The Write Place: Just for Faculty

Student Referrals

If you feel that one of your students would benefit from our services, please complete a faculty referral form and instruct the student to bring it with him or her to The Write Place. This will give us insight into the student's particular needs and help the writing consultant identify which issues need the most attention in a given session.

Communication Across the Curriculum: Upcoming Panel

Teaching the Writing Process Across the Curriculum, Brandi Ford-Griffin and Panel

This panel will outline how the writing process mirrors the learning process. More importantly, it will follow up with writing process-oriented assignments that are currently used across the disciplines. These examples should help faculty see how making adjustments to their current assignments can further help facilitate learning and strong writing for our students.

In particular, the panel wants to emphasize that incorporating the writing process into assignments will be a win/win situation for students and faculty because it leads to students writing better, without creating extra work for faculty.

• Date: Wednesday, February 15, 2012
• Time: 3 - 4 p.m.
• Location: Blue Star CAFE, room E202

Panel members include Brandi Ford-Griffin, Frank Granack, Craig Livingston, Larry Loomis-Price, Britt Michelsen, and Mark Stelter. We hope to see you there!

On-Demand Workshops for "Don't Cancel That Class!"

The "Don't Cancel That Class!" program provides an option of last resort to department chairs who would otherwise have to cancel a class because of an unexpected and "last-minute" instructor absence. At the Chair's request, as long as it doesn't interrupt, or interfere with, our regular service to students in The Write Place, a representative from The Write Place will lead an in-class workshop on one of the following writing-related topics:

W1: The Process of Writing

1. Preparation: researching the topic, brainstorming, and finding your thesis
2. Organization: putting supporting details into a clear, logical order
3. Drafting: writing ideas, using transitions, and adding an introduction, conclusion, and title
4. Revising: checking that the paper stays focused, concise, clear, and academic in its style
5. Proofreading: correcting errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization
6. Polishing: ensuring that the document meets all the technical formatting requirements

W2: A Fresh Look at Grammar

1. A review of the traditional "parts of speech"
2. Sentence structure: subject + predicate = clause
3. The four basic word/phrase types: Nominal, Verbal, Modifier, and Sentential
4. Color-coding your sentences (N=blue, V=red, M=green, S=black)
5. Examining sentence structure to avoid fragments and run-ons
6. Typical ESOL errors: tense/agreement, articles/number, etc.

W3: Critical Thinking in Research and Argumentation

1. An introduction to critical thinking across the disciplines
2. Bloom's Taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation
3. The Scientific Method: observation, question, hypothesis, prediction, test, conclusion
4. Examining your own existing beliefs, assumptions, and biases
5. Evaluating the validity of a given information source
6. Being aware of slanted or manipulative language
7. Understanding persuasive appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos
8. Identifying and avoiding logical fallacies

W4: Evaluating, Using, and Citing Sources in MLA Style

1. Identifying whether a website is a reliable source
2. Using the Library's research databases
3. Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing
4. Avoiding plagiarism in academic writing
5. Building your Works Cited page
6. Adding parenthetical citations into the body of your paper
7. Tips for using automatic citations (EBSCO, BibMe, etc.)

W5: Evaluating, Using, and Citing Sources in APA Style

1. Identifying whether a website is a reliable source
2. Using the Library's research databases
3. Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing
4. Avoiding plagiarism in academic writing
5. Building your References page
6. Adding parenthetical citations into the body of your paper
7. Tips for using automatic citations (EBSCO, BibMe, etc.)

W6: Evaluating, Using, and Citing Sources in Chicago Style

1. Identifying whether a website is a reliable source
2. Using the Library's research databases
3. Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing
4. Avoiding plagiarism in academic writing
5. Building your Bibliography page
6. Adding footnote citations into the body of your paper
7. Tips for using automatic citations (EBSCO, BibMe, etc.)

W7: How to Write In-Class Essay Exams

1. Tips for reducing test anxiety
2. Using scratch paper to do a "brain dump"
3. Forming a quick plan of action
4. Deciding on a central thesis to be supported throughout the paper
5. Introduction: background information leading into the thesis
6. Body: supporting details, each leading into the next
7. Conclusion: tying everything together
8. What to do when short on time

W8: Planning and Writing a Research Paper

1. Description of a research paper and how it differs from a typical essay
2. Coming up with a topic to research
3. Locating free sources: online databases, Google Scholar, sources cited in other works, etc.
4. Identifying "hard" vs. "soft" references and "primary" vs. "secondary" sources
5. Writing an annotated bibliography
6. Preparing a formal outline
7. Summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting from your sources
8. Tips for avoiding plagiarism
9. General tips for style and formatting

W9: Writing a Critical Analysis

1. Description of an analysis and how it differs from a summary or review
2. Things to analyze: relationships, concepts, themes, aesthetics, etc.
3. Types of analysis: descriptive, evaluative, and interpretive
4. Typical essay structure and variation by format
5. Developing a good central thesis
6. Supporting your thesis with quotes, paraphrasing, and original interpretation
7. General tips for style and formatting