COURSE OUTCOMES ESSAY First & Final Submission due Friday, December 6, with the self-evaluation Consider this a “final exam essay” for the class. You are welcome to write as many drafts as you need to on your own before I see your posted submission. You can even work with a Writing Center tutor or a trusted writer that you know before submitting your essay. The key here is to submit your best work in this one submission that I will grade. Essentially, this is what you will experience in other classes – one draft that is graded without the opportunity to revise. Please contact me with questions.
Purpose: The Course Outcomes Essay allows you to use your coursework to present an argument for how you have successfully completed the class by meeting four of the six course outcomes. Audience: Though I will be the only one reading this essay, consider your classmates and me as your audience. Approach/Details: Review the course outcomes (below) for the class and then choose four of those outcomes that you have been most successful accomplishing this semester. In order to “address” four of the outcomes, you will state the course outcome in your own words, and then provide at least two examples of coursework that you have completed this semester to accomplish the outcome successfully. You can use an assignment as an example more than once, but try to use a variety of assignments to show how you have accomplished the course outcomes. Please reference the letter next to the outcome (e.g. Outcome A is…) and then explain the course outcome in your own words. Next, be sure to thoroughly explain how your two examples of coursework helped you accomplish that specific course outcome. (Use the course schedule, Weekly Assignments tab, and/or the Course Documents tab to remember back to the work that you have completed.)
ENG 121 Course Outcomes;
A. Demonstrate the ability to organize, develop and support your ideas in vivid, clear prose, using a composing process that includes planning, drafting, revising, and editing.
B. Analyze a variety of texts, including visual media, in their social, historical, and rhetorical contexts.
C. Develop critical stances for reading and writing across academic disciplines.
D. Apply knowledge of the rhetorical context to writing essays for various audiences and purposes.
E. Use critical thinking to analyze texts and create well-reasoned academic arguments that could incorporate evidence from the student’s personal experience, course readings, and outside sources.
F. Demonstrate the ability to integrate other sources into your writing using appropriate research and documentation techniques In addition, mention strengths that you have as a reader, writer, critical thinker, and/or student that helped in your overall success in the class and include any weaknesses you have that hindered some aspect(s) of your success. Share what you could have done differently. To summarize, you are presenting four course outcomes (in your own words) and using the work you completed in the class as evidence to demonstrate how you accomplished each of the four outcomes (two examples of assignments or activities for each outcome). Include the course outcome letter (A, B, C, etc.). You will also discuss your overall course success while addressing how your strengths and weaknesses with reading, writing, critical thinking, and/or being a student played a role in this success. Explain what you could have done differently. See the next page…
English 121 Fall 2019
2 of 2
Structure: In addition, this first & final draft of the essay should: follow the assignment format. be 2 ½ – 3 typed and double-spaced pages. · have all the elements of an essay including, but not limited to, an introduction, thesis statement, body paragraphs, and conclusion. · have a title unique to your essay. include your name, date, assignment (Outcomes Essay), and draft information on the first page, as well as your name and page number on subsequent pages.
Grading I will be looking for an organized essay that includes a well-reasoned thesis regarding your success in the class, an understanding of the course outcomes (using your own words), at least two assignments per course outcome to show evidence that proves success of these outcomes, clear and thorough explanations of any strengths and weaknesses helping or hindering your success, and a connected beginning and ending for the essay. Appropriate grammar, punctuation, spelling, and mechanics are necessary for this assignment, especially with regard to expressing yourself clearly so that your audience understands the points that you are making. To submit the Course Outcomes Essay, please create a Word document and post it in your portfolio on the Discussion Board by attaching the Word document to your post. To do this, go to your portfolio, “create a thread,” and write “Course Outcomes Essay” in the subject line. You can then attach the document to the thread and submit. Do not copy/paste your assignment into the textbox. Post the self-evaluation as a “Reply” to the essay post.
