ENGL 1030 Constructive Review

I felt that my section of ENGL 1030 at Clemson University was a largely effective and informative course.  I felt that our projects were generally quite effective, however, I felt that more emphasis should have been put on the content of writing rather than the mechanics of doing so.

The section of the course which focused on career writings was particularly effective, as it taught a form of writing which is necessary for all students regardless of major or career aspirations.  We focused on writing a resume and cover letter for companies we might apply to for actual internships, and discussed other forms of business writing.  Later in the semester we wrote an academic research paper on a chosen topic.  Personally, this was my favorite project, as it forced us to critically think about our issue and create a sound persuasive argument surrounding it.  I felt like this project had the most focus on the content of writing and argumentative styles.
The mechanics of writing are vital; one must be able to use grammar effectively and be able to cite a variety of sources.  The course was quite effective at adressing this; I now feel that I have a much stronger understanding of citations. That being said, mechanical skills can be obtained easily, while it is much more difficult to learn how to write an effective argument.  I hoped the course would place more emphasis on this, as such a difficult skill is good to learn in a college environment.  It certainly did in a few projects, but I could tell it was not the central point of the course.  For example, I particularly enjoyed the short writing where we analyzed a piece by an editorial writer, and wrote a persuasive argument on it.  This assignment was largely centered around ideas, and I felt it was quite effective at developing writing skills.
Ultimately, I enjoyed the course, and it exceeded my expectations for an introductory writing course, but I wished it placed a bit more emphasis on content.