This course prepares students for university-level success by exploring many of the practices and concepts associated with North American university culture. Students will examine individual responsibilities in an academic environment, the shared construction of knowledge, and the fundamental aspects of clear and appropriate written communication in academic settings. Topics may include structuring of a list of sources (bibliography), and summarizing and criticizing academic articles. Emphasis is placed on the fundamental components of clear written communication, including source documentation, basic research skills, essay structure, organization of ideas, diction, grammar, and punctuation.
Credits: 3
Hours: 45 (Lecture Hours: 45)
Total Weeks: 15
Prerequisites:
None
Non-Course Prerequisites:
None
Co-Requisites:
None
Course Content:
This course will cover the following themes:
University-Level Culture:
- The role of a syllabus
- Grade Point Average and Academic Monitoring
- The role of textbooks in university courses
- The function of library resources in university-level courses
- Dialogic engagement in the classroom and the shared construction of knowledge
Grammar and Sentence Structure:
- Sentence-level concision
- Sentence fragments and run-on sentences
- Verb tenses, pronoun forms, and pronoun-antecedent agreement
- The apostrophe and capitalization
- Comma, semicolon, and colon usage
- Sentence types and parallel sentence structures
- Verbs and subject-verb agreements
- Quotation marks, question marks, and exclamation marks
Skills Needed for University-Level Assignments:
- Avoidance of plagiarism
- Preparation of a list of sources according to one of the major style guides
- Creation of an essay outline.
- Summary of an academic article
- Creation of a cohesive paragraph
- Formatting an essay according to a major style
- Effective revisions of written work
Learning Outcomes:
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of university-level documents and concepts, such as syllabi and grade point averages
- Effectively engage in university-level practices such as discussion-group participation
- Effectively locate appropriate library resources
- Recognizing the differences between scholarly sources and unverified internet documents
- Construct grammatically correct sentences that clearly convey complex ideas
- Vary sentence configurations for argumentative effect
- Take accurate and efficient notes based on written material
- Accurately summarize sophisticated ideas
- Attribute and document information borrowed from sources so as to avoid plagiarism
- Narrow a broad essay topic
- Present an overarching thesis claim
- Construct a concise and informative introductory paragraph
- Develop a thesis through unified paragraphs that consist of main points and supporting details
- Produce well-formatted, computer-generated texts
- Format an essay according to a discipline-specific style of documentation
- Engage in effective revision and proofreading
Grading System: Letters
Passing Grade: D (50%)
Percentage of Individual Work: 100
Additional Comments:
- The essay assignments must be submitted through the D2L dropbox, which automatically also screen the text using Turnitin, a text-matching program that detects faulty paraphrasing.
Textbooks:
Textbooks are subject to change. Please contact the bookstore at your local campus for current book lists