Supporting Writing Assignments
What do you do now to build in process (and support) with your writing assignments? What have you not yet tried but might want to try in the future to support assignments? Any barriers to providing in-class support activities for assignments that might make you reluctant to incorporate them? What about outside-class support?
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Support is provided through requesting a draft version of the writing assignment. I provide substantial editorial remarks that the students should address in the final version. As for something new, I will make stronger references to the Writing Center, plus I may have the students trade drafts to read and review in addition to my comments. I will continue to be available for office hours.
It depends on the class. In classes where I assign a full research paper, I also assign a research proposal and annotated bibliography (sometimes as one assignment, sometimes two), a first draft, workshopping, and a second draft. I once did outlines as well, but I had trouble assessing them and if I did it again I would need to figure out how to best use them. In courses without a research paper, I honestly don't do much in-class to support the assignment. Some students take advantage of my office horus and I tell them that I'll go over theses, outlines, and even early drafts there. I like the idea of having in-class writing exercises that can help build skills that will help with these assignments; I think there are ways of incorporating content into them in ways that wouldn't get me too behind.
My writing assignments usually have a tie-in with what I have been lecturing in class. I try to explain in class about each major writing assignment beforehand. Between the start and the due day of each assignment I would check on students' progress in class and allow them to raise questions regarding the assignment. If an assignment is particularly challenging, I offer to read and comment students' drafts.
There are two things that I like to incorporate in the future, oral presentation and detailed comments.Not all my classes requires an ora presentation.I hope to add an oral presentation component to each class. The length of my comments occasionally shortens because of the difficulty of the class and the number of students. Detailed comments likely help with students' learning.
The major barrier to improve each class has been the constraint of time. Some students need extra time to complete their assignments because they have a full time job. I have quite a few topics to cover in class so we have to rush.
I provide support to my students by making them get their paper topic and sources approved by me before they begin writing. This allows me to make sure they are using appropriate sources for their material and lets me give them feedback about their topic early in the writing process. I have noticed plagiarism is a major issue with my students and I have considered devoting some lecture time to discussing plagiarism but have not yet implemented this strategy. I do not currently use any in-class support activities. I would like to try and incorporate some type of peer-editing as part of the assignment. As far as outside-class support I let them know about my office hours, although I rarely have students show up voluntarily.
Outside of class support includes encouragement to attend the writing center and the open invitation to bring ideas or drafts to my office hours. In class, we are putting into practice the skills needed in the assignment. I also have drafts due in class, where students work with peer partners as readers and we look at a few introductions and a few body paragraphs as examples.
This semester I am working with doctoral students (DNP) working on their capstone projects.There are three papers, the problem statement & research question, a literature review and matrix, and a brief discussion of the theoretical framework for their study. Each week the students post a section of their paper and critique each other. Each month the students turn in a chapter. At each monthly meeting I have hands-on writing exercises for the students to work on individually or together. For the initial drafts I provide substantial feedback, make recommendations to visit the writing center, and provide students with examples of finished products/papers. I will also meet with student during office hours, appointments outside office hours, and by phone.
To support writing assignments I spend time in class and especially when reviewing early submissions to emphasize resources such as OWL. In class, I attempt to point out issues that more than a few students seem to be having, and I try, perhaps not gently enough, to provide feedback comments on the writing. It is sometimes difficult to determine whether they have failed to understand a writing instruction or been unable to communicate due to basic literacy problems. When there is an exceptional paper, I ask the student for permission to share the work. If they allow me to also inform the class of the author that can motivate students who need to push a little harder to improve, as they too seek the recognition in class. It is a delicate balance at times.
I have added draft submission dates so I can review papers and give feed back in class and on the paper. This allows students to revise, as well as reconsider their assignments. This is only the second time I have opted to do this, but think it will become a typical element in my courses. The draft process allows me to better determine if the instructions are at fault versus student skills. When it seems the instructions are unclear, I can improve them and see if students do better on the resubmission. It becomes a tool for examining instructions through the eyes of the students.
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