Zoe McDonald Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description This activity transforms a familiar annotated bibliography into a full class activity to give students hands-on knowledge of two central components of composing: writing as a social process (Adler-Kassner and Wardle) and “authority is constructed and contextual” (ACRL). As Tressie McMillan Cottom observes , “writing is always […]
Zack DePiero and Ryan Dippre Volume 5 Chapter Description The writing process is often oversimplified as a series of linear steps: brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. While this notion enables students, like you, to conceptualize writing as something that improves over time, it also conceals the chaos of writing and its social, emotional, and
How Writing Happens Read More »
Glenn Lester, Sydney Doyle, Taylor Lucas, and Alison Overcash Volume 5 Chapter Description Many college students write for one reason and one reason only: to complete a class assignment. But students who subscribe to this view of writing—writing as merely a means to an end, a tool to achieve a grade—are seriously limiting themselves. In
We Write Because We Care: Developing Your Writerly Identity Read More »
Helen H. Choi Assignments & Activities Archive Assignment Description The overall intent of this activity is to support a prewriting phase for invention and creative thinking, as students search for and develop a topic and craft a plan for responding to a writing assignment (Trim and Isaac 107). While invention can be explored through individual
Thinking Out Loud: The Prewriting Interview Read More »
Jessa M. Wood Assignments & Activities Archive Assignment Description Prior to a first-year writing course, students often see writing as static and rule-based, and have not been challenged to reflect on how they make choices about writing and the impact those choices have on readers. I have found in teaching my first-year writing course that
Reflective Cover Letter Read More »
Benjamin Miller Volume 5 Chapter Description This essay recommends that writers use digital tools to keep track of what’s changing as they write—and to include a quick comment with each notable change, saying what they’re trying to achieve. These revisitable histories are helpful in several ways. First, when we notice what we’re changing (often unconsciously)
What’s the Diff? Version History and Revision Reflections Read More »
L. Lennie Irvin Volume 5 Chapter Description Many freshmen enter college with a one-draft writing process where revision means tidying up errors and then submitting the final product. This chapter is about changing your thinking about revision as a foundation for changing your practice of revision. The chapter explores the false concepts about writing and
Changing Your Mindset About Revision Read More »
Erin E. Kelly Volume 5 Chapter Description Academic writing classes regularly require students to engage in peer review: that is, to read and comment on classmates’ work in progress in an attempt to make that work better. This chapter shows how such class activities connect to the practices of academic peer review associated with academic
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly of Peer Review Read More »
Derek Van Ittersum & Tim Lockridge Volume 4 Chapter Description This chapter introduces “writing workflows,” a concept that helps writers examine how tools shape writing processes.* It suggests that writing does not take place solely in the mind, with the tools merely transcribing that activity. Instead, it describes how any experience of writing is shaped
Find the Best Tools for the Job: Experimenting with Writing Workflows Read More »
