WR Classes
Whose History Matters? The Importance of Co-Conspirators
In October 2019, Claudia Fox Tree spoke to over a hundred students from WR 111 and WR 112. The 111 students had read, or were about to read, Montana 1948, while many of the 112 students had read this essay by Justin Nobel. Her talk gave students new perspectives on First Nations/Native Americans and other […]
Suggested Readings for WR 111: Essays/Articles and Longer Works
WR 111 uses the current edition of The Norton Sampler along with a longer work (memoir, novel, graphic memoir) of the instructor’s choice. All the readers should connect with each other, and with the theme (and Hub requirement) of “The Individual in Community.” Faculty notes on some of the more useful essays follow, but check […]
Suggested Readings for WR 112: Longer Works
For AY 2023-2024, we are excited to announce a more flexible approach to texts in WR 112. In order to make space in the course for other multimodal and critical literacy elements, we will be phasing out the longer work in WR 112. For this year, however, if you wish, you may continue to use a […]
Strategies for Engaging with Critics
In this exercise, students practice engaging with critics (argument and theory sources in the BEAM/BEAT framework). The templates provided scaffold students’ responses to the critics before students need to engage more deeply with critics in an essay. This exercise can be done individually or in pairs. Objective To use templates to practice different strategies for […]
Paragraph/Essay Reconstruction
Students work in pairs to analyze and improve the organization of a paragraph or essay using hard copies of their paper. Alternatively, this activity can be adapted for remote learning situations. Objective To focus on the structure of a paragraph or an essay; to consider the effects of transitions and signposting language on readers; to […]
Interview a Professor
In this exercise, students interview another professor about writing in their field and then reflect on what connections they might make between writing in different contexts. Guide to Oral/Signed Communication in Writing Classrooms Objective To learn about the role of research and writing in different disciplines and professions; to learn about how research and writing […]
Video Presentation and Reflections
For this assignment, students work in small groups to create and edit short video presentations (flexible in genre) to recast their research for a new audience. Students then reflect on their presentations. Guide to Oral/Signed Communication in Writing Classrooms Objective To remediate the findings of a research project into a different genre; to work […]
Dork Short Oral Presentations
“Dork Shorts” are a form of presentation popularized by researchers in the Digital Humanities. They combine a formal structure (a specific number of slides) with a short time limit that keeps things light and allows the audience to learn a lot in short period of time. They’re sometimes also called “Lightning Talks.” Guide to Oral/Signed […]
Anatomy of an Assignment Sheet
In this guide, we invite instructors to think through the different sections of an assignment sheet and perhaps take a fresh look at their own assignment sheets. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find some insights into more effective assignment sheets from Writing Consultants working in the CAS Writing Center. Key Elements Things to […]
Sample WR 120 Assignment: Rewriting a Fairy Tale
For this non-academic genre assignment, you will research a traditional fairy tale and then write a version of that fairy tale. You will also write an analysis of how and why you wrote your version. In the creative portion, you will need to reimagine the fairy tale you have chosen. In the analytical portion, you […]