Writing, Research, & Inquiry
Style & Genre
Our Essential Lessons are a sequence of lessons that form the backbone of the Writing Program curriculum, illustrating what we want all students to learn across our program’s diverse course topics. WR 15x asks students to communicate about the same research project in two different genres, offering them the opportunity to explore how “good writing” […]
Research as Forming a New Question
Our Essential Lessons are a sequence of lessons that form the backbone of the Writing Program curriculum, illustrating what we want all students to learn across our program’s diverse course topics. Students often believe that the most important thing about writing a research paper is having a strong thesis and therefore try to produce that […]
BEAM/BEAT: Rhetorical Ways of Thinking About Sources
Our Essential Lessons are a sequence of lessons that form the backbone of the Writing Program curriculum, illustrating what we want all students to learn across our program’s diverse course topics. This lesson helps students consider four different ways they might use a source: they might rely on it for information, analyze it as evidence, […]
Entering a Disciplinary Conversation
Our Essential Lessons are a sequence of lessons that form the backbone of the Writing Program curriculum, illustrating what we want all students to learn across our program’s diverse course topics. WR 120 introduces students to academic writing and highlights some similarities and differences between academic arguments and arguments in other genres. This first lesson […]
Advice to Students on Preparing for Oral Presentations
Instructors may want to share this page with students as they are preparing for a presentation. What would they add to this list? What has their previous experience been? You may want to ask students to write a reflection on one or two items here that they have had strong positive or negative responses to, […]
Teaching with the WR Journal: Volume 10 (2018)
Read all of Volume 10 of the WR journal, the CAS Writing Program journal of excellent student writing, or browse the following notes to think about how you may want to teach selections from the journal in class.
Accessible Approaches to the Writing Classroom
In order to create a truly inclusive learning environment, it’s important not to put the responsibility for determining accommodations entirely on students with disabilities, nor on Disability & Access Services. Instead, strive to be an active partner in making your classroom and the entire university more accessible. While there are always better teaching practices you […]
Leveling the Playing Field for Class Participation
In general, our writing classes are discussion classes, and students are expected to participate in active class exchanges. Sometimes, faculty may feel frustrated if discussions are slow to get started, or if students don’t speak up. This page compiles selected strategies for effectively facilitating class participation from all students. Scaffolding up front in order to build […]
Teaching the Hidden Curriculum
The term “hidden curriculum” refers to an amorphous collection of “implicit academic, social, and cultural messages,” “unwritten rules and unspoken expectations,” and “unofficial norms, behaviours and values” of the dominant-culture context in which all teaching and learning is situated. These “assumptions and expectations that are not formally communicated, established, or conveyed” stipulate the “right” way to […]
Equity in Writing Assessment: Alternative Grading Approaches
“Alternative” grading practices are becoming more and more common in the Writing Program and in the wider academic community. Departing from traditional assessment systems can allow for greater equity in a writing class, less stress for students and instructors, and more focus on course content, writing practices, and the learning process. It can also help […]