Rhetorical Knowledge

• Identify, articulate, and focus on a defined purpose
• Respond to the need of the appropriate audience
• Respond appropriately to different rhetorical situations
• Use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation
• Adopt appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality
• Understand how each genre helps to shape writing and how readers respond to it
• Write in multiple genres
• Understand the role of a variety of technologies/media in accessing, retrieving, managing, and communicating information
• Use appropriate technologies to organize, present, and communicate information to address a range of audiences, purposes, and genres

Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing

• Use information, writing, and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating
• Understand that research and writing are a series of tasks, including accessing, retrieving, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing appropriate data and information from sources that vary in content, format, structure, and scope
• Understand the relationships among language, knowledge, and power including social, cultural, historical, and economic issues related to information, writing, and technology
• Recognize, understand, and analyze the context within which language, information, and knowledge are produced, managed, organized, and disseminated
• Integrate previously held beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge with new information and the ideas of others

Processes

• Be aware that it usually takes multiple drafts to create and complete a successful text
• Develop research and writing strategies appropriate to the context and situation
• Develop flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proof-reading
• Understand research and 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 research and 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 appropriate technologies to manage data and information collected or generated for future use

Knowledge of Conventions:

• Learn common formats for different genres
• Learn standard tools for accessing and retrieving information
• Learn and apply appropriate standards, laws, policies, and accepted practices for the use of a variety of technologies
• Develop knowledge of genre conventions ranging from structure and paragraphing to tone and mechanics
• Apply appropriate means of documenting their work
• Control such surface features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling
• Understand and apply legal and ethical uses of information and technology including copyright and intellectual property
• Understand and apply appropriate standards for use of technology including accessibility