Writing Intensive Information For Faculty

Spring 2013 Writing Intensive Classes

Writing Center staff members can visit a teacher’s class to present information about the Center’s services. In addition to one-on-one tutoring, the Writing Center occasionally offers workshops to help students improve their writing skills.  Past workshop topics have included writing essay exams and finding and narrowing a research topic.  At a teacher’s request, the Writing Center director will arrange a workshop on a specified topic for the teacher’s class.

Writing Intensive Learning Goals:

*These goals as outlined below should appear on all WI course syllabi

Though preferred writing styles, formats, and tasks vary from one discipline or field to another, the faculty have agreed that effective formal writing emerges from attention to the following features (Learning Outcomes):

Ideas (focused, substantial, clearly presented, sufficiently and appropriately elaborated with explanations, supporting details, and/or reasons or evidence)

Organization (recognizable structure, logical sequence, clear transitions, purposeful)

An appropriate writer’s voice (tone, word choice, and degree of formality fit the context, communicates confidence in addressing readers’ expectations, establishes credibility, a recognizable “persona” who “speaks)

Conventions of correctness and presentation (editing reflects knowledge of conventions of punctuation, spelling, formatting, fair use of sources, documentation, etc.)

WI Proposal:

For new courses, or for WI designation of existing courses, the proposal form, instructions and dates can be found here. The Writing Intensive Committee will use the criteria listed below for assessing courses for WI designation.

Writing-Intensive Course Criteria:

1. Clearly stated rationale as to why the writing component is neccessary or desirable to achieve the goals of the course

2. at lest 12 formal pages in formats appropriate to the discipline. This does not include collaborative writing, which would be in addition to this page requirement.

3. a minimum of 3 formal writing assignments

4. Formal writing assignments are to be reasonably spaced throughout the semester.

5. Specify how assignments are to be assessed. Guidelines for assessment should follow the goals of the WI (see above). An example of a rubric can be viewed at http://academics.umw.edu/writing-fredericksburg/for-faculty/writing-intensive-information/writing-intensive-assessment/

6. One essay test may be counted as one of the three assignments, but the final examination may not be since it cannot be returned during the semester.

7. A term paper not returned by the end of regular classes may be counted if it has been divided into separate graded stages or if it has gone through a multi-stage revision process.