English Composition III trains students to summarize, report, criticize, and conduct research. During the first term, students are trained to summarize and paraphrase as they learn to incorporate outside sources into their papers. They learn to use reported material without plagiarizing and to incorporate ideas from outside sources to support and prove a thesis. Students are also given the opportunity to do critical writing with an emphasis on general principles of logic and argumentation. They are encouraged to investigate the soundness of a conclusion, the validity of a judgment, the value of a short story. Four papers of around 3-5 pages constitute the main substance of the first semester, culminating in 10 page mini-research piece.