2018-2019 Pierce College Catalog 
    
    Mar 29, 2024  
2018-2019 Pierce College Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Writing Studies (AA-DTA) Course Map


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Created by Pierce faculty, this map outlines the initial coursework for this career field and for transfer to a four-year institution. It provides you a clear path to complete your degree by listing a specific set of courses relevant to your program and career.  The map is designed with the appropriate number of credits and meets degree requirements. Courses are organized in a recommended sequence; please schedule accordingly. If a course is unavailable, select the next appropriate course within the sequence. If you want to change a course on this map you must speak with an advisor to assure you meet all degree requirements. For each course, a purpose statement explains how the content relates to your career field. On this map, there may be instances when you will be required to select a course from several options. Use these purpose statements and notes to choose the course that best aligns with your interests and needs. You will also find action items to complete to assure you progress and graduate on time.  While this map is a great guide to courses required to complete an Associate of Arts - Direct Transfer Agreement (AA-DTA)  Degree, you are responsible for fulfilling all degree requirements.  Questions? Your Success Network is ready to help you!

Important note about transfer: colleges and universities may change their requirements at any time, so this map is not a guarantee of transfer. You will need to check transfer requirements with your intended four-year school. 

1. College Success


  • Course purpose: A foundational course to explore and affirm a career in writing studies and build upon the skills, knowledge, and resources that will support you at Pierce College and beyond. 

2. English Composition I


  • Course purpose: Clear and strategic communication with others is a central feature of all careers in English. This class provides necessary skills for analyzing and documenting primary and secondary sources which are necessary skills for an English major.

3. Research Essentials


  • Course purpose: This course will help you apply research skills and strategies needed to better access information, evaluate it for credibility, and apply it for a variety of purposes in your life. This course facilitates primary and secondary source knowledge which is key in literary analysis and is useful in literature and Humanities classes.

Action Item: Meet with Advisor


Use your Success Network! In your first quarter, meet with your advisor to revisit your career and transfer path, make adjustments to your goals as needed, and plan for your next steps.

4. Social Science Course Recommendation


Choose one

  • Course purpose: Cultural Anthropology introduces you to ethnography. Ethnography is both a method of inquiry and a compositional practice that has value within many of the academic and professional/technical situations in which a Writing Studies student might hope to work.

  • Course purpose: This course will provide you with a foundation for understanding how humans function within the political landscape, a key facet of how cultures are shaped. 

  • Course purpose: A foundation in sociological research methods will build your understanding of human relationships and social systems.

5. Math Course Recommendation


The math course you select will depend on the transfer institution you plan to attend and your math placement. Your advisor will assist you in selecting the appropriate course(s).

Mathematics Courses   

6. Introduction to Literature


  • Course purpose: This course gives you an overview of several kinds of literature such as poetry, short stories, essays, novels, and plays. This course may foster the ability to interpret and connect literary works to culture and history from a reader’s perspective.

7. Technical Writing


  • Course purpose: This course will develop writing skills for professional settings including visual rhetoric and design. You will build advanced knowledge of genres conventions introduced in ENGL 101. 

8. Natural Science Course Recommendation


Choose one

  • Course purpose: Lab science courses provide you with opportunities to develop the scientific method of inquiry by creating hypotheses, conducting experiments, and writing lab reports using specialized vocabularies and communicating complex information. This course offers you a comprehensive understanding of how the human body works, and will also provide a foundation for further study in life sciences.

  • Course purpose: Lab science courses provide you with opportunities to develop the scientific method of inquiry by creating hypotheses, conducting experiments, and writing lab reports using specialized vocabularies and communicating complex information. Natural Science provides you with the skills and concepts for understanding the physical environment, as well as an introduction to global environmental issues.

  • Course purpose: Lab science courses provide you with opportunities to develop the scientific method of inquiry by creating hypotheses, conducting experiments, and writing lab reports using specialized vocabularies and communicating complex information. BIOL&100, a survey of the life science, will introduce or develop your understanding of how life develops, adapts, and evolves. 

9. English Composition II


10. Social Science Course Recommendation


Choose one

  • Course purpose: This course provides you with context for understanding early political, economic, and cultural systems. Civilizations from the Stone Age to 1100 are covered in this course.

  • Course purpose: This course develops writer’s content knowledge in history and/or political science in the disciplines, while focusing on the origins of social and political systems. US History I covers everything prior to 1840.

  • Course purpose: American Government provides you with a review and analysis of US political and government systems as well as additional perspectives for understanding communication in a variety of contexts.

  • Course purpose: International Relations develops awareness of global problems and potential solutions. 

Action Item: Apply for Graduation


Way to go! It is time to apply for graduation. Visit the Pierce College Graduation website for details. https://www.pierce.ctc.edu/graduation

11. Creative Writing I


12. Humanities Course Recommendation


Choose one

  • Course purpose: Studio, performance, and production courses strengthens your composing skills in multiple modes, and with multiple mediums and materiality. Art 260 will enhance your awareness and knowledge of genre into other disciplinary notions of composing.

  • Course purpose: In this course, you will learn some of the basics of making movies using digital technologies which strengthens composing and tech skills necessary for writing students. 

  • Course purpose: This course introduces you to acting, and the various methods actors employ for film and stage productions which will enhance your understanding for communicating in a performance discipline.

  • Course purpose: CMST& 101 will introduce you to theories of communication in another discipline, while building knowledge of how language practices connect to social norms and identity.

Action Item: Transfer Institutions


Please affirm your choices for transfer institutions as some require two years of foreign language in high school, or two quarters here at Pierce. If you need a foreign language for entry into your transfer institution (if you do not take two years in high school), please take those courses in 13 and 16. 

13. Humanities Course Recommendation


Choose one

  • Course purpose: This course introduces you to theories of ethics and the application of theory to contemporary social problems, thus building important frameworks for understanding the world. 

  • Course purpose: This course introduces you to the application of theory to today’s most urgent contemporary social problems.

  • Course purpose: This course poses thought-provoking questions to explore: such as “Are there human rights? Are human rights universal or are they culturally determined? Do future people have rights? Are minority rights exceptions to or different from human rights?”

  • Course purpose: CMST 105 will help you understand how culture affects communication theory and practice, and prepares you to communicate effectively across cultures.

· World Language (1)


14. Natural Science Course Recommendation


Choose an additional course from 8.

15. English Composition III


  • Course purpose: This English course is an overview of poetry, stories, and plays and the analysis of these texts to write about them effectively. Primary and secondary sources are read, researched, analyzed, and documented in this course. This is the foundation of multiple upper-division literature courses requiring analytical research essays.

16. Humanities/Symbolic Logic Course Recommendation


Choose one

· World Language (2)


17. Social Science Course Recommendation


Choose an additional course from 4.

18. Natural Science Course Recommendation


Choose one

  • Course purpose: Environmental science courses explore the connection between hard science and its application via public discourse, which includes policy work, advocacy, and communication across a variety of situations and contexts. You should take this course if you are interested in a general overview of environmental science. 

  • Course purpose: Western Water Problems will develop your understanding of historical and current water issues in the western U.S.

  • Course purpose: Environmental science courses explore the connection between hard science and its application via public discourse, which includes policy work, advocacy, and communication across a variety of situations and contexts. You should take this course if you are interested in a general overview of environmental science through case studies. 

  • Course purpose: MATH& 146 offers you interdisciplinary applications of math, which will build some fundamentals in statistics, and the graphical methods will support developing skills in working with quantitative research.

19. Advanced Composition Portfolio


  • Course purpose: If you choose writing studies, this portfolio opportunity will be a useful and tangible artifact as a transfer student, which will illustrate your preparation in drafting and composing various genres for public, academic, and workplace audiences.

20. Elective (2 credits)


Total Credits: 90


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