While you’re settling in, think about this question: What kinds of writing projects do you assign to your students?

Helping Students Get Started with Writing February 9, 2011 Organized by the Writing Across the Curriculum Program

Introduction The blank page or screen can be daunting. How to get started?

Plan for Today First, we’ll talk about some of the challenges students may face when starting writing. Then, we’ll offer some strategies to help students-including informal and sequenced assignments.

What kind of writing assignment do you assign your students?

A Major Problem for Students Most writing projects require several distinct skills. Many of these skills are discipline or assignment specific.

Handout Exercise Take 5 minutes and think about what skills are needed to do the example assignment on the handout.

Writing Skills Identify appropriate research questions Find suitable sources Read and analyze those sources Formulate a thesis Establish a rhetorical context, role, audience, and purpose Organize sources and ideas in a cogent way Cite sources

Strategy #1: Informal Assignments Smaller projects that build toward a final project are more manageable for students. Examples: free write, focused free write, organizational map, triple-entry notebook, thesis brainstorming, summaries of sources, etc.

Strategy #2: Sequencing of Assignments Break your assignments into smaller components that support the skills needed for the final product. Promotes complex thought through progressive focusing and revising.

Benefits of the Strategies Sequencing helps get students thinking about the topic in a structured way. Official check points encourage students not to write the entire paper in one sitting, and not to resort to plagiarism. You needn’t collect or grade any or all informal assignments. Perhaps minimally grade them. Uses your grading time more effectively: you will be more familiar with the end product.

Applying the Strategies You needn’t change your end- product assignments--you can just see how to support your students in developing the skills they need to meet your goals.

Applying what you have learned so far… How would you sequence the example assignment?

Applying the Strategies Explore topics in a journal; summarize two articles related to topic Meet with a Tutor in the Learning Center to chat about key terms Develop an outline or map or tree Write an exploratory essay Submit a 200-word abstract of research argument Complete a rough draft Do a peer review workshop Submit final research paper

THANK YOU!!! Remember: Writing Fellows can work with you to develop informal assignments or sequence your assignments. If you have any further questions, feel free to contact: Kiki Yoon Jacob Berger