WPA Outcomes

I had forgotten “WPA Outcome Statement for First-Year Composition.” I was reminded of these outcomes when Nancy Sommers referenced them.
After reviewing these outcomes again, I’ve decided to use them in my English 450 Rhetorical Studies as the framework for their final class period. The students will review these outcomes and use them as the foundation for establishing what they perceive to be the outcomes for English 450. The students will suggest how the course does or does not adheres to their outcomes.
By the end of first year composition, students should:
Rhetorical Knowledge
•Focus on a purpose
•Respond to the needs of different audiences
•Respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations
•Use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation
•Adopt appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality
•Understand how genres shape reading and writing
Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing
•Use writing and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating
•Understand a writing assignment as a series of tasks, including finding, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources
•Integrate their own ideas with those of others
•Understand the relationships among language, knowledge, and power
Processes
•Be aware that it usually takes multiple drafts to create and complete a successful text
•Develop flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proof-reading
•Understand writing as an open process that permits writers to use later invention and re-thinking to revise their work
•Understand the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes
•Learn to critique their own and others' works
•Learn to balance the advantages of relying on others with the responsibility of doing their part
•Use a variety of technologies to address a range of audiences
Knowledge of Conventions
•Learn common formats for different kinds of texts
•Develop knowledge of genre conventions ranging from structure and paragraphing to tone and mechanics
•Practice appropriate means of documenting their work
•Control such surface features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Composing in Electronic Environments
By the end of first-year composition, students should:
•Use electronic environments for drafting, reviewing, revising, editing, and sharing texts
•Locate, evaluate, organize, and use research material collected from electronic sources, including scholarly library databases; other official databases (e.g., federal government databases); and informal electronic networks and internet sources
•Understand and exploit the differences in the rhetorical strategies and in the affordances available for both print and electronic composing processes and texts.

Writing Program Administration. "WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition." WPA: Writing Program Administration 23.1/2 (1999): 59-66.