Develops the research, writing, source-evaluation, and revision skills needed for academic, professional, and civic inquiry. Building on COMM-1, students move from shorter professional documents into sustained research writing: developing researchable questions, locating and evaluating credible sources, synthesizing evidence, integrating quotations and paraphrases, documenting sources in APA style, and producing a polished research project.

AI tools are used in this course as research and writing collaborators. Students will use AI for brainstorming, search planning, source comparison, outlining, feedback, revision planning, and clarity checks while maintaining authorship, judgment, ethical source use, and accountability for all final submitted work. Special emphasis is placed on verifying
claims, citations, quotations, paraphrases, and AI-generated research suggestions.

Students will complete a scaffolded research portfolio that demonstrates inquiry, source evaluation, evidence integration, revision, citation integrity, and responsible AI use. Formerly: ENGL 1B.