Student Learning Outcomes
ENG 333 is a GEC course at USM, and students taking this course are expected to meet the following GEC learning outcomes:
1. The student is able to develop a topic and present ideas through writing in an organized, logical, and coherent form and in a style that is appropriate for the discipline and the situation.
2. The student can observe conventions of Standard English grammar, punctuation, spelling, and usage.
3. The student can find, use, and cite relevant information.
In addition, the Composition Program at Southern Miss has identified specific learning outcomes for each of its first-year writing courses that are meant to complement our GEC outcomes. At the completion of ENG 333, students will be able to:
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Analyze a writing task and its rhetorical context, including the purpose of the document, its audience, its uses, and its constraints.
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Understand the basic features of several academic, professional and public genres, and how to modify these features in response to new audiences and situations.
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Create usable, persuasive, clear, accurate, and readable documents.
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Understand the specific expectations of audiences in your chosen academic and professional field, and to adapt your communications to more effectively address these expectations
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Develop a professional style of working in teams and managing group projects.
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Conduct more advanced research in a variety of contexts, and to more effectively incorporate this research in you writing.
Course Description
English 333 aims to prepare students to read, conduct research, and communicate more effectively in a range of academic, professional, and public settings. Specifically, you will complete a number of projects designed to acquaint you with the audiences and types of documents you are likely to use as you advance in your educational and professional careers. Because successful communication in the 21st century increasingly requires writers to engage their audiences in a variety of media and formats, in addition to producing traditional print documents (i.e., letters, reports, proposals, etc.), you will also be exposed to a number of digital genres.
Two assumptions will be key to this work:
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Writing and speaking are rhetorical: effective communicators must carefully consider their audiences and their purposes as they plan, draft, and revise their communications.
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Academic, professional and public audiences often differ in how they read and respond to communications: effective communicators must learn to recognize and negotiate such shifting demands in each new context they face.
Personal Priorities
ENG 333 is a class aimed at developing professional writing skills that will help you achieve gainful employment, rhetorically perform and advance in your chosen career, and also communicate effectively with larger, public audiences (i.e. those who are not professionals in your field). This takes for granted that you know your individual passions and are prepared to direct your attention to a specific career which you are qualified for or will be qualified for upon graduation.
Because ENG 333 is a multi-major professional communications course, it will be up to you to tailor projects and class writings so they may best serve your professional ambitions. Your aim should be to find the place where this course’s learning objectives overlap with your career goals.
