Unit Two Portfolio.) The specific assignments for the second half of the semester often look quite different from teacher to teacher. Again, we include in this section specific assignment sheets and activities to help students with their writing for the final papers. If you'd like to see a student sample portfolio, please look under Teacher Resources on the CO301 Class page. We'd like to add more examples of student work here, so please submit good examples (with or without your comments).
As you think about the Unit Two portfolio, please consider contributing your assignment sheets, workshop sheets, and student samples for this part of our collection. Please note that the Position Paper Tiffany Myers describes is only one of several pieces students write in the second half of her course. The Unit II Portfolio Laura Thomas describes gives students an overall assignment for the second half of the term.
As you think about ways of helping students with the Unit Two portfolio, please consider contributing your reading, critical analysis, or impromptu writing tasks, as well as assignment sheets, workshop sheets, and student samples for this part of our collection.
Some teachers include a week or two for students to reflect in detail on the writing and learning they've done over the course of CO301B. In part, these teachers use the final two weeks of the term to give themselves time to evaluate and comment fully on the Unit Two portfolios. But these teachers are also motivated, at least in part, by a strong sense that the most effective learning includes analyzing and reflecting on the learning experience.
For example, in the last week of regular class sessions and the final exam period, Laura Thomas asks students to present the topics of their portfolios, including reading from selected pieces. She also guides them toward detailed self-analysis of their learning in the course. Kate Kiefer works toward the same goals with some directed postings on the class Forum.
If you develop any specific guidelines for similar presentations or questions to guide students' self-analysis, please consider sharing them with other teachers of the course by contributing them to this resource.
Bronwyn Becker, Cathy Coan, Anne Gogela, Marisa Harper, Kate Kiefer, Donna LeCourt, Tiffany Myers, Sarah Rilling, Christina Holtcamp Sutton, & Laura Thomas. (2018). Teaching Resources for Intermediate Composition: Writing in the Sciences. The WAC Clearinghouse. Retrieved from https://wac.colostate.edu/repository/teaching/guides/composition-sciences/. Originally developed for Writing@CSU (https://writing.colostate.edu). [Authorship is alphabetical.]