R_C-1000: Expository Writing

Overview

Rhetoric and Composition 1000 is the First-Year Writing course in ASU's General Education curriculum. As the first of four writing-intensive courses you will take during your academic career here at ASU, this course seeks to introduce you to the writing process through various writing strategies and concepts that will help you develop confidence and authority in your own writing.

Assignments

A process approach to writing courses teaches invention, drafting, revising, and editing as steps in producing a text. These steps don't always occur in order, and often we repeat steps in creating final drafts. In 1000 you will learn how to use writing to create ideas and discover what you want to say, and you will be given opportunities to revise and edit your drafts before the instructor evaluates them.

Process writing allows you to be an authority about the subjects you choose and to think about invention through a variety of methods, including freewriting, brainstorming, talking, cubing, and mapping. In writing and revising your draft, you may get feedback from other writers and provide ideas for those whose drafts you read. During revision you may make decisions to expand or cut portions of your draft, and you will reconsider the purpose of the assignment and its audience. Editing and proofreading, the last steps in preparing a draft for evaluation, asks you and your readers to examine the grammar and punctuation of the draft to make it as clear as possible for readers.

One of our goals is to help you to find your authority and voice in writing. You will research information for some papers, and you will learn how to report and document your findings. While all 1000 courses include some assignments using research from other texts and documentation, usually MLA style, you may also design and write about research using interviews, surveys, and observations. We will ask you to produce extended essays and a variety of other kinds of writing, which may include journal entries, workshop reports, abstracts, and prospectuses. Our goal is to prepare you for R_C-2001 and for other writing situations as well, both in and out of the university.

Evaluation

In our large program, there will be many approaches to instruction, but all will focus on writing as a process. Your instructor may include other areas of evaluation, but in most courses we will base evaluation on the final drafts and process work (which may include a variety of activities, including workshop credit, journal writing, rough drafts, reports, class participation). The major part of the course grade will be your final drafts. In some classes, you will be evaluated on a portfolio you turn in at the end of the course. Other teachers will assign grades throughout the course on finished drafts, but in all cases you will have the opportunity to make revisions to your papers before evaluation. Talk to your teacher throughout the course about revision.

By the end of the course, you should be able to demonstrate that you can write extended essays for a variety of situations. In addition to fulfilling the assignments, your papers should be clear and developed, and you should edit and proofread them carefully.

Writing and Research Help

For writing help, the University Writing Center is a wonderful resource. Conveniently located on the second floor of the library, they take walk-ins or you can make an appointment. If you have a quick question, you can even chat with them online!

For research assistance, Belk Library offers RAP (Research Advisory Program) sessions to provide writers with support for their research. To learn more about the program and how to set up an appointment, click here.