Communications (COM)
COM 0950 — College Reading
Credit Hours: 4.00 Total Contact Hours: 4.00 Lecture Hours: 4.00
Improves critical thinking, reading comprehension, and vocabulary skills to develop students' abilities to successfully comprehend and retain information from texts. Incorporated in the course are note-taking, test-taking, library skills, time management, memorization and concentration skills which can shorten the time used for study, yet increase the productivity of the time spent interacting with texts.
COM 0980 — Developmental Writing
Credit Hours: 3.00 Total Contact Hours: 3.00 Lecture Hours: 3.00
Provides an introduction to writing at all levels (sentence, paragraph and essay) and to research methods and reinforces reading comprehension skills. This is a credit course and will be counted in a student's grade point average; however, it will not count toward graduation requirements or as an elective substitute.
COM 0990 — Integrated Reading and Writing
Credit Hours: 3.00 Total Contact Hours: 3.00 Lecture Hours: 3.00
Provides an introduction to critical reading and academic writing skills necessary to creating effective college level readers and writers. This course is offered in a co-requisite model with COM 1110.
Corequisites: COM 1110.
COM 1110 — English Composition
Credit Hours: 3.00 Total Contact Hours: 3.00 Lecture Hours: 3.00
Provides practice in sound organization and effective expression of ideas in original expository and argumentative compositions as well as the research paper. Extensive discussion of rhetorical modes and editing techniques.
Transfer: TM
Prerequisites: COM 0990 or placement.
COM 1140 — Technical Writing
Credit Hours: 3.00 Total Contact Hours: 3.00 Lecture Hours: 3.00
Applies the principles of good writing in industrial and academic reporting, with emphasis on the techniques of presenting information graphically as well as in clear, concise, written form.
Transfer: TM.
Prerequisites: COM 1110.
COM 1160 — Business Communications
Credit Hours: 3.00 Total Contact Hours: 3.00 Lecture Hours: 3.00
Applies the principles of good writing to on-the-job and personal business letters, formal business reports and other types of business correspondence. Areas covered include proper letter format and strategies of reader oriented letter writing (e.g. effective employment applications, orders, inquiries, adjustments, refusals, memos) as well as research, oral presentations and assessment of career goals.
Transfer: TAG, TM.
Prerequisites: COM 1110.
COM 1170 — Police Communications
Credit Hours: 3.00 Total Contact Hours: 3.00 Lecture Hours: 3.00
Provides training in the development of occupational writing skills with emphasis on police reports, letters, and memos. Effective oral communication will be studied and practiced via formal presentations and interviews.
Prerequisites: COM 1110.
COM 1200 — Writing in the Sciences
Credit Hours: 3.00 Total Contact Hours: 3.00 Lecture Hours: 3.00
Provides a working knowledge of the typical writing tasks encountered in the scientific workplace. This course is an interdisciplinary course which builds upon the writing skills acquired in COM 1110 and the science skills acquired in the physical sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics) and social sciences (Sociology, Psychology). The course will cover principles and purposes critical to the scientific writing process, including such features as the collaborative nature of scientific writing; the importance of precision, clarity, and objectivity in scientific writing; and the role of ethics in scientific writing.
Transfer: TM.
Prerequisites: COM 1110.
COM 1801 — Creative Writing: Fiction
Credit Hours: 3.00 Total Contact Hours: 3.00 Lecture Hours: 3.00
Offers an introduction to the art and craft of writing short fiction. Students read and analyze published fiction. Students write scenes; write a short story; and discuss the writing of classmates.
Prerequisites: COM 1110.
COM 1980 — Research and Writing
Credit Hour: 1.00 Total Contact Hour: 1.00 Lecture Hour: 1.00
Enables the student to work one-on-one with an instructor in learning persuasive, argumentative and research strategies; use of the library; and organization, development and documentation of the research paper. This course is intended for a transfer student who has taken an English composition course that did not cover writing a persuasive paper, an argumentative paper and a research paper. A student who has completed COM 1110 may not take COM 1980.
COM 1990 — Independent Study in COM
Credit Hour: 1.00 Total Contact Hour: 1.00 Lecture Hour: 1.00
Involves students on a one-to-one basis with an instructor on a term paper entailing reading, writing and discussion. The subject matter, to be set by the instructor, will relate to humanities or social sciences rather than to the student's technological field of study. A six to ten page paper will be assigned for each credit. Limit of 1 hour per semester; only 1 hour counts toward graduation.
COM 2110 — Public Speaking
Credit Hours: 3.00 Total Contact Hours: 4.00 Lecture Hours: 3.00 Clinical/Other Hours: 1.00
Covers the analysis, formation, organization, development, and delivery of ideas and attitudes within contemporary issues by means of audience analysis and dialogue. Various rhetorical modes and group projects are also included.
Transfer: TAG, TM.
COM 2110H — Public Speaking (Honors Component)
Credit Hours: 3.00 Total Contact Hours: 4.00 Lecture Hours: 3.00 Clinical/Other Hours: 1.00
Provides students with an academically challenging and enriching learning experience in preparation for completing the Rhodes State College Honors Program requirement. This honors course empowers students to create their own academic experiences through the completion of an honors learning project. The honors learning project is substantial, requires several weeks to complete, and includes a minumum of 15 hours of work. The students and the inststructor must sign an Honors Contract within the first two weeks of the semester. This contract outlines the plans for the student's honors learning project and the date of submission.
Prerequisites: Acceptance into the Rhodes State College Honors Program
Corequisites: COM 2110.
COM 2213 — Verbal Judo
Credit Hours: 3.00 Total Contact Hours: 3.00 Lecture Hours: 3.00
Applies the area of redirecting behavior with words, i.e., tactical communication, while maintaining an attitude of professionalism. Extensive discussion and practice of rhetorical modes, listening techniques, and tactical theory are included.
Transfer: TM.
Prerequisites: COM 1110.
COM 2400 — Composition and Literature
Credit Hours: 3.00 Total Contact Hours: 3.00 Lecture Hours: 3.00
Builds on the writing foundational skills introduced in COM 1110 and emphasizes critical thinking and communication skills to promote skilled academic writing. Using literature as the course content, students focus upon essay writing in multiple genres. This course aims to develop the student's ability to communicate ideas about literature effectively by using the principles of the writing process.
Transfer: TM.
Prerequisites: COM 1110.
COM 2820 — AA Capstone Course
Credit Hour: 1.00 Total Contact Hour: 1.00 Lecture Hour: 1.00
Requires students to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities gained through the Associate of Arts transfer degree curriculum. The student will complete an approved academic project/paper and presentation that demonstrates mastery of their program of study in a meaningful culmination of their learning, and assesses their level of mastery of the general education outcomes. Capstone projects/papers will be inquiry and/or practice-centered and will draw upon areas of interest to the student from the arts and humanities, education, and the social and behavioral sciences. The capstone course should be completed during the student's final semester. Students who successfully complete their project/paper and presentation will receive a letter of completion from their mentor instructor.
COM 3110 — Advanced Composition
Credit Hours: 3.00 Total Contact Hours: 3.00 Lecture Hours: 3.00
Refines and improves writing and critical thinking skills. Expanding upon the topics encountered in English Composition (COM 1110), this course involves a wider range of rhetorical modes in exposition and persuasion, including responses to literature and film as well as the synthesis of primary and secondary research as it relates to social and historical issues. The course requires active communication with individuals of the local community in order to stress the value of writing as a social act.
Prerequisites: COM 1110 ("C" grade policy applies).