First Year Writing (FYW)

Jason Ryan's Class

Program Information

The First-Year Writing Program is dedicated to introducing students to the rhetoric, practices, and expectations of writing in the academy. In doing so, it strives to help students understand the recursive process of writing; to invest in writing as a tool for discovery and understanding as well as conveyance; and to appreciate the ways in which different genres and situations require different ways of writing. In all of this, the FYW Program prioritizes the needs and experiences of students enrolled in its courses, and is committed to providing the best curriculum and instruction for those students.​

Which FYW Course Should I Take?

esball官方网的FYW项目邀请学生参加定向自我安置, or DSP, when enrolling in a FYW course.  DSP是一个写作安排过程,要求学生仔细考虑自己的写作能力, their relationships to reading and writing, their expectations for writing at RIC, 以及他们对自己满足大学和职业写作要求的能力的信心.  FYW计划为学生提供信息,并要求个人做出深思熟虑的决定, educated choice as to which FYW course best meets their needs.  The choice, and responsibility for that choice, rest with the student.

DSP at RIC consists of several steps, the first of which asks students to participate in a short survey.  在学生完成调查后,他们可以注册最符合他们需求的FYW课程. 

Access the survey online.  


 Rhode Island College, FYW courses in General Education (FYW 100; FYW 100Plus; FYW 100Honors) meet four General Education Outcomes (Written Communication; Critical and Creative Thinking; Research and Information Literacy; and Collaborative Work). 我们还在很大程度上借鉴了写作项目管理员(WPA)第一年作文成果声明(v3).0),并请读者参阅该声明,以便对以下一些项目进行更深入的讨论. In the interest of localizing the WPA Outcomes Statement, we provide this guidance.

We remind readers that FYW courses are introductory; none of the outcomes listed below will be “complete” upon conclusion of the course. FYW项目希望学生在学术和职业生涯的其他阶段有机会建立这些“思维习惯”. At RIC, students can expect to build on these outcomes in the following ways:

  • General Education courses that address the Written Communication Outcome
  • Writing in the Disciplines (WID) course(s) in every major
  • Experiential learning and/or capstone courses

In the following sections, we articulate two overarching Outcomes. The first, rhetorical situation, 能够理解修辞情境的元素(见下文)如何影响我们的写作选择. The second, awareness of process, 建议学生应该把写作作为一个过程——作者在写作的不同时刻(有时是递归的)制定不同的写作策略和习惯. Together, 这些结果帮助学生理解和发现最好的可用工具和资源,从而创造出最有效的文本. 研究表明,这两个结果是帮助学生将他们在FYW中学到的知识转移到其他写作课程和任务中的几个结果之一.

FYW Program Outcomes

Version 1.0: May 2017

Writers and designers compose in response to rhetorical situations. The most effective and persuasive writing responds, as much as possible, to different elements of the rhetorical situation. These include, but are not limited to:

  • Author
  • Audience
  • Purpose
  • Exigence
  • Genre
  • Constraints/Contexts
  • Media

Upon successful completion of FYW, students should

  • be introduced to the concept of writing as rhetorical and situational
  • be introduced to different elements of the rhetorical situation
  • 有机会看到一个作家分析和回应修辞情况的能力如何帮助确定文本的有效性
  • understand how changes in the rhetorical situation (i.e., a new audience or a different purpose) may affect the text produced
  • consider how rhetorical modes might work together to create persuasive texts (multimodal)
  • consider how technology and diverse media influence, respond to, and/or create rhetorical situations (multimedia)
  • have the opportunity to compose multimodal and multimedial texts
  • have the opportunity to compose in response to rhetorical situations. That is: as much as possible, FYW中学生撰写的文本应该回应并帮助创造真实的修辞情境

有效的写作几乎总是依赖于一个过程,这个过程在某种程度上取决于作者和修辞的情况(一个定时的作文考试), for example, might allow for fewer significant revisions; a white paper might require a great deal of research).

Upon successful completion of FYW 100/100P/100H, 学生应熟悉以下概念,并在本学期中有机会使用这些概念. 虽然写作过程的要素在这里以一种可能传达时间或线性的方式列出, each concept may be employed at different points in a writing task; repeatedly; or not at all. And each concept loops back to another: research can be an invention strategy, while editing might lead to revision. Finally, 学生反思写作过程和在写作过程中选择修辞的能力, and to write, research, revise, or edit in response to such reflections, is critical. Responding to such reflections is an integral part of a writer’s process.

Invention

Definition: 这一阶段通常被称为写作前阶段,通常涉及启发,如头脑风暴, freewriting, pre-writing, mapping, outlining, etc. But the label of “pre-writing” suggests that invention is the first task of writing; in reality, students may be called upon to invent and reinvent for a number of reasons.

FYW: In FYW courses, students should be offered:

  • time and space to explore concepts
  • opportunities to try out new ideas
  • opportunities to build on the work and ideas of others
  • opportunities to discover areas of inquiry-based on data and research
  • opportunities to draw on prior knowledge and cultural experiences

Research

Definition: 《esball官方网》是一份综合性文件,旨在定义研究. For the purposes of FYW, we emphasize the introductory nature of the course and the iterative nature of research. Research is the access, evaluation, and use of information from beyond the writer/author’s personal knowledge. Research can inform all stages in a student’s writing process.

FYW: In FYW courses, students should engage in discussion and practice concerning:

  • what constitutes a credible source for each student’s project
  • how one might evaluate sources for their credibility, usefulness, and accuracy
  • how students might search (and re-search) for credible information
  • 学生如何在自己的文章(摘要)中可靠地运用他人的观点, paraphrase, quotation, insertion, etc.)
  • how research in academic disciplines, for difference purposes, audiences, and genres, might affect how one conducts, locates, and uses research
  • why attribution and citation are important, 理解不同的修辞情境需要不同类型和类型的归因和引用

Drafting and Revision

Definition: Drafting is the act of writing or creating version(s) of a text. Drafts can be exploratory, unfinished, unpolished, and unedited; they often are part of the invention process. 修订是审查/重新设想草案以便对草案进行更改的行为, ideally in light of audience feedback; writers revise in order to better respond to a rhetorical situation in both content and style. The goal of revision, in general, is to produce more effective texts.

FYW: In FYW courses, students should be encouraged:

  • to draft as many versions of a text as practical in a given semester/session
  • to revise each draft carefully and deliberately
  • to see earlier drafts as often incomplete and messy
  • to distinguish between the conventions of a draft and that of a finished text
  • to distinguish between revising and editing
  • to solicit feedback from audience members, in a variety of ways: written and verbal comments; peer review sessions; individual and group conferences
  • to use feedback to create more effective drafts through revision
  • to move from revision to submission of draft

Proofreading and Editing

Definition: Proofreading is the practice of rereading/reviewing/revisiting a text with an eye towards surface-level clarity; it may require a review of grammar, mechanics, usage, design, and conventions. Editing is the practice of making surface-level changes to a text, often in response to careful proofreading.

FYW: In FYW courses, students should be encouraged:

  • 把校对和编辑看作是写作过程中的最后一步——校对和编辑不应该干扰发明创造, drafting, revision, or research
  • to consider issues of correctness and standardization as social conventions
  • to distinguish between global and local issues in writing
  • to understand that issues of grammar, mechanics, usage, design, and convention are not always about correctness, but are rather about purpose, audience, and ethos
  • to see technology as one of several tools writers employ when proofreading and editing
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