Paralegal degree program curriculum

Achieve your true potential! This course will help you sharpen existing skills, build on your strengths, and discover the best ways to learn. You'll identify your learning styles, learn new behaviors to ensure college success, and maximize your learning as you complete your program of study.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following:

• Identify personal strengths and traits used to succeed in motivating and setting goals to complete higher education.
• Describe the requirements for successful online learning.
• Discuss the value of goal setting and time management.
• Explain methods to achieve effective reading comprehension and note-taking.
• Recognize effective academic writing and types of plagiarism.
• Describe strategies for online testing.
• Explain the role of critical thinking in problem solving.
• Identify the necessary skills for successful online research.

Credit Hours: 3

Introduction to Computers provides you with foundational skills and knowledge needed for today's technology-based careers. You'll learn the components of systems—from the CPU and memory to input devices and peripherals—and how these components interact with an operating system to perform critical tasks. Keeping current with fast-changing computer technologies, this course will discuss the computer technologies today that are allowing the creation of a virtualized mobile workforce. It will explore how computers connect to the internet, what services can be found online, and what dangers exist in the form of viruses, Trojans, and other malware. The course will also familiarize you with the basics of today's office productivity applications and help to establish a foundation for working with these different types of applications, including spreadsheets and presentation-creation tools.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following:

• Identify all of the major types of computing devices and their internal and external components.
• Compile a list of the various computer operating systems that are utilized today and identify characteristics about each one.
• Relate the various cloud-based technologies to the virtual and remote abilities that are utilized in a professional environment.
• Describe modern office productivity suite applications.
• Illustrate basic office software tasks using Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.
• Characterize the role computer networking plays in society and identify current networking technologies.
• List the hardware components, software applications, and IT protocols that make the internet possible today.
• Apply basic maintenance tasks on your computer to combat viruses, malware, and computing inefficiencies.

Credit Hours: 3

This course offers an introduction to basic writing skills that are especially relevant to academic assignments. The course focuses on APA paragraph development and organization in conjunction with a review of basic grammar and mechanics. The course also covers basic techniques for critically editing and revising one's work.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following:

• Use appropriate style, grammar, and mechanics in writing assignments.
• Compose a strong paragraph with attention to the following: topic sentences; and effective use of transitions.
• Identify and use a variety of essay structures, including expository, descriptive, narrative, comparison and contrast, and persuasion/argumentative.
• Organize, develop, and produce a fully developed five-paragraph essay.
• Differentiate and apply correct techniques for prewriting, writing, and proofreading using a variety of styles.
• Correctly apply the rules of APA for use in direct or indirect quotations and reference citations.

Credit Hours: 3

This course provides an overview of technological advances over the span of human history. Topics include the interrelationship of technology and culture; ethics and morals as they relate to technological progress; energy; ecology; demography; war and politics; and the unintended consequences of globalization, including social inequality, climate change, and global warming.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following:

• Explain how technology and culture are interrelated, and outline technological advances from ancient times to the present.
• Discuss different perspectives on ethics and morals as they relate to technological applications.
• Explain basic concepts related to energy, including the pros and cons of nonrenewable and renewable sources of energy.
• Discuss basic concepts of ecology, including the environmental challenges of global warming and climate change.
• Explain basic concepts of demography, especially as they apply to population growth.
• Describe how war and politics have affected nations as they adapted to advances in technologies.
• Explain the origins of global inequality, including colonialism and capitalism.
• Discuss different approaches to measuring the evolution of technologies, the unintended consequences of globalization, and the prospects of a paradigm shift.

Credit Hours: 3

This course identifies concepts, principles, and operations of the private enterprise system. Here you'll compare and contrast sole proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations, learning the advantages and disadvantages of each. This course also discusses the functions of modern business management, marketing, and ethics and social responsibility. Human resource management and how employers can motivate their employees are also described. Finally, you'll learn about bookkeeping, accounting, financial management, and financial statements.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following:

• Discuss the fundamentals of business and economics
• Explain the importance of social responsibility and business ethics, including ethical considerations that influence international trade
• Describe options for organizing a business and the steps for starting a business
• Discuss how management, organizational culture, communications, and operational management affect a business
• Describe methods for managing, motivating, developing, and compensating a workforce
• Explain the function and importance of marketing and marketing strategies within a business and the impact of digital marketing
• Discuss accounting processes that businesses use and the role of money in the American financial system
• Describe aspects of financial management, including assets, liabilities, and securities, and how to evaluate your personal finances

Credit Hours: 3

The ability to communicate well is essential to success in any professional environment. English Composition II is organized to provide you with a broad understanding of multiple types of written communication. Far from being just academic exercises, formal writing skills allow you to relate to the world in ever-increasing ways. Simply put, good writing is good thinking. As you master various techniques of effective writing, you'll note a change in the way you process information, and those around you (including your employer) will also note the transformation.

English Composition II begins with the assumption that you've attained basic writing skills through completion of English Composition I. So, in fact, English Composition II is a continuation of English Composition I. In that light, you'll be expected to access and review basic concepts covered in English Composition I and, in particular, the sections on grammar and mechanics.

English Composition II begins by offering you tips on college writing, active reading, and study strategies at the college level. Next, you'll explore the framework for drafting a college essay, including elaborate explorations for finding a topic, assessing your audience, and determining the purpose of your essay as you identify its thesis and craft a thesis statement.

Next, because college essays often require research, you'll be introduced to strategies for finding and using sources. Based on this preparatory foundation, you'll be challenged to analyze essays in all of the various rhetorical modes, which, in turn, will prepare you to write college-level essays for these different patterns of development.

The balance of this online text is devoted to the specifics of reading, analyzing, and writing college-level essays, including description, narration, illustration, process analysis, comparison and Contrast, classification and Division, definition, cause and Effect, argument, and business applications.

By the end of EN130, you'll be able to do the following:

• Describe the nature of academic writing at the college level.
• Understand and apply the principles of active reading.
• Comprehend and apply the structure of a college essay.
• Develop an essay thesis that's supported by facts, authorities, and examples.
• Apply the principles of revision and editing.
• Write an academic essay supported by relevant and credible sources.
• Critically evaluate essays in all of these patterns of development:

  • Narrative, Descriptive, Illustration, Process, Comparison and contrast, Definition, Classification and division, Cause and effect, Argument.
• Create effective, engaging, and informative essays in all of these patterns of discourse through the following:

  • A deep understanding of the writing process; Organizing an essay in terms of space order, time order, or order of importance; Creating attention-getting introductions and memorable conclusions; Using facts, logical reasoning, examples, and authorities to support your thesis; Identifying and avoiding logical fallacies; Effectively applying the techniques of persuasion; Blending two or more patterns of development in a single essay.

Credit Hours: 3

View General Education Elective (Science 100-200 Level) offerings.

Business Law is designed to familiarize you with various kinds of laws, key elements of the American Constitution, and the concepts of the various schools of jurisprudence. Ethics, values, morality, law, and the various ethical theories are compared and contrasted, and the need for promoting corporate social responsibility is discussed. The elements of tort law, the basic elements of a contract, the sources of laws governing contracts, and the conditions for an offer to be valid are examined. Topics include reality of consent, the capacity of minors, consequences of illegal agreements, assignment of rights, transfer of title, and the rights of third parties. Delivery of goods, right to inspection, acceptance and revocation of a contract, the remedies available to buyers and sellers, and the nature of property are also discussed.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following:

• Explain the legal environment within which United States businesses operate.
• Describe tort, criminal, and intellectual property law as it applies to business.
• Explain how contracts and negotiable instruments are used in business transactions.
• Analyze the legal types and roles of employment relationships.
• Discuss the organizational types and responsibilities of businesses in the United States.
• Discuss the role of government in regulating business.
• Explain how personal and real property law impacts business.
• Explain the impact that international law has on global business.

Credit Hours: 3

This survey course introduces the paralegal profession. Career opportunities will be examined, as well as the training and educational requirements demanded of the paralegal. Civil litigation and criminal law will be explored. The entire trial process — from filing a complaint to the appeals process — will be studied. The history of American laws and the structure of the US court system are also highlights of this course.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following:

• Discuss the roles and duties of the paralegal.
• Distinguish between the rules of ethics that govern attorneys and those that govern paralegals.
• Explain how law firms are structured
• Discuss the role technology plays in a law office.
• Outline the history, sources, and functions of U.S. law.
• Describe the federal and state court systems.
• List the steps in a trial.
• Discuss the protections afforded by the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Credit Hours: 3

The paralegal's role in investigation and interviews highlights the beginning of the course. Legal research and writing will be examined throughout. Then this survey course moves into specific legal subjects. Torts; property law, including intellectual property (IP); contracts and e-commerce, family law; and labor law will be explored in depth.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to do the following:

• Explain the importance of the initial contact with clients and witnesses.
• Explain the process of identifying legal issues, material facts, applicable law, and reaching a conclusion after applying the law to the facts.
• Describe the types of damages available to plaintiffs in tort and product liability lawsuits.
• Discuss the elements of a contract.
• Distinguish between real and personal property.
• Explain how courts determine child custody and support issues.
• Discuss the scope of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and major legislation that impacted workers' rights.
• Discuss the protections afforded to intellectual property (IP).

Credit Hours: 3