Designing a WE Course
What follows is a guide. There is no standard set of assignments and/or practices, no template or formula. There are too many variables to provide a one-size-fits-all set of assignments.
Definitions
Within the context of the WE program, we use the following definitions, typically as proper nouns:
Product: writing that is focused on communicating ideas to others. This type of writing targets an audience and adjusts style, content, and form accordingly.
Cognition: writing that is focused on helping the student generate and organize thought about the subject. This includes self-reflection. It is sometimes called “writing-to-think” or “writing-to-learn.” The only audience is the writer themselves.
Process: both a set of habits that helps writers overcome process-related issues (anxiety, writer’s block, developing routines, etc.) and the best procedural practices for successful writing. For example, establishing a draft-feedback-revise cycle rather than making an assignment one-and-done. For instructors, the elements of a good process should be addressed explicitly and implicitly.
A broader discussion of each of these concepts occurs in the “Writing Assignments” section below.
Writing Mixes
What follows are some possible combinations of general assignment types and practices. These are not the only possibilities or even the most common. Keep in mind that there is a sort of “degree of difficulty” at work here. Writing Enhanced works best when the course subject material isn’t typically addressed with writing, particularly writing-to-think/learn/reflect. Chemistry is a good example. Just because extensive writing hasn’t typically been used in chemistry courses, it doesn’t follow that writing is an inappropriate instructional method for chemistry courses. The relationship between chemistry and writing has developed historically, and the significant factors in that development are many.
- A 10-15 page multi-draft research paper starting with a writing-to-think draft or informal research proposal. The paper would involve a peer workshop near the middle of the drafting period and a 2-3 page reflection on how the research changed the understanding of the student. A healthy writing process should be covered early, and instructor feedback on later drafts should cover content and style.
- Three 4-5 page, multi-draft analyses of course-appropriate subjects. Two of the three analyses are taken to the Writing Center. Also, a weekly journal and a personal essay published on a public course WordPress site. Instructor feedback for style and content on the analyses and essay.
- Four case studies in ethics, one with a personal reflection. A short research paper covering an aspect of careers in the major. An extensive, small-group forum dialogue with interpersonal communication guidelines and goals.
- Three informal (audience-less) two-page research proposals. One of those will become a formal proposal resulting in a multi-draft research report/paper. An interview report (3-4 pages) with a reflection on the experience. A 3-5 page analysis of a relevant, realistic ethical dilemma.
- A group project–a multi-draft analysis of a bill at the federal level (50-80 pages). The group project will also require two progress reports and a short personal essay on how the bill might affect the writer (“Is it important to you?”).
- A “how it works” explication of a complicated process (math? stats? physics?), a multi-draft, general audience essay arguing for subject literacy, and an end-of-semester reflection on skill growth.
Writing Assignments
What follows are writing assignments that cover one or more of the objectives of the WE program. The descriptions are not exhaustive. Whole books have been written about each of the types. The descriptions are here just to get you thinking about the possibilities.
Research Paper. For most undergraduates, a “research paper” means a 6-15 page paper that synthesizes existing research and student analysis in order to explore, explain, or make an argument about some fairly specific subject. The audience may be described as other academics, but the instructor/professor looms large.
The research paper can be used in unusual ways in WE courses. It can foster interdisciplinary thinking. It is certainly good for historicizing a subject. For example, if I had a WE course in basket weaving, I might have students write a paper working through the history of a particular weave style. Or I could have them look into the biology/botany of a particular basket material, and how its composition, growing season, climate context, etc. make it appropriate (and/or inappropriate) for baskets or certain types of baskets. The learning with such an assignment isn’t simply learning about baskets and plants; it’s also about learning the value of thorough research and historical context.
The subject of basket weaving in the example above can be replaced with any subject: a chemical compound, a short story, a clinical practice, a style of musical training, an exercise for addressing lower back pain, a particular type of soil,
Research Proposal and Report. A research report is the written report of an original study or experiment. These reports fill our scholarly journals. They are quite scalable. Students can do small observational studies or experiments over a couple of days and still produce a standard report. And they can be adapted to any discipline, even though the methodology is most closely associated with the social and physical sciences. One could treat an art installation as a formal experiment. One could survey to discover attitudes toward how people regard the decline of historical thinking. Research reports have a typical structure: Introduction, Literature Review, Hypothesis, Methods, Results, Discussion. Variations within the basic elements are many.
The research proposal (typically Introduction, Lit Review, Hypothesis, and Methods) can be used as the first step for a research project resulting in a report. Alternatively, it can be used as a stand-alone project. Preparing and justifying a research project can have high impact without requiring the instructor to go through with the logistical chaos of helping organize the actual research.
Essay. Essays are typically short, general audience writings that discuss a specific subject. They can be exploratory, explanatory, or argumentative. Essays try to make a point, even if that point is simply “this is not a simple situation,” as exploratory essays often do. Most essays written in high school and college, however, are of the argumentative type. Essays can be useful in any discipline, as they require the writer to think more broadly about the subject matter, and to think about what readers think about the subject. There’s also the personal essay, an essay written to express some aspect of the writer’s inner life, and, ideally, to both universalize and personalize that aspect.
Case Study. “Case study” is the general term for any close inspection of a specific situation. The situation could be a legal case, a nursing scenario, a treatment plan, a business decision, etc. The case study requires the student to analyze the situation from a variety of perspectives (or from a single perspective, if there’s reason to do so) and draw conclusions from that analysis. The conclusions might be determining responsibility, determining course of action, determining best practice, or determining best solution. The case study is an odd duck with regards to audience. It is both writing-to-think and writing-to-communicate.
Technical Writing. Technical writing includes all the day-to-day functional writing of organizations, including feasibility reports, progress reports, instructions, safety writing, memos, business communications, and so on. While these forms have obvious value in business situations, carrying them into other disciplines can have surprising results. For example, one could have art students describe their work by writing instructions for it. Or biology students could write an industrial-style safety manual for working with snakes in the lab. Formal progress reports can help team projects stay focused and accountable, regardless of the discipline.
Reflection. There should be no external audience for reflection. Reflective writing is a chance to step back and make sense out of a recent experience. Committing thought to words can reveal emotion and develop understanding, and the writer may not, may never, have a chance to do this on their own. Students stay busy and have a truckload of distractions at their disposal. Encouraging reflective writing can also encourage lifelong learning. Reflection can take the form of personal essay, private open writing (no form), journaling, or more experimental forms, such as creative writing (write about your experience in the third person).
Writing-to-Think/Learn (WTL). This is the academic form of reflective writing. Writers write to discover what they know and don’t know, to see how the facts fit together, and to see how they react to new ideas. The audience is the self. First drafts of essays and research papers are often WTL, even if readers of these drafts treat them as writing-to-communicate. WTL occurs when students are asked to write about why they believe what they believe, but as a private assignment. Taking away the gaze of the external reader (as much as possible), both explicitly and implicitly (through requiring no standard structure/format), can allow the student to open up and self-discover. But this type of writing can also be simply justifying a project direction or subject: “In at least 250 words, why did you choose this subject for your capstone project?”
Journaling. Journaling can, of course, be personal or academic. This is a periodic type of writing, and there is that side benefit: normalizing everyday writing. Journaling can be daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or whenever. Journals can have topics provided by the instructor, or they can be completely free of required subject matter. They can be a conversation between student and instructor, or they can be as-private-as-possible (no instructor comment). The important element is the routine and, often, the chance to express what’s inside without limits. All that having been said, blogging can be another type of journaling–public journaling. This is doing all of the above in public, on a WordPress site, for example.
That Other Part of Process: Responding
Having students write is but part of the equation, of course. The students need readers. They need feedback. They may also need instruction on writing process best practices. This is the daunting element of Writing Enhanced, but there are ways to lessen the burden and still be effective.
Responding to Student Writing
Providing Writing Instruction
A Healthy Writing Process