WR 123 Recommended Prerequisites: or, Are you ready for WR 123?

Students are best prepared to succeed in WR 123 who have already . . .

(1) Successfully completed Writing 122 (grade of "C" or better); and
(2) Successfully completed Library 127 (grade of "C" or better); and
(3) Acquired basic computer competencies (e.g. in using word processing software, e-mail and internet browser).

Spring 2009 WR 123 Required Textbook:

Palmquist, Mike. The Bedford Researcher (Spiral Bound).  3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009.  [Available for purchase from COCC Bookstore]
            ISBN-10: 0-312-47562-4 (spiral) paperback
            ISBN-13: 978-0-312-47562-8 (spiral) paperback

Other Requirements:

Resources / capability to provide translatable electronic copies of all formal graded writing assignments, as well as multiple paper copies of selected writing assignments as required.

WR 123 Course Description & Learning Objectives:
or, What will you learn in WR 123?

COCC 2009-2010 Catalog Course Description: WR 123 - English Composition III
Stresses skills necessary to produce college research papers. Students learn to focus a topic; to practice critical reading; to evaluate sources and incorporate them into their writing; and to formally organize, format and document their final revisions.  Recommended Prerequisites:  WR 122, LIB 127. 
Credits: 3    Lecture: 3

The third course in the English Composition sequence, WR 123 builds on knowledge and skills gained in Writing 121 and 122, applied to developing effective college-level research strategies and writing successful research-based academic papers.  Writing 123 prepares students for future academic and professional assignments requiring competent informational research strategies, critical thinking, research-based writing and citation skills. WR 123 course objectives are expressed more specifically in the following WR 123 Learning Outcomes.  Students who successfully complete WR 123, will be able to:

Learning Outcome 1  Create a search strategy  . . .

(a) that proposes a manageable research topic based on exploratory thinking and investigation;
(b) that establishes a clear direction and focus for the project;
(c) that employs a variety of resources available through the library (such as books, periodicals, government documents, on-line databases including EBSCOHost), through inter-library loan, through the Internet, and/or through student-directed empirical research (such as surveys, interviews, and questionnaires); and
(d) that results in a thesis that the student develops and tests through the course of the research process.

Learning Outcome 2  Demonstrate proficiency at critically reading, analyzing and evaluating both primary and secondary sources in order to interpret and responsibly manage facts, statistics, inferences, expert opinions, lay opinions, value judgments, and empirical data. 

Learning Outcome 3   Develop a research system that avoids plagiarism and fairly represents sources by quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing with appropriate documentation.

Learning Outcome 4  Demonstrate proficiency in such integral research writing tasks as the summary, abstract, proposal, annotated bibliography, critical review of research, and formal outline.

Learning Outcome 5  Revise and edit the research paper to meet college-level writing standards and to satisfy the student's rhetorical purpose and audience.

Learning Outcome 6  Develop awareness of differing citation and bibliographic systems from various academic disciplines and develop competence in one system most appropriate for a specific research-based academic paper.

Learning Outcome 7 Plan and manage the process of writing to incorporate the special concerns of research writing, including:

(a) converting notes, summaries and quotations into a text unified and organized by effective transitions and restatement;
(b) negotiating among the divergent voices of the sources while clearly conveying the student's own persona and tone;
(c) integrating a variety of documentary sources with the student's own thinking;
(d) effectively employing the recursive stages of drafting, revising, and editing; and
(e) maintaining a consistent work schedule that ensures the final draft is delivered on time.

Learning Outcome 8  Use writing to provide peers with alternative viewpoints and suggestions for revising and editing research writing.

Learning Outcome 9  Analyze and evaluate one's own research writing, identifying strengths and weaknesses in the research process and product--and suggest some means of improving his or her practice of gathering, synthesizing, organizing, and presenting information.

WR 123 Learning Outcomes approved by Humanities Dept. Composition Committee, rev. 4-14-99

Plagiarism Policy

Final Drafts of formal graded writing assignments
(i.e. Research Proposal and Critical Research Paper)
must be submitted to Cora not only in paper (hard) copy
but also in electronic form (via email to Cora)
or they will not be accepted for grading.
Electronic versions of formal graded writing assignments will be
submitted to Turnitin to generate Turnitin Originality Reports
and test for plagiarism.

Plagiarism—intended or unintended—is serious violation of academic honesty and legal intellectual property rights.