There are several musts that we will explore throughout the semester and that you should adhere to through the writing process:

   Writing Musts:

      *Your writing must be detailed and descriptive. There is a world of difference between: Margaret likes           
       character actors better than leading men and Margaret prefers the strong, piercing gaze, buck teeth, and upturned sneer
of    the robust Steve Buscemi over Russell Crowe's size 40 chest.

*You must concentrate on the language you use, and gear that towards the audience you are attempting to convince of your argument.  If you are writing a grant proposal for a child abuse sanctuary for social work, you want to focus on clearly stating your argument for the need of the sanctuary, supporting that argument, and utilizing language that will guide the reader to realization of that need.

*You must learn to use a computer.  The computer will be vital to your editing and revisions, research, and communication.

*You must research sources to support your argument.  There is a wealth of resources, such as reference texts, journals, magazines, and the internet, that you can use to support your statement, but they must be accurate and relevant to your intent.

*You must learn to accurately give credit to the works you have built your own upon through citation.  You cannot simply take another individual's work and use it without giving the author, artist, etc. proper accolades. 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

*You should walk away from this course with some true knowledge and the ability to critically read and write (along with sugarplum faeries dancing in your head). You should be able to:

*Read critically and analyze essays.

*Build on other authors' ideas, whether to agree with or to dispute them.

*Create a solid thesis statement that clearly and concisely summarizes your argument.

*Support your argument with substantial and relevant facts.

*Manipulate your language as to engage the audience you intend to reach.

*Overcome grammatical and mechanical flaws.

*Utilize transitions to make your ideas flow into each other.

*Conduct research and be able to ascertain whether the resources you have selected are accurate or not.

*Cite all sources in your work.