PWR 2 Assignment Sequence
Taken in a student's second year, PWR 2 is designed to build on students’ introduction to research in PWR 1 and serve as a bridge to future writing, whether in Writing in the Major (WIM) courses, Honors theses, or in other contexts. Students in PWR 2 continue to focus on research-based writing, making rhetorical choices about format, genre, diction, style, and media as appropriate to the goals of their research and to the audiences they wish to address. PWR 2 adds a focus on delivery--the fifth canon of rhetoric--and thus on the written, oral, and multimedia presentation of research. Student learning objectives for PWR 2 build on the writing, research, and rhetorical knowledge taught in PWR 1 and include:
- Students will continue to develop their ability to construct research-based arguments, including collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing data as well as scholarly and public texts.
- Students will expand their ability to apply and adapt rhetorical knowledge and principles through presenting an argument across a variety of modes, in varied situations, for varied audiences, requiring analysis and selection of effective strategies for achieving a specific purpose
- Students will learn and practice skills and strategies for conveying a research-based argument through live oral presentation, focusing on the performative elements (including visual, aural, digital, etc.) of conveying an argument.
- Students will learn to understand writing and communication as iterative processes by developing practices of reflection and revision.
While each section may be unique in theme or curricular approach, the sections build on these general outcomes for PWR 2.
During the quarter, students should complete 18-20 minutes of graded live oral presentations and at least 15-20 pages (4500-6000 words) of graded writing to be read in print. Each major graded assignment should include a draft and revision stage as specified by our PWR Commitment to students as well as a reflection component.
The major graded assignments are as follows:
See also the description of the assignment sequence on the PWR website.