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ENC 1102: Rhetoric and Academic Research

ENC 1102 focuses on the essential stylistics of writing clearly and efficiently within the framework of argumentative research writing. You will learn how to formulate a coherent thesis and defend it logically with evidence drawn from research in your various fields. You will also learn how to work through the stages of planning, research, organizing, and revising your writing.

ENC 1102 will introduce you to techniques and forms of argument in a broad range of disciplines, including the humanities, social sciences, business, and natural sciences. To ground your investigations for the semester, the course will focus on a particular seminal theme. This course encourages students to investigate the relationship between writing and knowledge, and to discover how writing can create, rather than merely transmit, knowledge. Class discussions will reveal the complementary relationship between writing and research and demonstrate how persuasive techniques and genres vary from discipline to discipline. You will learn how writing effectively and correctly in your fields will help to integrate you as professionals into your “knowledge communities.”

Course Structure

In ENC 1102, we’ll cover the essential elements of writing clearly and persuasively. We’ll spend roughly the first third of the term focusing on persuasive writing principles, and then build incrementally towards a full research paper, from writing a summary, to an annotated bibliography, which will expand into a synthesis of critical sources, and then a full-scale research paper. Along the way, you will learn efficient library research techniques, correct documentation styles, and ways to avoid plagiarism. While the course does emphasize academic research and writing skills, assignments and discussions in ENC 1102 are designed to demonstrate that writing classes do not exist in a vacuum and that writing is not solely an academic enterprise. The critical thinking skills and efficient writing habits learned in this class will help to ensure your success both at college and in your future careers.

Course Objectives and Outcomes

Students of ENC 1102 will learn to:

  • plan, draft, revise, edit, and proofread a research paper
  • develop research projects using critical thinking and problem-solving skills
  • identify and write to specific audiences
  • develop methods of academic research, using the library and research databases
  • summarize, analyze, and synthesize academic sources
  • participate in groups with emphasis on listening, critical and reflective thinking, and responding to group members’ writing and ideas
  • accurately cite and incorporate primary and secondary materials
  • develop an effective academic writing style