Second-Year Writing Program
The Department of English at The Ohio State University strives to build students’ knowledge of social diversity and justice and emphasizes persuasive and researched writing, revision, and composing in various forms and media. While the focus of our department’s second-level writing course offerings is writing, students will also have the opportunity to engage with contemporary topics in a variety of fields, such as literature, disability studies and video games. Each course supports students' critical thinking and learning through research-based writing tasks, class discussion and peer feedback. In addition, students work toward mastering academic writing, composing and presenting on researched topics through multiple sources; refine skills to synthesize information; create arguments about a variety of discursive, visual and/or cultural artifacts; and become more proficient in sophisticated research strategies and conventions of standard academic discourses.
In taking a second-level writing course through the English department, students will meet state and university learning objectives and receive general education (GE) credits for the university's legacy GE (for students who entered the university before autumn 2022)—these credits also apply to Ohio Transfer 36 English composition learning outcomes. As outlined by Ohio’s Department of Education, “...students critically read scholarly texts, learn about conventions for academic writing, and practice writing for various rhetorical situations.”
The Second-Year Writing (SYW) Program in the Department of English at The Ohio State University offers eight sections of second-level writing instruction, each with different themes, such as “writing about video games” or “writing about documentaries.” Only one 2367 decimal subdivision may be taken for credit. Prerequisites include: 1110.01 (110.01) or equivalent, and Soph standing; or EM credit for 1110.01 (110.01) or equivalent; or a declared major in English.
Note: If you enrolled during or after autumn 2022, you may be looking for courses that fulfill the new General Education requirements (GEN). For those courses, visit the Writing in the Themes webpage.
Below is a list and description of each 2367 course offering:
In this section of 2367, students refine their skills in synthesizing information, creating arguments about a variety of discursive, visual, and/or cultural artifacts, and become more proficient with and sophisticated in their research strategies and employment of the conventions of standard academic discourses. Students extend and refine expository writing and analytical reading skills, growing as communicators by producing and interpreting diverse forms of information for various audiences. This course emphasizes student reflection, research, and composing strategies focused on issues of diversity, education, and popular culture in the United States.
In this section of 2367, students interpret and evaluate works of literature (both written and multimedia), enhancing their critical listening, reading, seeing, thinking, and writing skills. Students refine their analytical, research, and composing skills practiced in previous writing courses. This course emphasizes researched writing, revision, and composing in various forms and media. In addition, students improve their proficiency in academic writing by analyzing, interpreting, and critiquing significant literary works using secondary sources. Through reading, discussing, and writing about literature, students appraise and evaluate the personal and social values of their own and others’ cultures.
In this section of 2367, students explore the extent to which technological advancement impacts and shapes our society, culture, and relationships. Students examine a variety of texts that depict how the integration of technology and science in the U.S. impacts various communities differently and analyze the larger social/political conversations these representations present. Students build their composing skills through various oral and written communication forms and critically analyze primary and secondary sources relevant to the course theme. In this course, students practice and build their skills in rhetorical analysis, through which they learn how to apply reflection and analysis to wider discussions of dominant trends in shaping American culture and society.
In this section of 2367, students explore the academic field of Folklore Studies and how folklorists approach writing and researching across different genres, performances, experiences, and representations. Students gain an understanding of folk narratives and stories via the three main categories of folklore: verbal (songs, folktales, jokes), material (food, quilts, chairs), and customary belief and practice (legends, dances, rituals). Students develop their persuasive, researched, analytical writing skills through composing in various forms where they examine, critique, and employ folklorists’ fieldwork practices in their own writing. Using folklore studies as a lens to evaluate various social aspects (such as race, gender, ability, etc.) in the U.S., students refine their capacity to synthesize information and create arguments about discursive, visual, and/or cultural artifacts.
In this section of 2367, students gain knowledge in Disability Studies and refine skills in expository and reflexive writing strategies. Students link Disability narratives to their own composition and critical argumentation about a topic in this field to better understand implicit bias and systemic implications placed on differently-abled/disabled members of U.S. society. By evaluating systemic relations that produce and determine spaces for disabled communities, students will produce written work on contemporary social issues for matters of ability/disability and visible/non-visible disability.
English 2367.07s is a four-credit hour writing course that fulfills the new General Education (GEN) requirements for the Lived Environments theme. This course emphasizes persuasive and researched writing, revision, and composing in various forms and media. Students will build upon and improve their mastery of academic writing with and from primary and secondary sources; refine their ability to synthesize information; collect and analyze qualitative data; create arguments about a variety of discursive, visual, and/or cultural artifacts; use available technologies to construct academic texts in a variety of media; and become more proficient with and sophisticated in their research strategies and employment of the conventions of academic discourses. English 2367.07s satisfies the University’s GE requirement for social diversity and the U.S. experience and second-level writing (under the old GE requirements). The primary goals of this course are to sharpen your expository writing, critical thinking and analytical skills through a service- learning framework. The “S” in the course number means that this writing class has been designated as a service-learning writing course. What does that mean for you? It means that much of the work that you do in this class will be guided by our engagement with community partners outside the University boundaries. You will read about the importance of undertaking life history and literacy narrative projects, with a particular focus on preserving the literacy history of Columbus-area Black communities. Collecting and analyzing literacy narratives—or literacy stories—is an important research strategy that can be used to document the history and current activities of any community. It is especially important in Black communities where literacy practices have often been under-reported or negatively characterized. By collecting and analyzing a community or groups’ literacy narratives, we will analyze how the environments in which community members live, work, play use literacy to shape community. Collecting literacy narratives also provides an opportunity for community members to have a voice in telling their stories. This course welcomes community members and volunteers who will help you learn about collecting and preserving the life-history narratives of Black Columbus, focusing specifically on stories having to do with literacy practices occurring among members of Black arts and music communities, Black church communities, Black sports communities, and Black technology communities. Some of the questions that we will explore this semester: what are the literacy histories of Black Columbus members from these various communities? How is literacy related to the work they do? What kind of reading and writing do they do? What is the relationship between their everyday literacy practices and their work-related literacy practices? What is the relationship between school-based, work-related, and community-based literacy practices?
In this three-hour writing course you will develop and refine your skills in analysis, research, and composition. This course emphasizes persuasive and researched writing, revision, and composing in various forms and media. In addition, you will build upon and improve your mastery of academic writing with and from sources; refine your ability to synthesize information; create arguments about a variety of discursive, visual, and/or cultural artifacts; and become more proficient with and sophisticated in your research strategies and employment of the conventions of standard academic discourses. This course meets the Lived Environments theme goals and expected learning outcomes by enabling students to explore issues related to humans and their lived environments through both objective and subjective lenses inclusive of physical, biological, cultural and aesthetic space that individuals and groups occupy, and the relationship between humans and these environments. This course contextualizes video games and their virtual worlds, alongside other popular role-playing games (RPGs) as lived environments. This course defines video games and virtual worlds as texts that: allow humans to experience various scenarios of environmental change, explore a range of perspectives on the interactions and impacts between humans and one or more types of environment, and develop an understanding of lived environments by making connections between out-of-classroom experiences and academic knowledge.
GE Information
Goals: Coursework develops students’ skills in written communication and expression, reading, critical thinking, oral expression, and visual expression.
Expected Learning Outcomes: Level Two (2367) Writing:
- Through critical analysis, discussion and writing, students demonstrate the ability to read carefully and express ideas effectively.
- Students apply written, oral and visual communication skills and conventions of academic discourse to the challenges ofa. specific discipline.
- Students access and use information critically and analytically.
Goals: Coursework fosters students’ understanding of the pluralistic nature of institutions, society, and culture in the United States and across the world in order to become educated, productive, and principled citizens.
Expected Learning Outcomes: Social Diversity in the United States
- Students describe and evaluate the roles of such categories as race, gender and sexuality, disability, class, ethnicity, and religion in the pluralistic institutions and cultures of the United States
- Students recognize the role of social diversity in shaping their own attitudes and values regarding appreciation, tolerance and equality of others.
Learning Outcomes and Course Objectives
By the end of the course, students will have written a minimum of 5000 total words (roughly 20 total pages of written work) and a variety of texts, including at least one researched essay, with opportunities for response and revision.
This course will develop and expand on the concepts and practices that were introduced in the first writing course. The course, one that focuses on instruction in writing, will emphasize the following learning objectives:
- Rhetorical Knowledge
- Critical Thinking, Reading and Writing
- Knowledge of Composing Processes
- Collaboration
- Knowledge of Conventions
- Composing in Electronic Environments
Students will further develop their understanding of rhetorical situations as they read academic texts and practice tailoring their work for specific audiences.
The second writing course reinforces the rhetorical principles that students address in the first writing course. In addition, by the end of the second course, students should be able to:
- Read academic texts and understand how disciplinary conventions shape the texts they read.
- Compose texts that respond to the needs of appropriate audiences, using suitable discourse conventions to shape those texts.
- Use academic conventions of format and structure when appropriate.
Students will further develop their critical thinking skills as they analyze and synthesize academic texts.
The second writing course should reinforce the critical reading and thinking skills students developed in the first course. In addition, by the end of the second course, students should be able to:
- Find and evaluate appropriate material from electronic and other sources.
- Locate, evaluate, organize and use primary and secondary research material. Secondary research material should be collected from various sources, including journal articles and other scholarly texts found in library databases, other official databases (e.g., federal government databases), and informal electronic networks and internet sources.
- Analyze and critique sources in their writing.
- Juxtapose and integrate ideas and arguments from sources.
- Use strategies--such as interpretation, synthesis, response, critique and design/redesign--to compose texts that integrate their original ideas with those from academic sources and other documents.
Students will continue to hone their revision strategies and reflect critically on their writing practices.
The second class should reinforce the fact that writing is a flexible and recursive process. Because students often write more scholarly texts in the second course than they did in the first, practice in generating ideas and text, drafting, revising, and editing are even more important in the second class. By the end of the second class, students should be able to:
- Select and apply appropriate writing processes to match the context.
- Revise for a variety of technologies and modalities
- Use composition and revision as a means to discover and reconsider ideas.
- Reflect on the development of their revision strategies and consider how these strategies influence their work.
- Produce successive drafts of increasing quality.
Students will study academic conventions and apply appropriate conventions to their own work.
The second writing course reinforces and expands the knowledge of conventions students developed in the first writing course. In addition, by the end of the second writing course, students should be able to:
- Understand why conventions vary.
- Recognize the genre conventions employed by various academic disciplines
- Employ appropriate textual conventions for incorporating ideas from sources (e.g., introducing and incorporating quotations; quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing.)
The second course in composition may take several forms. For example, it might be a continuation of the first course (such as the second of two first-year composition courses), an intermediate course in written exposition, or a writing-intensive course that is aligned with a specific discipline. However it is conceived, the course should build on the foundations of the first course, developing and expanding concepts and practices that were introduced in the first writing course.