Rhetoric & Composition I

COMP 1 is a sixteen-week First-Year Composition (FYC) course that helps students understand how writing changes across genres, media, and rhetorical situations through assignments aligned with the department’s Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs). Through four scaffolded writing projects and a digital ePortfolio, students develop genre awareness, digital fluency, and rhetorical flexibility while reflecting on their growth as writers.

COMP 1 includes four writing projects:

1. Literacy Narrative: A five-week writing project that asks students to write a personal narrative and then transform it into a different medium (e.g., podcast, video, or comic) to explore how genre, audience, and medium shape rhetorical choices. It concludes with a substantial reflective analysis (50% of the grade) in which students explain their revisions, audience awareness, and rhetorical decisions.

1. Observation and Value Analysis: A five-week writing project that asks students to analyze the language, genre conventions, and communication practices of a specific digital community. Working in small groups, they make an evidence-based claim about what counts as a “successful” post by examining rhetorical patterns, audience expectations, and community values. The project ends with a substantial reflective analysis (50% of the grade) in which students evaluate their positionality, rhetorical choices, and revisions.

1. Making Change: A four-week collaborative writing project asks groups of students to propose an inclusive, evidence-based change to a previously analyzed public or institutional space, using a persuasive genre and medium of their choice. Drawing on observational research and an equity lens, they create a multimodal argument supported by primary data and outside perspectives. The project concludes with a substantial individual reflection (50% of the grade) evaluating rhetorical choices, collaboration, and revision.

1. Reflection Overview: A two-week capstone writing project that asks students to compose a comprehensive reflection analyzing their growth as writers across the semester and beyond. Drawing on evidence from course projects and other writing contexts, they evaluate their strengths, areas for improvement, and how they will transfer their learning to future academic, professional, or personal writing situations.