Welcome to CCNY and Intro to Composition!

In this class we will explore the many far ranging and vital uses of academic writing. We will examine how rhetoric shapes and reflects the world around us, and learn how we can effectively engage with one another through competent writing as well as thorough research and analysis. By composing in different genres, for different audiences and purposes—and by sharing our work and experiences along the way—we will uncover the ways in which writing well enriches our lives and aids us in our pursuits, whatever they may be.

“Let the world burn through you. Throw the prism light, white hot, on paper.”
—Ray Bradbury

First-Year Composition Mission Statement

First-year composition courses at CCNY teach writing as a recursive and frequently collaborative process of invention, drafting, and revising. Writing is both personal and social, and students should learn how to write for different purposes and audiences. Since writing is a process of making meaning and communicating, we will focus primarily on the content of students’ writing as well as recurring surface errors, while reflecting on each assignment and its benefits. Students should expect frequent written and oral responses on the content of their writing from their teachers and peers. Classes rely heavily on a workshop format, in which we openly discuss, critique, and work to elevate each other’s work. This class will emphasize the connection between writing, reading, and critical thinking; students are expected to give thoughtful, reasoned responses to the readings. Both reading and writing are the subjects of class discussions and workshops, and students are expected to be active participants in the classroom community. Learning from each other will be a large part of our classroom experience.

Course Learning Outcomes 

• Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.
• Develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.
• Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.
• Engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes.
• Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences.
• Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives and on the Internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias.
• Compose texts that integrate your stance with appropriate sources using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argumentation.
• Practice systematic application of citation conventions.

 Required Text

This is a Zero Textbook Cost course, which means fewer heavy and expensive books for you to carry around. I will provide you with links to reading assignments that live online, and I will upload assigned articles as PDFs. Course materials will be available via blackboard and information on assignments and readings will be available here as well as via email.

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