Rhetorical Knowledge
By the end of their General Studies Writing courses, students will be able to:

• Focus on a purpose for writing.
• Respond effectively to the needs of a variety of audiences, with an emphasis on academic audiences.
• Employ rhetorical strategies well suited to the rhetorical situation, including appropriate voice, tone, and levels of formality.
• Use strategies of argument appropriate to the rhetorical situation.
• Write in academic genres, including argumentative essays, critiques, and researched writing.

Critical Thinking
By the end of their General Studies Writing courses, students will be able to:

• Use writing and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communication.
• Conceptualize academic writing as a series of tasks, including finding, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources.
• Engage in multiple modes of inquiry (e.g., interviews, questionnaires, observations, library and Internet sources).
• Demonstrate critical thinking, reading and writing strategies when crafting arguments which synthesize multiple points of view.
• Accurately and productively critique their own and others' writing.
• Critically assess the credibility, currency, and relevance of source materials in both traditional and digital formats.

Writing Processes
By the end of their General Studies Writing courses, students will be able to:

• Employ a recursive process in crafting successful texts.
• Employ personalized strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading that serve their individual needs as a writer.
• Contribute to effective collaborative activities that emphasize the social aspects of writing processes
• Use efficient search strategies to identify and locate relevant materials from both traditional and digital library resources.

Knowledge Conventions
By the end of their General Studies Writing courses, students will be able to:

• Use appropriate formats for academic papers to include elements of page layout and conventional documentation of source materials.
• Demonstrate control over the conventions of source synthesis, including the use of metadiscourse and coherence devices.
• Craft clear sentences using conventional syntax.
• Control surface features, such as grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and spelling.

Values Exploration
By the end of their General Studies Writing courses, students will be able to:

• Articulate the role that their own value systems play in their writing, research, and learning processes.
• Demonstrate respect when writing about and/or discussing viewpoints other than their own.
• Recognize the value of cooperating and working effectively in collaborative research and writing activities.
• Recognize and appreciate their emerging abilities as writers, while also recognizing areas where more growth and practice are warranted.
• Recognize their role as part of an active learning community which values academic honesty.
• Demonstrate sound judgment when deciding the degree to which others may contribute to their writing processes and products.
• Recognize the value of developing personal processes of writing.
• Articulate the role and value of writing in their learning processes.