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Introduction to Expository Writing (GE-101): Course outline (GE-101)

This course prepares undergraduates to become successful writers and readers of English. The course helps students develop their fundamental language skills with a focus on writing so that they can gain the confidence to communicate in oral and written

Course description

This course prepares undergraduates to become successful writers and readers of English. The course helps students develop their fundamental language skills with a focus on writing so that they can gain the confidence to communicate in oral and written English outside the classroom. The course is divided into five units and takes a PBL (Project-based Learning) approach. Unit themes target the development of 21st century skills and focus on selfreflection and active community engagement. Course activities include lectures, group, pair and individual activities, as well as a series of required assignments, including reading and writing across various genres. Finally, the course prepares students for taking the next course in the sequence, ‘Expository Writing II: Cross-cultural Communication and Translation Skills’

Course objectives

At the end of the course, the students will be able to:

  • Analyze basic communication skills and use them effectively in oral and written English
  • Develop skills as reflective and self-directed learners
  • Critically evaluate and review various types of texts and summarize them
  • Develop analytical and problem-solving skills to address various communityspecific challenges
  • Intellectually engage with different stages of the writing process, such as: brainstorming, mind mapping, free writing, drafting and revision, etc.

Course contents

Unit-I: Reading Skills

  • Reading for writing
  • Reading strategies
  • Critical reading skills

Unit-II 9 Sentence Structure

  • Word Class (forms)
  • Parts of a sentence (functions)

Unit-III: Overview of Common Writing Problems

  • Subject-verb Agreement
  • Common errors in the use of:
  • Verbs: subjunctive, causative, verbs of perception, etc.
  • Nouns: always singular, always plural, plural of singular nouns, etc.
  • Adjectives and adverbs: proper use of degrees, faulty comparison, etc.
  • Modifiers
    • Dangling modifier 
    • Squinting modifier
  • Sentence Fragment ▪
  • Run-on Sentences and Comma Splices
  • Parallelism ▪ Collocation
  • Redundancy and Wordiness

 Unit-V: Punctuation

  • Punctuation
  • Capitalization

Unit-VI: Self-reflection

  • Introduction to the steps of essay writing
  • Determining the type of essay and the topic
  • Creating an outline o Developing thesis statement
  • Introduction
  • Body
  • Conclusion

Unit-VII: Personalized Learning

  • Learning preferences and strengths
  • Significance and planning of an oral presentation

Unit VIII: Community Engagement

  • Understanding local issues
  • Writing letter to editor
    • Preparing
    • Drafting
    • Editing
    • Finalizing

 

Teaching learning strategies

 

Teaching will be done through lecture method with a combination of tasks/projects and presentations

 

Assessment and Examinations

 

Assessment will be done as per university/department policy

Textbooks