Common ground
Framing a Conceptual Problem
This handout (inspired by the Little Red Schoolhouse approach) explains how to frame a conceptual problem in a paper’s introduction. Students may use this handout to consider the discrete rhetorical moves an introduction involves, especially when creating research problems of their own in WR 15x. Objective To help students reflect on the key elements of framing a […]
Standard Rhetorical Moves of Introductions
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. Most students know that they should include a thesis statement in the introduction to an academic essay, but they may not know that academic […]
Finding and Using Model Abstracts
This activity has two parts. In the first, students work at home to familiarize themselves with the form of an abstract and to write their own; in the second, students build on this homework in small groups to more closely analyze the genre. One question asks students to distinguish abstracts from introductions, which is a point of confusion […]