Course Goals and Objectives

UC Riverside’s three-quarter IA-IB-IC course sequence introduces a variety of writing genres while encouraging the development of critical reading, writing, and thinking skills. The second course in this sequence, IB, focuses on argument and research. Supplemented by class discussion and critique groups, assignments will require writers to develop and demonstrate the following skills:

• the ability to compose coherent, unified, and persuasive arguments;
• the ability to present arguments and debate with others in a collegial and respectful manner;
• the ability to present compelling evidence and reasoning to support an argument;
• the ability to properly document that evidence and reasoning when it comes from a source other than the writer’s own thinking and experience;
• the ability to construct varied, lively, and grammatically correct sentences;
• the ability to employ dynamic, concise, and appropriate language;
• the ability to improve and clarify writing through the writing process: invention, drafting, critiquing, revising, and proofreading.

As college students attending an elite university in the United States, you will learn, write, and work within a complex web of cultures, economic systems, social organizations, and competing values. By requiring you to develop your writing skills in these multicultural contexts, UCR affirms its commitment to grounding your college education on a broad, liberal arts foundation. Through the community of writers we will create in this class, you will prepare for leadership in your personal, social, academic, and professional lives.

Required Texts and Materials

• Axelrod, Rise B. and Charles R. Cooper. The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing, 6th ed. (SMG)
• Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (FFN)
• Smith, Anna Deavere. Twilight: Los Angeles 1992.
• an email account / access to Microsoft Word software (for email submissions)
• a blank PC compatible computer disk
• A college level dictionary and a college level thesaurus (I recommend the Synonym Finder)
• A portfolio binder to collect and submit all written work and research

top / back to 1B home

Page last updated: 16 February, 2004