Upon completion of this course the students should be able to:

• Practice sentence skills: appropriate word choice; correct grammatical usage; correct capitalization, spelling, and punctuation; recognizing and writing complete sentences;
• Write effective topic sentences (opening statements) and clincher sentences (closing statements);
• Generate specific evidence in support of topic sentence;
• Establish a clear method of organization through the use of logic, transitions, and other connective devices;
• Develop unified, coherent paragraphs;
• Formulate of the thesis statement and its development into an essay;
• Use correct manuscript form;
• Use correct techniques of revision;
• Practice critical reading (recognition of main idea, support, patterns of organization);
• Practice peer review and self-evaluation.

Although this course does not fulfill any general education or degreem program requirements, it will assist students toward developing college-level reading, writing, and critical thinking skills and prepare them to succeed in college-level courses.