Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: use the library to do academic research; use reliable internet sources for academic research; analyze written sources and identify key content and arguments through note-taking; outline the steps for organizing and writing a research paper; synthesize different perspectives and streams of information into a compelling argument; evaluate one’s own work and the work of others for correct grammar, appropriate content, careful organization, and good style; evaluate others’ critique of one’s work and incorporate alternative perspectives into one’s writing; exercise the use of successive drafts to improve one’s writing; and utilize standard formatting guidelines to present one’s research for an academic audience.