WSU English Department Composition Program: English 201 Portfolio Outcomes

All English 201 classes are portfolio-based. A portfolio-based course develops and challenges students’ skills as reflective authors and researchers. All portfolios
are graded holistically based on the Outcomes below:

Critical Thinking Composing Processes

Writers and researchers think critically when they analyze, synthesize, interpret, Writers use multiple strategies and composing processes to conceptualize,
and evaluate ideas, information, situations, and texts. develop, and finalize projects. These processes are flexible and seldom linear.
Composing processes are illustrated by the ability to
Critical thinking is illustrated by the ability to
 Use research to develop multiple-step scholarly projects
 Identify and investigate a research-oriented problem or question  Complicate thinking and analysis through successive revisions
 Engage in a position or argument by identifying a gap in the research
 Respond to peers’ and instructor’s feedback
 Address salient perspectives and positions in an argument through
 Practice revision as more than editing or proofreading
both primary and secondary research
 Reflect on writing and research processes, including use of primary
 Identify and consider the influence of varying cultural, social, and
and secondary sources
historical contexts on an issue, including personal and/or disciplinary
biases Information Literacy
 Synthesize connections between sources and perspectives to explore
Writers and researchers use information literacy to understand when
or complicate an established issue
information is needed, what type of information is needed, and to locate,
 Evaluate the effectiveness and relevance of both primary and
secondary source material evaluate, and effectively use that information.
 Summarize and incorporate primary and secondary source material,
including counter narrative, into an exploration and analysis of a Information literacy is illustrated by the ability to
problem or question  Determine the extent, relevance, and mode of information needed,
while considering multiple types of sources
 Identify and evaluate key assumptions in source material
Rhetorical Awareness  Summarize and incorporate primary and secondary source material,
Writers and researchers develop rhetorical awareness by negotiating purpose, including counter narrative, into an exploration and analysis of a
audience, context, and conventions as they compose a variety of texts for problem or question
different situations.  Actively seek out and incorporate multiple perspectives from sources
 Consider multiple mediums and the various ways in which
Rhetorical awareness is illustrated by the ability to writers/rhetors choose to use sources
 Establish an identifiable and critical focus and purpose  Identify, understand, and uphold the ethical responsibilities of a
 Adapt and respond to the needs of different audiences, utilizing a researcher through careful attention to source material
format, structure, and tone appropriate for each audience
 Skillfully address the assignment and satisfy all the requirements Conventions
outlined in the prompt Conventions are the formal rules and informal guidelines that shape readers’
 Respond to the ways in which sources shift in voice, design, medium, and writers’ perceptions of correctness or appropriateness. Conventions arise
and/or structure from a history of use and are not universal.
 Demonstrate how the source material relates to an argument
Use of conventions is illustrated by the ability to
 Consider and apply conventions of language (including structure,
paragraphing, tone, and mechanics) from multiple discourse
communities
 Determine which citation style is most appropriate for a particular
rhetorical situation
 Negotiate and apply appropriate documentation & citation of sources

Revised December 2015