Students work to recognize that writing is a mode of
communication and a social activity, a matter of negotiating the
expectations of different audiences and rhetorical conventions of
different genres.
All writing activities and assignments are presented as
recursive processes while students also learn to take mental risks
and develop complex ideas through abstract and critical thinking,
reading, and writing. This work of critical reading and
writing also entails analyzing and creating texts from a variety of
contexts and media.
When conducting research, students learn to engage complex texts
and multiple meanings in order to interact with audiences in ways
that show that they are working to place themselves in conversation
with other perspectives and multiple sources. Because the 2st
century continues to demand the acquisition of new literacies and
technologies, students will also negotiate, analyze and
problem-solve technological interfaces for a variety of
disciplinary, rhetorical, and writing needs.
Finally, students expand and experiment with writing style
through variation of rhythm, syntax, sentence length, punctuation,
and vocabulary.
All faculty who teach English Composition in the Institute for
Core Studies draw from diverse backgrounds to inform how they
approach writing instruction in the first year experience for
college students and also belong to the First-Year Writing program
in the Institute for Writing Studies:
http://www.stjohns.edu/academics/centers/iws/firstyear