Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Outcomes for this course require working through multiple drafts of several pieces of writing with time to separate the acts of writing and revising; in addition, the reading outcomes require time to read, reread, reflect, respond, interpret, analyze, and evaluate.
Upon completion of WR 222 with a "C" or better, student will be able to:

• Successfully organize and manage an extended, research-based, thesis-centered essay of 3500-5000 words (or an equivalent wordcount in shorter essays) using MLA, APA, or other appropriate documentation styles
• Demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving in the context of research by showing observational skills, drawing reasonable inferences from a variety of sources, perceiving and establishing relationships among multiple sources, as well as evaluating and analyzing the structure and organization of sources and own writing
• Independently locate, examine, select, evaluate, and use various primary and secondary sources (including academic, printed, electronic, and interview-based)
• Practice and demonstrate skills necessary to research writing, such as paraphrase, summary, direct quotation, citation and documentation
• Understand the ethics of research and avoid plagiarism
• Suit writing style and research material to intended audience and purpose
• Demonstrate control of research and voice to make an original claim

Reading and writing assessment tasks will include the following:

• At least one research-based, thesis-centered, appropriately documented essay of 3500-5000 words (or an equivalent wordcount in shorter essays)
• An annotated bibliography (or equivalent)
• Two conferences with the instructor
• Class discussion

Other assessment tasks may include the following:

• Shorter essay(s)
• Study questions and exercises to support the techniques of research and research-based writing
• Research journal used as a foundation for the research project
• Responses to assigned text(s), in or out of class
• Oral presentation
• Group collaboration and participation
• Personal and/or email interviews
• Abstracts

• Examine and discuss issues of plagiarism, ethics of research writing, credibility, authority, and self-directed learning
• Advance the concepts of independent study and research, self-knowledge, and the ability to assess own work critically
• Engage in inference, analysis, synthesis
• Solve problems involved in an extended writing project
• Perceive, connect, and integrate a variety of sources and positions, and establish own ideas in such a context
• Demonstrate an awareness of audience
• Recognize the distinction between scholarly (or peer reviewed), professional, commercial, and other forms of writing and resources

Competencies and Skills

• Awareness of audience and voice in the context of research writing
• Increased expertise in the process of research
• Proficient time management
• Engagement with scholarship and participation in a community of scholars
• A sense of responsibility for own ideas and progress
• Ability to analyze, select, edit, and place paraphrased information and
  quotations with appropriate context
• Ability to use library databases to access academic and nonacademic  sources
• Evaluate relative authority of print and electronic resources

Some sections may:

• Focus on particular disciplines
• Link to other courses
• Incorporate service learning component
• Focus on community-based primary sources such as interviews, local information and historical data

Possible Texts:

Bruce Ballenger, The Curious Researcher (Pearson Longman)