WR 15x

You will develop your abilities to:

• strategically search for and select both scholarly and non-scholarly sources and read them with understanding, appreciation, and critical judgment
• express yourself orally and converse thoughtfully about complex ideas
• engage a range of sources in order to address research questions and to communicate findings in the form of responsible, considered, and well-structured written arguments
• produce clear, coherent prose in a range of genres and styles, using different media and modes of expression as appropriate
• plan, draft, and revise efficiently and effectively, and help your peers do the same by responding productively to their work
• reflect on how research, reading, writing, and editing practices differ for varied audiences, genres, and purposes

Although they differ in their subject content, all WR seminars share common goals and lead you through a sequence of assignments that emphasize a process of planning, drafting, and revising informed by feedback from your classmates and instructor. Seminar activities also give you opportunities to engage in focused scholarly inquiry and discussion.

In WR 15x, you will undertake an extended research project related to your course topic. You will conduct individual and/or group research, exploring new ways to find, evaluate, and engage with information from different sources and in different formats. You will become better able to select and use information sources strategically to formulate and respond to research questions and to participate in the scholarly conversation about your topic. You will also become a more flexible writer by adapting your inquiry to address different audiences, integrating research into your writing in various ways to create new knowledge. Reflecting on your approach to writing and research will prepare you to adapt it to future occasions.

Specific course requirements are to:

• Develop a sustained research inquiry in which you explore a range of information sources and modes of research to help formulate and engage with research questions
• Communicate about your research in two or more genres to two or more distinct audiences
• Prepare reading, drafts, and exercises as assigned so that you are ready to participate in class
• Attend at least one conference with your instructor
• Reflect on your learning throughout the term, contributing to and completing the cumulative WR portfolio

Essential Lessons

• BEAM/BEAT: Rhetorical Ways of Thinking About Sources
• Entering a Disciplinary Conversation
• Research as Forming a New Question
• Style & Genre

Major Assignments

• Cumulative Portfolios in the Writing Program
• Sample WR 120/15x Assignment: Academic Paper on an Outside-of-Class Experience

Exercises & Handouts

• Advice to Students on Preparing for Oral Presentations
• Clarity Races
• Close Reading Exercise
• Crafting a Template for Your Observation Notes
• Decoding a Public Genre
• Elevator Story
• Finding and Using Model Abstracts
• Formulating Questions and Claims Based on Observations
• Framing a Conceptual Problem
• How Research Works in a New Genre
• Interview a Professor
• Paragraph/Essay Reconstruction
• Picture Prompts for Online Classes
• Pre-Reflection for Outside-the-Classroom Experiences
• Reading for Research
• Remote Learning Expectations & Etiquette
• Use a Text as a Theory Source
• Using Different Kinds of Sources to Analyze an Exhibit
• Video Presentation and Reflections
• Visual Representation of Texts
• Write the Title First

Flipped Learning Modules

• Academic Integrity (Part 1): Avoiding Plagiarism
• Academic Integrity (Part 2): Quoting, Paraphrasing, Summarizing
• Creating and Presenting Posters
• Creating Reader-based Prose
• Effective Visual Presentations
• Exploring the Scholarly Territory Using Library Resources
• Facilitating Discussions
• Integrating the Writing Center into the Writing Program
• Metacognition
• Oral Presentations
• Place-based Learning
• Research & Information Literacy
• Sentence Clarity: Characters and Actions
• Strategies for Analysis of Text
• Style: The Secret to Becoming a Successful Writer
• The Early Stages of Research
• The Scope of Research Questions & Conversations

Guides & Tips

• Accessible Approaches to the Writing Classroom
• Anatomy of an Assignment Sheet
• Building Your Syllabus (Syllabi Templates)
• Equity in Writing Assessment: Alternative Grading Approaches
• Faculty Guide to Teaching WR 120 and WR 15x
• Leveling the Playing Field for Class Participation
• Notes for Inclusive Syllabi: Diversity and Land Acknowledgment Statements
• Outdoor Class Meetings and Activities
• Planning Peer-to-Peer Work: Groups, Peer Review, & Workshops
• Responding to Multilingual Students’ Writing
• Strategies for “Challenging” Conferences and Tutoring Appointments
• Strategies for Conferences and Tutoring Appointments with English Language Learners
• Syllabus Checklist
• Teaching with the WR Journal: Volume 10 (2018)
• Writing Program Shared Vocabulary

Tip #1: Incorporate Writing in Module 1
Although WR 15X classes are anchored in an extended student research project that dominates modules 2 and 3, instructors should be sure to have students doing some kind of writing in the first module of the class. Some students take time off from WR after taking WR 120 and can benefit from warm-up exercises that feature the kind of rhetorical skills (reading response, engaging with an argument source about an exhibit source, etc.) they will use in their longer project. Moreover, assigning writing in the first module–even as a short response or ungraded exercise–provides you, the instructor, with a quick sample of student work, which is beneficial for identifying student strengths and weaknesses that you can monitor as they pursue their independent project.

Tip #2: Allow Time for Research Before the Draft
Unlike WR 120, students in WR 15X have more time to work on an extended project. Take advantage of that time in the calendar–build in sufficient time for students to develop a research question and explore possible sources, then revisit and modify their question(s) based on what they discover. Ensure that there is sufficient time for you to provide meaningful feedback and guidance on their project between the submission of a stepping-stone assignment (like a proposal or an annotated bibliography) and the draft of the research paper. We recommend at least 2-3 weeks between a proposal or initial assignment and the paper draft.

Tip #3: Less is More
Once students begin working in earnest on their research papers, it can sometimes be counterproductive to assign the same sorts of readings that you assigned in the first module. At this point in the semester, readings and class meetings are best spent discussing nuts-and-bolts research and writing issues. We also recommend building some time into your schedule for students to read their sources and helping them pace their research. For example, as the paper draft deadline approaches, you could ask students to read 1-2 of their sources each week. You could even ask students to briefly share what they learned in small groups or to give informal research-in-progress presentations.

Tip #4: Make Writing a Throughline
Throughout the class, emphasize writing skills that might be helpful for each component of the project, whether the project is a traditional research paper or something different, as it might be in WR 153. While each of our courses has a unique topic, it’s important to place writing and research at the forefront.

Tip #5: Make the Hub Component Meaningful
Meaningfully integrate the Hub requirements for your course (oral/signed for WR 151, digital/multimedia for WR 152, and creativity/innovation for WR 153), including assigning models–both student and professional–for the Hub genres/modalities that you are asking students to produce. If you’re teaching WR 151, for example, don’t just have students do a 10 minute presentation at the end of the term. Instead, incorporate oral/signed throughout the semester by having students study, analyze, and discuss oral/signed texts (a podcast episode, a TED talk, a debate, a poetry reading, etc.). If you are teaching WR 152, consider creative digital genres that students could practice (social media reels, infographics, etc.) to translate their research into a new media form. If you are teaching WR 153, incorporate lessons on design thinking, as well as creative ways to bring their research to life outside the bounds of the classroom.

Tip #6: A Common Alternative Genre Makes Life Easy
Though there is value in giving students a choice of genre in the final course module, having the entire class working in the same genre can be easier for everybody involved. Above all, instructors can plan class and assign readings devoted to modeling and analyzing a specific genre. This approach allows students to have a clear sense of genre requirements when they work on their own final projects.

Tip #7: Take Advantage of Deerfield Content
For some students who may have never written an academic research paper before–or an alternative genre/creative piece–trying to do so without having a model is akin to attending a yoga class where the instructor calls out a pose without modeling it themselves. That’s where Deerfield, the journal of undergraduate writing produced in WR courses, can help. Recent issues contain many pieces written for WR 15X classes. The topic of the student writing will almost certainly not match the topic for your class, but that’s an asset: instead of being distracted by the topic, students can use assigned models to discuss how the essay or creative piece works, how it engages in scholarly conversation (if it is a traditional academic essay), and how it guides its audience through its main idea.