SNL Writing News

For your viewing pleasure…new items on the SNL Writing Website!

2012-02-06T16:44:00.003-06:00

Visit the SNL Writing Website, http://snl.depaul.edu/writing/index.html, for the below:

1. A new interview with SNL graduate and former Writing Center Tutor Stephen Hall in which he tells how SNL students can be successful writers, discusses working on his Advanced Project, and tells how the Writing Center can help SNL students.

Recognizing the writing-intensive curriculum of the SNL program, Stephen encourages SNL students to enjoy writing as a process. Even though SNL students have many demands on their time, he believes that it is helpful to view writing as a several step endeavor. Stephen says students need to take time to think about the given writing assignment, time to jot down and outline ideas, and time to write multiple drafts. He offers the example of his own work on his Advanced Project on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and how he allotted himself plenty of time to delve into the material by thinking, researching, and writing about ADHD before he started his first draft.

As an UCWbL tutor, Stephen reminded students how they are uniquely positioned to develop their writing stylistically. This sound bite captures Stephen’s attitude towards taking advantage of academic writing, “So often outside of the academic world, there aren’t a lot of opportunities to own your own voice and to communicate that voice. The School for New Learning certainly fosters an atmosphere where one’s voice can be discovered and heard.” Stephen closes by encouraging students to use the UCWbL not as an editing service, but rather as a place to explore the entire writing process from ‘end to beginning;’ first determining what the final outcome of any given writing project will be.

2. Do you know students writing an Independent Learning Project this quarter? If so, direct them to here to view two new sample ILPs in the focus area, titled "Learning Six Sigma Theory" and "Collecting and Classifying Folklore."

*Please note that the interview with Mary Erl on writing 10 Independent Learning Projects has been moved from the main page to the ILP page, http://snl.depaul.edu/writing/ILPs.html.

UCWbL provides a second set of eyes for SNL Faculty

2012-02-06T11:52:00.002-06:00

The UCWbL provides “copy-editing services to any faculty member whose writing project has been accepted by a journal or press for publication." See: http://condor.depaul.edu/writing/instructors/copy_editing.html. If you would like to take advantage of this service, please contact UCWbL director, Laurie Dietz, at ldietz@depaul.edu. Remember that the Writing Center can give feedback at any stage of the writing process, even if your writing project has not yet been accepted for publication. Visit here for more information.

On the challenges of learning transfer, or why students sometimes seem like they have never taken a writing class . . .

2012-01-15T18:10:00.000-06:00

A couple of years ago, I had a student in Writing Workshop who was working on his Advanced Project. His paper lacked a thesis and organization, his sentences ran on and on, and he rarely cited his sources. Who, I wondered, had taught him writing? Later that day, I realized that his name was familiar because he had been in one of my online Academic Writing for Adults classes. Moreover, he had taken and done well in three other writing classes at DePaul. When I looked back at his papers from my class, it was clear that he knew, or once knew, how to do all of the things he did not seem to be able to do while working on his Advanced Project.

While it is discouraging that this student did not transfer what he had learned in his writing classes to his Advanced Project, it is not unusual. In mathematics and science education, in cognitive and learning sciences, in psychology, and in training and development, teachers and researchers have struggled to understand why students frequently do not transfer their learning from one context to another. Even management consultants, who are paid lavishly for and “whose jobs depend on their ability to apply their knowledge in new situations,” turn out to be not so great at learning transfer (Gentner et al. 1353). When researchers gave experienced and motivated consultants two analogous cases illustrating a principle of negotiation and asked them to read through each individually, only 17% identified the similarity between the two cases (Gentner et al. 1347-1349, 1353).

Encouragingly, researchers were able to significantly improve upon these results simply by asking the consultants to compare the two examples. When so promoted, 88% linked the two cases (Gentner et al. 1349). Moreover, those who were explicitly told to compare the two cases were almost twice as likely to draw upon the principle illustrated by the cases in a subsequent face-to-face negotiation exercise (Gentner et al. 1349).

So, there are both barriers and reason to hope on the road to transfer.

One key barrier is that students (as novices) and teachers (as experts) perceive what is being learned differently. Novices, like my student trying to write his Advanced Project, tend to focus on, and are often overwhelmed by, what is new and different and have a hard time noticing connections to what they already know. Just as bike riders lose the balance they had mastered when they try the new challenge of riding without their hands on the handlebars, writers can lose control of the basics when they take on new writing challenges: "student writing may sometimes need to get 'worse' before it can get 'better'” (Carroll 9).

Experts, on the other hand, see connections and patterns and, because these connections are so obvious to them, tend to take them for granted. As a result, "professors in major disciplinary courses may underestimate how different their expectations about writing are from those that students have already experienced and how much practice is needed to apply disciplinary specific concepts, knowledge, and conventions in writing" (Carroll 6). Like Carroll, Herrington and Curtis conducted a longitudinal study of students’ writing development in college and were surprised by the "truly dizzying array of writing assignments and teacher expectations about them" that students encounter “from their first semester to their last” (Herrington and Curtis 387). In another longitudinal study following returning adult students, Theresa Lillis showed how these largely unarticulated expectations were a particular challenge for nontraditional students who were being asked to negotiate meaning in unfamiliar social contexts with unwritten rules (14).

As a result of her findings, Carroll dismisses as a “faculty fantasy” the idea that academic writing is a discrete, unified and easily transferable skill. Her conclusion is supported by over two decades of research showing that we do not learn to write in the abstract but through immersion in specific and dynamic contexts: “highly context-dependent skills such as rhetorical performance are best learned—perhaps can only be learned—when learners are immersed in the real context in which such skills must be performed on a daily basis" (Brent 5). As a result, stand-alone writing classes can get students only so far. Besides teaching basic writing skills, they can teach students general strategies for managing the writing process and for analyzing and responding to the expectations of various disciplines, groups, and rhetorical situations. Students will transfer this learning and develop their writing expertise only through participation in specific contexts and when motivated by concrete goals.

Ways to Facilitate Transfer

As Alexander and Murphy sum up, “transfer requires attention to learner, task and context” (565). Researchers have demonstrated that the likihood of transfer is dependent upon the level of expertise, metacognitive abilities, and motivation of the learner; the teacher’s disciplinarily and pedagogical knowledge and abilities and willingness to foster transfer; and the affordances of the learning context (Bransford, Brown, Cocking 39-66, 143-177). Below are some of the most commonly recommended ways to facilitate transfer:

Hold students accountable for their learning: Students often do not transfer what they had learned about writing because they did not need to do so. In two different studies and in my own research with SNL students, students report that they do not practice what they learned in their composition courses because they can write papers the night before, not proofread them, and get good enough grades (Wardle 73 and 76; Bergman and Zepernick 128-129 and 139-140).
Assign meaningful work: Experts agree that learners who are motivated and challenged are more likely than others to look for prior knowledge to help them address new challenges (Alexander and Murphy 568; Bransford, Brown, Cocking 48-49; Lobato 433-434; Nelms and Dively 218; Simons 585-7; Subedi 592; Volet 625-7). "Challenges, however, must be at the proper level of difficulty in order to be and to remain motivating: tasks that are too easy become boring; tasks that are too difficult cause frustration" (Bransford, Brown, Cocking 49).
Help students develop meta-cognitive skills: Across disciplines and theories of transfer, researchers agree that the development of metacognitive skills enhances transfer (Alexander and Murphy 565-566; Beaufort 152; Bransford, Brown, Cocking 12, 35, 38, 55, 66; Brent 17-18; Brown 406; Gee 174; Nelms and Dively 218; Perkins and Salomon 9; Rounsaville, Golberg, Bawarshi, 108; Simons 582-583; Wardle 81-82).
Provide frequent feedback: “In order for learners to gain insight into their learning and their understanding, frequent feedback is critical” (Bransford, Brown, Cocking 66). Feedback helps students identify "the relevant knowledge and strengths that students bring to a learning situation and [build] on them" (Bransford, Brown, Cocking 66).
Cue transfer: Making explicit connections to prior and future learning and offering comparisons improves transfer, but having students make those connections and compare two examples at the same time, often through peer collaboration, improves it even more (Brent 20; Gick and Holyoak 19; Lave and Wagner 92-93; Rittle-Johnson and Star 3-4).

Works Cited

Alexander, Patricia A., and P. Karen Murphy. "Nurturing the Seeds of Transfer: A Domain-Specific Perspective." International Journal of Educational Research 31 (1999): 561-76. Elesvier. Web. 12 August 2011.

Beaufort, Anne. College Writing and Beyond: A New Framework for University Writing Instruction. Logan: Utah State UP, 2007. Print.

Bergmann, Linda S., and Janet Zepernick. "Disciplinarity and Transfer: Students' Perceptions of Learning to Write." WPA: Writing Program Administration 31.1/2 (2007): 124-49. Print.

Bransford, John D., Ann L. Brown, Rodney R. Cocking, eds. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999. Print.

Brent, Doug. "Transfer, Transformation, and Rhetorical Knowledge: Insights from Transfer Theory." Journal of Business and Technical Communication 25.4 (2011): 396-420. Sage. Web. 18 September 2011.

Brown, Ann L. "Analogical Learning and Transfer: What Develops?" Similarity and Analogical Reasoning. Eds. Stella Vosniadou and Andrew Ortony. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1989. 369-412. Print.

Carroll, Lee Ann. Rehearsing New Roles: How College Students Develop as Writers. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2002. Print. Studies in Writing & Rhetoric.

Gee, James Paul. "Literacies, Identities, and Discourses." Developing Advanced Literacy in First and Second Languages: Meaning with Power. Eds. Mary J. Schleppegrell and M. Cecilia Colombi. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 2002. 159-75. Print.

Gentner, Dedre, et al. "Reviving Inert Knowledge: Analogical Abstraction Supports Relational Retrieval of Past Events." Cognitive Science 33 (2009): 1343-82. EBSCO. Web. 18 September 2011.

Herrington, Anne J., and Marion Curtis. Persons in Process: Four Stories of Writing and Personal Development in College. Reconfiguring English Studies. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English, 2000. Print.

Lave, Jean, and Etienne Wenger. Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive, and Computational Perspectives. Eds. Roy Pea, Christian Heath and Lucy A. Suchman. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002. Print.

Lillis, Theresa M. Student Writing: Access, Regulation, Desire. London: Routledge, 2001. Print.

Lobato, Joanne. "Alternative Perspectives on the Transfer of Learning: History, Issues and Challenges for Future Research." The Journal of the Learning Sciences 15.4 (2006): 431-49. Web. 12 August 2011.

Nelms, Gerald, and Ronda Leathers Dively. "Perceived Roadblocks to Transferring Knowledge from First-Year Composition to Writing-Intensive Major Courses: A Pilot Study." WPA: Writing Program Administration 31.1-2 (2007): 214-40. Print.
Perkins, D.N., and Gavriel Salomon. "The Science and Art of Transfer." 1-13. 1992. Harvard. Web. 3 August 2010.

Rounsaville, Angela, Rachel Golberg, and Anis Bawarshi. "From Incomes to Outcomes: FYW Students' Prior Genre Knowledge, Meta-Cognition, and the Question of Transfer." WPA: Writing Program Administration 32.1 (2008): 97-112. Web. 31 January 2011.

Rittle-Johnson, Bethany, and Jon R. Star. "Compared to What? The Effects of Different Comparisons on Conceptual Knowledge and Procedural Flexibility for Equation Solving." Journal of Educational Psychology 101.3 (2009): 529-44. DASH: Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard. Web. 18 September 2011.

Simons, P.R.J. "Transfer of Learning: Paradoxes for Learners." International Journal of Educational Research 31 (1999): 577-89. Elsevier. Web. 12 August 2011.

Subedi, Bhawani Shankar. "Emerging Trends of Research of Transfer of Learning." International Education Journal 5.4 (2004): 591-99. Web. 7 August 2010.

Volet, Simone. "Learning across Cultures: Appropriateness of Knowledge Transfer." International Journal of Educational Research 31 (1999): 625-43. Elsevier. Web. 12 August 2011.

Wardle, Elizabeth. "Understanding 'Transfer' from FYC: Preliminary Results of a Longitudinal Study." WPA: Writing Program Administration 31.1/2 (2007): 65-85. Web. 3 August 2010.

Schedule your class presentation with UCWbL for Winter Quarter

2012-01-10T10:32:00.002-06:00

The University Center for Writing-based Learning (UCWbL) would like to remind you to schedule your informational presentations for Winter term. These presentations are a great way to get your students excited about coming to the Writing Groups, a wing of the UCWbL. The Writing Groups meet each Saturday and offer student-centered workshops that allow students to enter into the discussion of academic writing in a workshop setting facilitated by two tutors from the UCWbL. By discussing their own writing as well as the work of other participants, students develop critical reading, thinking, and analytical skills and the ability to articulate and discuss writing. The presentations will make sure that they are aware of Writing Groups as well as the wide variety of services that we offer online, at our Lincoln Park and Loop offices and outposts, and at the suburban campuses.

Presentations are about fifteen minutes in length and will include (in smart classrooms) a demonstration of our online scheduling service as well as a quick tour of the resources available to students on our website. An experienced tutor or staff member will deliver the presentation and take any questions from both the students and you. If you’d like, our staff members can also briefly tell you and your students about the other four wings of the UCWbL: the Writing Fellows Program, the Suburban Campus Writing Groups, the Collaborative for Multilingual Writing and Research, and Faculty Development.

If you are unable to schedule an in-class presentation with us, we can still deliver promotional materials such as bookmarks to you. Feel free to email the UCWbL at wcenter@depaul.edu with any inquiries about requesting these items. Presentations begin the second week of classes. To request a presentation for your class, visit http://condor.depaul.edu/writing/instructors/invite.html.

SNL student published in Faith, Hope, and Fiction

2012-01-09T16:19:00.000-06:00

SNL student Sara (last name withheld at student’s request) took Steffanie Triller’s Advanced Elective Write Where You Are: Writing About the Places We Live this Autumn Quarter. The course encourages students to write about places that are meaningful in their everyday experience. As part of the course, Sara wrote a paper entitled “My Transcendent Yoga Mat” about the ways that her experience on her yoga mat is both spiritual and liminal. The essay was published in the January e-newsletter Faith, Hope and Fiction http://www.faithhopeandfiction.com/.

SNL Writing faculty member, Michelle Navarre Cleary, publishes article on SNL Writing Workshop course

2012-01-09T11:49:00.004-06:00

SNL Writing faculty member, Michelle Navarre Cleary, recently published an article about SNL's Writing Workshop course, called "How Antonio Graduate on Out of Here - Improving the Success of Adult Students with an Individualized Writing Course."

Abstract:

"Adult students are more anxious about writing for school, less familiar with academic conventions, and more likely to drop out than younger students. For students learning to move between personal, work, and academic discourse communities, the ongoing and explicit writing instruction argued for in the research of Sternglass, Herrington and Curtis, Carroll, and Beaufort is particularly vital. Writing Workshop at DePaul University's School for New Learning is one model for providing this instruction. The course works for students with a broad range of learning styles, prior knowledge, needs, and goals because it is individualized and because it is focused on developing writers rather than on teaching specific kinds of writing. It is open to any student struggling with writing, from incoming basic writers to seniors stuck on final projects. Writing Workshop has improved access for and the retention and success of our adult students. This article shows the need for a class like Writing Workshop, explains how it works, discusses challenges, and describes the experience of the at-risk, nontraditional, adult students in one Writing Workshop class."

Michelle Navarre Cleary. "How Antonio Graduated on Out of Here Improving the Success of Adult Students with an Individualized Writing Course" The Journal of Basic Writing 30.1 (2011): 101-130.

The full article is available through the DePaul Library, http://library.depaul.edu/.

Learning Disabilities, Writing, and Adult Students

2012-01-05T13:11:00.003-06:00

Teaching writing to adult students with learning disabilities (LD) and/or attention deficit disorders requires the instructor to understand and accommodate a variety of learning styles in the classroom. Below is a list of resources, articles, and tips focused on learning disabilities, writing, and adult students.

I. DePaul’s PLuS Program

http://studentaffairs.depaul.edu/plus/index.asp
DePaul University’s PLuS (Productive Learning Strategies) program offers a variety of services for LD students. In order to be eligible to receive services, students must apply online at http://studentaffairs.depaul.edu/plus/new_apply.html. Students need to have a recent psycho-educational evaluation on file, which should be no more than five years old for LD, or three years old for AD/HD. For students in need of testing, you can recommend the following testing centers listed here: https://snlwriting.pbworks.com/w/page/49335375/LD%20Evaluation%20Sites. Please note that UIC has a sliding scale and students should inquire about other potential sliding fee scales based on student hardships.

PluS services include:
• Exam proctoring (for extended time on exams);
• Priority registration;
• Course selection advising;
• Reader and/or transcriber for exams;
• Note-taking assistance;
• Assistive technology;
• Advocacy; and
• Weekly sessions with a PLuS clinician (professional Learning Specialists; please note that because availability of clinicians is limited, students may be placed on a waiting list for this specific service).

II. Writing & Learning Disabilities

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/special/disabilities.shtml
Discusses making the writing process concrete by customizing a step-by-step process for writing essays; also discusses use of audio and visual aids like recorders, out-loud protocol, regular peer review, note cards, colored markers.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/1510517
Review of four studies on LD/Writing: use of handwriting v. word processing v. dictation, the importance of planning, the interference of mechanics/grammar on global writing, and revision processes.

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4SPdLvhIUA4C&oi=fnd&pg=PA323&dq=Learning+Disabilities+and+writing&ots=KjlJQTwvoR&sig=bvj0eScU6MCfDIGHEUcALhYMKqM#v=onepage&q=Learning%20Disabilities%20and%20writing&f=false
Review of literature on young (K-8) students with LD’s writing shows that these writers have a difficult time generating content and typically need more guidance in thinking through audience, purpose, organization, and context; students with LD tend to have an over-simplified view of the writing process (planning, translating thoughts into writing, improving minor errors) and need more time and guidance to develop their rhetorical skills and their concept/process of global revision. Authors also suggest “Self-Regulated Strategy Development” that involves routines, authentic writing assignments, interaction with others, writing at one’s own pace.

http://compfaqs.org/LearningDisabledWriters/WorkingWithLearningDisabledWriters
Writers with LD have difficulty with mechanics, content generation, perceiving essay writing as only question-answering with no conclusions or synthesis, improper pronoun use, anxiety, poor studentship skills, poor revision skills and misunderstanding of what revision is. This source references the article “Assistive Technology: An Instructional Tool to Assist College Students with Written Language Disabilities”, which talks about tools such as word processors (for mechanical corrections), outlining programs (for content and organizational coherence), brainstorming programs (with lots of visual elements), and speech recognition/speech synthesis programs. The authors also note that teachers should help writers come up with concrete strategies for every stage of the writing process so that the student can become self-regulatory. Setting up individualized routines and cues raises student confidence. One-on-one conferences and peer review groups are beneficial instructional methods.

http://compfaqs.org/TeachingBasicWriting/LiteratureOnStudentsWithLearningDisabilitiesInTheBWClassroom
Urges writing programs to be sure that writing instructors discuss, as early in the course as possible, the need for students to identify learning disabilities and the university/college resources available to students with potential learning disabilities. Writing instructors should not assume that lack of quality revision or poor mechanics is due to student apathy or inexperience.

http://compfaqs.org/EMU-585sp08/TechniquesTeachersCanUseForHelpingLDStudentsInTheBasicWritingClassroom
Techniques for helping writers with LD include: (1) be aware of learning disabilities and difference between LD and inexperience; (2) provide list of resources for students to get tested for learning disability; (3) give students extra time and timely, detailed feedback; (4) encourage students’ use of planners, sitting close to board, communicating with you and each other; (5) help student find channels for self-sufficiency (like knowing where to go for help in the future; (6) don’t let students with LD “get by” if they don’t demonstrate the necessary skills.

http://www.ldonline.org/article/6201/
Three points confirmed to help writers with LD: “Adhering to a basic framework of planning, writing, and revision; Explicitly teaching critical steps in the writing process; Providing feedback guided by the information explicitly taught” There is also a final note about need for research on students with LD and transfer of writing skills to other areas for academic success.

www.studiostudio.nl/project-dyslexie/
A dyslexic typeface.

http://www.bgsu.edu/cconline/dmac/
A discussion of autism, literacy, and composition written by my colleague from WRD’s grad program. (NOTE: Autism is NOT a learning disability, though many believe it is.)

III. Adults & Learning Disabilities

http://www.floridatechnet.org/bridges/factsandstats.pdf
Describes what learning disabilities are (according to scholarly and federal literature) and are not, how they’re diagnosed, the causes, the difference between LD and attention disorders, and national statistics. Provides a comprehensive list of general LD characteristics, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia on pgs 5-7.

http://ldlink.coe.utk.edu/adaptations.htm
Discusses adaptations, accommodations, and assistive technology devices available to adult students with LD.

http://ldlink.coe.utk.edu/teaching_learning.htm
Similar to above, but also discusses three instructional strategies: “Direct - (Teacher tells and shows; learner practices.) Intensive - (Teacher asks many questions; learners respond frequently.) Structured and Systematic - (Teacher and learner go step by step.) “

http://ldlink.coe.utk.edu/decisions.htm
A resource for adult students with learning disabilities: how to be successful, self-advocacy, resources.

http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/dislearning.html
The government provides an overview of resources in the U.S, including research, evaluation, and statistics regarding adult students and learning disabilities. Mentions “Illinois Center for Teaching and Learning” offerings of training programs for adult educators who want to know more about teaching students with LD.

http://www.ldanatl.org/aboutld/adults/index.asp
The Learning Disabilities Association of America provides an overview of resources for adults who have a learning disability.

The UCWbL Announces School for New Learning Workshops for Winter 2012

2011-12-15T14:28:00.001-06:00

Advanced Project Forums

At the AP forums, students can discuss their Advanced Projects with other students, Writing Center tutors, SNL faculty, and a librarian. We'll address the steps that need to be taken before beginning the Advanced Project, as well as how to generate ideas for topics, begin research, and manage the project once it begins. SNL students at all stages in their Advanced Projects, as well as faculty, are welcome.

The dates and locations are below. RSVP here for an AP forum.

Tuesday, January 31, 6 PM-7:30 PM- Loop Campus Writing Center (Lewis 1600)
Saturday, February 4, 12 PM-1:30 PM - O’Hare Campus

Independent Learning Pursuit Forums

The ILP forums foster discussion, provide information, and offer support to School for New Learning (SNL) students who are completing an Independent Learning Pursuit (ILP). These discussions feature Writing Center tutors, SNL faculty, and a research librarian, all of whom provide focused and individualized feedback to students. This is a great opportunity for SNL students to share tips and receive advice from their peers. All students and faculty are invited.

The dates and locations are below. RSVP here for an ILP forum.

Saturday, January 21 – O’Hare – ILP workshop
Saturday, January 28 – Naperville - ILP workshop

Incomplete Project Bootcamps

Back by popular demand, the UCWbL's "bootcamps" are for SNL writers with an incomplete grade on their transcripts. These bootcamps will help you get back on track, and they include faculty-led sessions to create a supportive academic environment for you to get assistance with your writing and research. The dates are as follows:

Saturday, February 18 – Loop – 9am to 1pm
Monday, February 20 – Loop – 5:30pm to 9:30pm
Saturday, February 25 – Oak Forest – 9am to 1pm
Monday, February 27 – Oak Forest – 5:30pm to 9:30pm

In order to register, send an email to snlsa@depaul.edu with your name, DePaul ID#, and incomplete course title(s) you wish to work on at least three (3) days prior to the session. Bring a flash drive, your copy of the incomplete contract, and all prior assignment preparation materials with you to the session. Please let your faculty mentor know you plan on attending.

Please contact Edward Evins at eevans6@depaul.edu with any questions.

Digication Resources at DePaul

2011-11-30T11:23:00.001-06:00

Are you interested in learning more about portfolios and DePaul’s portfolio software, Digication? Do you want to know more about how you might integrate portfolios in your course? DePaul offers a wide range of resources for learning more and getting started:

• DePaul Teaching Commons offers an overview of Digication and portfolios at DePaul along with instructions on how to get faculty and/or student accounts and getting started with Digication. http://teachingcommons.depaul.edu/Technology/Digication/index.html

• University Center for Writing-based Learning (UCWBL) offers pedagogical and technical guidance for faculty and students using (or planning to use) Digication and portfolio development. They offer one on one as well as in-class workshops about portfolio assignments, multi-modal learning, and using the Digication eportfolio software. Instructors can request a one-on-one consultation or request a presentation about portfolio development here: http://condor.depaul.edu/writing/instructors/index.html

• Faculty Instructional Technology Services (FITS) offers Digication technical guidance for faculty using Digication. Faculty can contact fits to set up an appointment or training: http://fits.depaul.edu/Contacts/Pages/default.aspx

• Media, Production, and Technology offers technical guidance for students using Digication. Students can email their request for assistance to mpt@depaul.edu.

SNL Writing Showcase: Encouraging Excellent Writers

2011-11-29T13:11:00.005-06:00

Did you receive any impressive student papers this quarter?? If so, please encourage your student(s) to submit their paper to the annual SNL Writing Showcase. Each spring, SNL Writing recognizes excellent submissions at the Spring awards luncheon. To view last year's winning entries and to download this year's application, please direct interested students to: http://www.snl.depaul.edu/writing/WritingShowcase.html.

SNL faculty member & author, Pamela Meyer, discusses her latest book Permission

2011-11-23T10:10:00.011-06:00

1. What inspired you to write this book?

I discovered the power of permission during my research on adults’ experiences learning to improvise, and which I wrote about in my last book, From Workplace to Playspace (Jossey-Bass, 2010). Improvisation initially feels very risky for most people and when someone (or several people) help co-create a safe, dynamic space for risk-taking, the chances that real learning and transformation will happen greatly increase. When people feel they have permission via someone else taking a risk and not being ridiculed (or even receiving positive feedback), a wonderful shift starts to happen: people start generating more ideas, being more of themselves and having more fun (which is why we made this the subtitle of the book). This concept extends to all areas of adult life, especially at work, where we often gauge our behavior based on the social cues around us. We may hear people talking about the importance of risk-taking, playing around with ideas and being authentic, but unless people actually see the behavior in action, they may not feel they have actual permission to do so.

The concept of permission and the role of the permission-giver resonated a lot with readers and workshop participants as I traveled the country talking about the book, as well as with, graphic facilitator, Brandy Agerbeck (with whom I have collaborated often over the years). Brandy is very interested in giving people permission to draw and to explore their capacity for visual thinking and communication. After an initial informal conversation to play around with the idea of the book, we decided to meet to brainstorm a long list of permissions we sometimes need to remind ourselves to give, take and get. These include permission to be silly, use our whole bodies, question, take a break and many more.

2. Permission was a collaborative effort with graphic facilitator Brandy Agerbeck. Can you tell us a little bit about the co-creation process?

After brainstorming our initial list of about 35 permissions, Brandy and I met a few times to discuss the dimensions of each permission and help each other think as playfully and expansively as possible about each of them. This served as inspiration for me to begin writing and Brandy to begin playing with various images that reflected and/or evoked each permission. While we each worked to our strengths (me, writing and Brandy, creating the images), we chose to call ourselves co-creators, rather than the more traditional titles of author and illustrator. We felt that separate titles didn’t fully honor how we worked together, which was very collaborative and co-creative. We soon discovered that Amazon does not have the option to list yourself as a “Co-creator”, so you will see us both listed as authors, which doesn’t accurately reflect our collaboration either. We are clearly breaking new ground here.

3. What was your process for writing, revising, and editing this book? For example, did you work with an outline, did you experience writer's block, did you have outside reviewers, how long did it take, how many drafts, any major changes to organization/structure of the ideas/sections?

In terms of our individual processes, I call myself a “turtle” when it comes to writing. I like to write very first thing in the morning, at least five days a week, though often I only write for 30-45 minutes. I gave myself a quota over the summer of drafting three permissions a week. Every Friday I would send the week’s writing to Brandy, who would read the permissions, make notes to provide feedback, and begin working on the images. If I am a turtle, Brandy is more of a rabbit in her work process. She likes to work in bursts, so would often wait until she has 10 or 12 images to start working on and then hole up in her studio to work on her drafts. We would then meet in person go through our drafts, each giving the other feedback and continuing our brainstorming, which would send us back to work on the next iteration individually. Along the way we shared sections with trusted readers for feedback, and also decided to cut a few of the permissions that either seemed a bit redundant, or just didn’t excite us as much as the others.

I can’t say I experienced writer’s block per se, because of my discipline to write every morning. Just like exercising when we don’t feel like it, or going to work when we might rather be doing something else—writing is a discipline. I would sometimes move on to work on another section of the book, if nothing was coming to me thinking about the section in front of me, and I always wrote something each day. We continued this iterative process through to the end of the summer and by early September agreed that we had a solid draft of the book. At this stage we moved into production mode.

4. What made you decide to forgo the traditional publishing route and use self-publishing?

There were two main reasons we chose to self-publish this book 1) Speed to publication and 2) Creative control. My first two books were represented by agents and published by major publishers. These were generally good experiences and certainly useful in building my credibility as an expert in the field of creativity and organizational change. At the same time, with traditional publishing, there are a lot of other stakeholders in the process from the agent, who wants to choose a publisher who offers the biggest advance (not always the best choice for any given book) to the marketing department, who may have the final say on your title and cover design (which might have little to do with the actual contents of the book) and list price. Brandy and I had a very clear vision of what this book would look and feel like, as well as our target audience. We did not want to get caught up in convincing others of the value of our vision, nor did we want to slow the process down. If we had gone with a traditional publisher, we would likely be looking at a publication date of up to a year later than when we were actually able to get the book out. We both wanted to have it out quickly to build on the momentum of the Workplace to Playspace readership and also to have it out in time for holiday gift-giving. By self-publishing via Amazon’s CreateSpace service, we were able to control all of the creative choices, the cover price and the timing.

5. What specific publishing services did you use from Amazon? Would you self-publish again? If so, would you purchase any additional services, or do without any of the services you used this time?

We were lucky to have between us many of the competencies necessary to take the book from conception through to publication. I had a lot of knowledge about the overall production and distribution process and Brandy had the skills and talent to do the full layout with images, design our cover and properly prepare the pdf document for uploading. We did pay for light editorial services to catch typos, unintended word repetition, etc.

We would both definitely consider self-publishing again. If I were not working with someone with a design background, I would consider using their design services, and would definitely use the editorial services. Both were more cost-effective than hiring these separately from outside vendors, and we were happy with the overall quality and efficiency of the process.

6. Do you have any words of advice or tips for aspirant writers?

Writing Advice: Think of writing as a discipline. Don’t wait for inspiration or until you get the perfect writing space, your house is clean, or you get one more credential. Pick a topic and write.

My two cents on publishing: Before you decide whether or not to self-publish or to explore traditional publishing, you need to be able to answer the question: what do I hope to accomplish with this book? If your primary goal is to get something out quickly to a target audience with whom you already have a relationship, self-publishing may be your best option. If you really want the additional credibility and visibility that comes with a mainstream publisher, and are willing to let go of some control and are patient about the time it takes, consider an established traditional publisher.

As you make your decision, pay attention to how the publishing and bookselling industry is changing. More people are shopping for and buying their books online, as opposed to in bookstores than ever before. Many also prefer e-books, which is why we were sure to have our book converted to Kindle. Book buyers are making decisions based on word-of-mouth marketing, price and convenience, more than the name of the publisher. If you have a great marketing plan, strong social media presence and a good reputation in your field, self-publishing may be for you.

Writing “Hotspots” during December Intercession

2011-11-17T14:59:00.002-06:00

Please make your students aware of the below areas and resources available during December Intercession. While the University Center for Writing-based Learning (the Writing Center) is closed during December Intercession, there are still many places for students to go for help, support, and workspace as they continue writing.

1. DePaul Libraries - most of the libraries are open through December 22nd, though some have limited hours on weekends. See the library website for details: http://library.depaul.edu/About/hours.aspx (Tip: Working late in the Loop? Check out the Law Library in the Lewis Center. It is open late, and on weekends).

2. The Adult Student Center - on the 11th floor of the DePaul Center is another resource and “place to go” for adult students, with support staff and group workspaces.

3. DePaul's computer labs are still available - see locations and hours here https://www.is.depaul.edu/computers/labs/locations.asp#loop

4. Available 24/7 are the SNL Writing Guide for students online, and the Writing Center’s really comprehensive online resources for students working on papers.

Portfolios at SNL

2011-11-03T12:40:00.002-05:00

Portfolio practice involves a process of selecting, collecting, and reflecting upon work and accomplishments across one’s learning experience, both inside and outside the classroom. The AACU discusses research about portfolio practice in higher education here: http://www.aacu.org/resources/assessment/portfolio.cfm.

Along with other programs at DePaul, SNL has been piloting DePaul’s ePortfolio development tool, Digication, in several SNL courses such as Academic Writing for Adults, Writing Together/Writing Well, Professional Portfolio Development, and Professional Writing. Students and faculty have both found value in using ePortfolios and Digication at SNL to track their accomplishments, showcase their work and experiences, and reflect upon their learning and demonstration of competence.

Faculty are welcome to obtain Digication accounts and try out Digication with students in their courses. More information about how to do so is here: http://teachingcommons.depaul.edu/Technology/Digication/index.html

To see examples of students’ portfolios at DePaul (including SNL students’ portfolios), visit DePaul’s Digication portfolio site here: http://depaul.digication.com/

For more details about the SNL ePortfolio Pilot, contact Katie Wozniak at kwoznia1@depaul.edu

SNL Writing Showcase Accepting Entries for 2011-2012

2011-11-01T13:50:00.005-05:00

Snlwriting@depaul.edu is currently accepting entries through April 1st for the 2011 –2012 SNL Writing Showcase.

Please encourage any SNL student that received an "A" on a paper or glowing feedback on an Independent Learning Project (ILP) to consider submitting their work to the Writing Showcase. Students may submit up to three pieces of writing. The Showcase allows students to share their accomplishment with others, and also provides inspiration to other SNL students as they work on their writing assignments. Excellent submissions will be recognized at the Spring Awards Luncheon.

To download this year's application and to view entries of previous winners, please visit http://www.snl.depaul.edu/writing/WritingShowcase.html.

Open Access Resources for Writers

2011-10-24T12:26:00.001-05:00

Colorado State University has developed an open-access resource for writers, available by visiting: http://writing.colostate.edu/textbooks/. The texts currently on the site are The Informed Writer: Using Sources in the Disciplines, Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing Volumes I and II, Writing Commons…the Home for Writers, The Process of Research Writing, and Paradigm Writing Assistant. Colorado State intends to expand upon the current posted resources “by providing access to previously published textbooks and by creating a collection of new textbooks.”

Another online writing resource is http://redschoolhouse.org/drupal/#1, in development at the University of Virginia. The site’s library presently offers “lessons on argument, problem framing, and style—all geared towards first-year college students.” Writers have the option to join in the conversation by posting on one of the site’s “public forums for discussion, including a writers’ forum, a teachers’ forum, and individual class blogs.”

Thursday, October 20th is National Day on Writing!

2011-10-19T11:51:00.003-05:00

October 20th has been officially recognized as the National Day on Writing by the US Senate since 2009. How can you celebrate writing on this day?

You could read selections or contribute your own to The National Gallery of Writing, available through the National Council of Teachers of English.

You could tune into the National Writing Project’s radio show titled “Why I Write” by visiting here at 5pm CST.

If you have a twitter account, you could help #whyiwrite become a trending topic by expressing your motivations for writing in 140 characters or less.

DePaul is also hosting writing-focused programming to celebrate the National Day on Writing!

If you are in the Chicago area, you could visit the “Gallery of Writers Display” that will be at the Lincoln Park and Loop Student Centers. Posters representing writers from different DePaul offices and departments will showcase “what writing means to them and what kinds of writing they do.”

As part of the Writing and Rhetoric Across Borders International speaker series, a talk entitled “Belles Lettres to Rhetorical Genre Studies: Writing Studies and Rhetoric in Canada 1900 -2000” will be given by University of Alberta Professor Roger Graves in SAC (2320 N. Kenmore, Chicago) in Room 254 at 6pm.

If you cannot commit to participating in one of the above, simply approach your routine daily writing tasks (be it emailing, blogging, journaling, or even texting) with a mindfulness of the day.

Student Writing Resource: Extended Project Support Tutors Available through UCWbL

2011-10-18T16:23:00.003-05:00

Do you have students looking for writing support on papers longer than 20 pages? Good news! Students seeking writing guidance on an advanced project, independent learning project, or any paper lengthier than 20 pages can apply for a dedicated writing tutor to provide feedback on his or her writing project. The University Center for Writing-based Learning now offers Extended Project Support (EPS) tutors to provide consistent commentary on long-term projects. This support also allows the writer more time each week than normal writing center services permit, up to four hours per week. There are several methods in which the tutors provide feedback to the student, including written feedback by email, via IM/ Webcam, or face to face appointments.

Please direct students here for more information and to apply for an EPS tutor.

New Student Samples Available on the SNL Writing Guide

2011-10-17T16:32:00.003-05:00

If you have students interested in viewing sample "A" papers, SNL Writing has added new student samples for the following assignments:

Undergraduate:

Advanced Elective papers
Advanced Projects
Externship journals
Research Seminar proposals

Graduate:

MAAPS learning plans
MAEA final projects

Some of the papers are annotated with writing tips that highlight "what worked" in the student's paper, including word choice, structure, and proper citations. View them by visiting the SNL Writing Guide: http://www.snl.depaul.edu/writing/SNLAssignments.html.

Upcoming Writing Center Forums for SNL Students

2011-10-03T15:57:00.006-05:00

A reminder that the Independent Learning Pursuit Forum offered through DePaul's University Center for Writing-based Learning (UCWbL) is being given Saturday, October 8th, 12pm to 1:30pm in Room 307 at the O’Hare Campus.

Students may make reservations here.

The UCWbL is also hosting two upcoming Advanced Project Forums:

Saturday, October 15th, from 12:00 to 1:30pm, Room 220 (Naperville)
Monday, October 24th, from 12:00 to 1:30pm, Lewis 1600 (Loop)

Students may make reservations here.

These forums allow SNL Writers to discuss their projects with other students, Writing Tutors, and a research librarian. Because writers at all stages of their projects are welcome, these forums are great opportunities to share tips and get advice about these critical components of the SNL program.

Feel free to contact Writing Group Coordinator, Edward Evins, at eevans56@depaul.edu with any questions.

Writing Fellows Program

2011-09-28T14:10:00.001-05:00

Wondering how you can get more support for student writing in your existing classroom? If you have students write two or more papers, and if you are willing to ask students to create multiple drafts of these papers, consider requesting a Writing Fellow in your Winter or Spring course. SNL faculty who have invited Writing Fellows to accompany their classes have raved about the improvement in students’ thinking and writing:

A description of this opportunity from the University Center for Writing-based learning’s website:

The Writing Fellows Program links undergraduate peer writing tutors with writing-intensive courses across the curriculum -- from physics to journalism, religious studies to computer science.

Like their colleagues in the Writing Center, Writing Fellows are peer tutors specially trained to act as sympathetic readers and advisors, providing informed, constructive criticism to fellow writers. Writing Fellows work with the same set of writers from a particular course for an entire quarter, responding to two of their papers through written comments on drafts and real-time dialogue.

Check out http://fellowsofandragogy.weebly.com/ to view SNL alumna/former UCWbL Writing Fellow Jill Anderson’s website and Advanced Project. Jill offers research about adult students, andragogy, writing assistance, writing fellows, UCWbL, etc. The below is an interview with Jill and SNL Writing Instructor Kathryn Wozniak, also on the SNL Writing Guide website, www.snl.depaul.edu/writing (second from the top right hand corner).

Request a Writing Fellow or learn more: http://condor.depaul.edu/writing/what/Writing%20Fellows/fellows_index.html

Community Creative Writing Resources

2011-09-27T14:19:00.004-05:00

Chicago and the surrounding Chicagoland area offer many writing groups, writing seminars, and writing workshops for those interested in creative writing. DePaul University offers a Masters of Arts in Writing and Publishing, but there are also several programs outside the DePaul Community to help enhance your creative writing skills. Students could use these non-DePaul resources as part of developing an Independent Learning Project on creative writing.

A comprehensive list of Chicago-based writing resources: http://chicagowrites.org/resources.aspx

The Newberry Library: http://www.newberry.org/programs/currentschedule.html#writing

Chicago Dramatists offers playwriting courses: http://www.chicagodramatists.org/playwriting_classes

Story Studio Chicago: http://www.storystudiochicago.com/

Writer's Loft: http://www.thewritersloft.com/

Online Resources/ Courses for Writers

Poets & Writers magazine: http://www.pw.org/
Publishing Search Engine: Duotrope.com
Coffee House for Writers: http://www.coffeehouseforwriters.com/courses.html
UW Madison Online Workshops: http://www.dcs.wisc.edu/lsa/online/

Writing Center services available this fall quarter

2011-09-12T15:29:00.005-05:00

Dear Suburban Faculty Member,

The University Center for Writing-based Learning (UCWbL) would like to remind you to schedule your informational presentations for this term. These presentations are a great way to get your students excited about coming to the Writing Groups, a wing of the UCWbL. The Writing Groups meet each Saturday and offer student-centered workshops that allow students to enter into the discussion of academic writing in a workshop setting facilitated by two tutors from the UCWbL. By discussing their own writing as well as the work of other participants, students develop critical reading, thinking, and analytical skills and the ability to articulate and discuss writing. The presentations will make sure that they are aware of Writing Groups as well as the wide variety of services that we offer online, at our Lincoln Park and Loop offices and outposts, and here at the suburban campuses.

Presentations are about fifteen minutes in length and will include (in smart classrooms) a demonstration of our online scheduling service as well as a quick tour of the resources available to students on our website. An experienced tutor or staff member will deliver the presentation and take any questions from both the students and you. If you’d like, our staff members can also briefly tell you and your students about the other four wings of the UCWbL: the Writing Fellows Program, the Suburban Campus Writing Groups, the Collaborative for Multilingual Writing and Research, and Faculty Development.

If you are unable to schedule an in-class presentation with us, we can still deliver promotional materials such as bookmarks to you. Feel free to email the UCWbL at wcenter@depaul.edu with any inquiries about requesting these items. Presentations begin the second week of classes. For more information visit our website at www.depaul.edu/writing.

To request a presentation for your class, contact Edward Evins at:
writinggroups@depaul.edu.

Suburban campus writing groups begin again September 17

2011-09-12T15:26:00.001-05:00

Suburban Campus Writing Groups are convenient tutoring options for commuters, SNL and suburban campus students, meeting at the Naperville, Oak Forest and O’Hare campuses on Saturdays from 10am-11:30am during each academic term. They are a drop-in tutoring service where students work with Group Leaders and fellow writers in a collaborative setting in which they both receive and provide feedback on written work. Contributing writers will find that all meetings allow them to constructively share their pieces in contexts like one-on-one peer feedback and group workshops, allowing exposure to different audiences and forms of collaboration and group discussion. If you would like more information, check the University Center for Writing-based Learning website at http://condor.depaul.edu/writing/.

Meet New SNL Writing Faculty Member Jane Wagoner!

2011-09-07T13:47:00.003-05:00

Jane Wagoner taught a variety of courses at the City Colleges of Chicago, including ESL, reading, Introduction to Literature, freshman composition, the research paper and developmental English. She has created several hybrid classes and earned a Master’s Online Teaching certificate. In addition, she has begun taking piano lessons and enjoys being a student. Jane loves going to the theater and being a member of the Jane Austen Society. Her BA is from Edgewood College in Madison, WI, and MA from DePaul University.

Rhetorical Analysis Rap

2011-09-06T15:03:00.001-05:00

A rap that reviews terminology used in rhetorical analysis...check it out, yo!

A Taste of Haste: Accelerating the Writing Process

2011-08-15T16:22:00.002-05:00

In the Slate article, “Slowpoke: How to be a faster writer,” Michael Agger explores why some people can more quickly finish writing projects. He relates habits and anecdotes of highly efficient writers, which effectively boils down to “read and write more each day.” Agger offers this practical writing tip, “Try to limit your working hours, write at a set time each day, and try your best not to emotionally flip out or check email every 20 seconds. This is called "engineering" your environment.”

To aid with checking Email/ Facebook/ Twitter/ Wikipedia/ insert your favorite internet distraction “every 20 seconds,” some people prefer to work in surroundings without internet or install software, like Freedom©, that turns off a computer’s network connectivity for a given period of time. However, if you have the discipline to stay only on sites that are relative to your writing, Agger suggests using the internet for research while writing can be helpful. He writes,

“The modern multitasking style of composing next to an open Internet browser is one solution to limiting writing's cognitive burden. There are experimental programs that will analyze what you are writing and attempt to retrieve relevant definitions, facts, and documents from the Web in case you need them. Like many writers, I take a lot of notes before I compose a first draft. The research verifies that taking notes makes writing easier—as long as you don't look at them while you are writing the draft! Doing so causes a writer to jump into reviewing/evaluating mode instead of getting on with the business of getting words on the screen.”

Agger cites research from The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance in which author Ronald Kellogg purports, "Serious writing is at once a thinking task, a language task, and a memory task." Naturally, by sufficiently preparing for each individual part of the writing process, the writer shortens his production time. For instance, Agger relates how much easier (and presumably faster) it is for one to write about what one already knows. He says, “… the writer's brain is juggling three things: the actual text, what you plan to say next, and—most crucially—theories of how your imagined readership will interpret what's being written. A highly skilled writer can simultaneously be a writer, editor, and audience.” This all-in-one approach to writing takes practice, which Agger says can only come from reading more to increase knowledge (what you know) and then writing more, with the critical eye turned inward. And if you really just can’t seem to expedite your writing output, find a paid writing gig – Agger points out that “the promise of money has a way of stimulating writerly ‘flow.’ Amazing!”

Educating in the Digital Age

2011-08-10T10:49:00.004-05:00

The August 7th New York Times Op Ed article, “Education Needs a Digital – Age Upgrade,” by Virginia Heffernan discusses technology learning themes from Cathy Davidson’s book titled Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn. Heffernan supports Davidson’s position that the American educational system needs to make better use of the digital age in which we find ourselves to facilitate learning. She claims educators must meet students where they are, which often includes commenting on online political forums or creating digital videos, rather than perpetuating archetypical classroom assignments,

“What if bad writing is a product of the form of writing required in school — the term paper — and not necessarily intrinsic to a student’s natural writing style or thought
process?” She adds: “What if ‘research paper’ is a category that invites, even
requires, linguistic and syntactic gobbledygook?”…After studying the matter, Ms.
Davidson concluded, “Online blogs directed at peers exhibit fewer typographical
and factual errors, less plagiarism, and generally better, more elegant and
persuasive prose than classroom assignments by the same writers.”

With the above in mind, educators could assign blog posts that resemble a research paper’s framework by asking students to include a thesis statement, scholarly citations, or imposing a length requirement. A blog offers students the opportunity to read and comment on one another’s work, therefore creating an active community of learning in a format familiar to students of today. Wiki projects are another online learning option that encourages information sharing between students. Heffernan writes,

A classroom suited to today’s students should deemphasize solitary piecework. It
should facilitate the kind of collaboration that helps individuals compensate
for their blindnesses…The new classroom should teach the huge array of complex
skills that come under the heading of digital literacy. And it should make
students accountable on the Web, where they should regularly be aiming, from
grade-school on, to contribute to a wide range of wiki projects.

SNL Writing instructors Michelle Navarre Cleary, Peggy St. John, Suzanne Sanders- Betzold, and Polly Hoover explored the option of wiki based learning when they co- taught a writing intensive class through the use of “bliki” (blog + wiki). Students worked together to write a group research paper, and two conduct manuals; “How to Transition to Life After College and a “Good Friend Handbook.” You can read about both the instructor and student experience using the “bliki” by visiting: http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WikiResearch/WikiResearch.

For more ideas on how to incorporate digital media into your courses, check out the book, Encyclopedia of Information Communication Technologies and Adult Education Integration available by visiting http://www.igi-global.com/bookstore/chapter.aspx?titleid=46597.

To read the NYT op ed in its entirety, please visit: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/education-needs-a-digital-age-upgrade/?scp=2&sq=Now%20you%20see%20it%20davidson%20&st=cse.

Fall 2011 SNL Writing Course Offerings

2011-08-02T17:42:00.002-05:00

The following Fall Quarter courses at SNL have a writing and/or literature focus. Encourage your students to register today by visiting campus connect.

Loop Campus Offerings

LL 150 Academic Writing for Adults
McGury-Hease,Carol
L4 13864
HYBRID. Meets on campus: 9/12, 9/26, 10/10, 10/24, 11/7

LL 150 Academic Writing for Adults
Forster, Peter
L4 14054

LL 153 Writing Together – Writing Well: A Community Approach to Academic Writing and Personal Narrative
Wozniak, Kathryn & Hurtig, Janise
A3A 14250
H1X 14251
H2X 14252
L4 14249
LATE START. Begins
9/17. Meets from 9-1p

LL 140 Writing Workshop
Hayes, Nicholas
H3J 14171

AI 276 Creative Ink: The Art of Writing
Sautter, R. Craig
A1C 13986
A2A 13987
A2X 13988
A5 13989

AI 184 Wordplay: Demystifying Poetry
Starrs, John
A1A 14047
A1H 14048
A2X 14049
A5 14050

Naperville Campus Offerings

LL 150 Academic Writing for Adults
Muller, William
L4 13172
LL 140 Writing Workshop
Miritello, Mary
H3J 13185

LL 150 Academic Writing for Adults
Brown, Barbara
L4 12834

LL 140 Writing Workshop
Michicich, Tracy
H3J 12836

FA 247 Thinking and Writing about Work
Muller, William
A1E 12830
A2X 12831
A5 12832
FX 12833

O’Hare Campus Offerings

LL 150 Academic Writing for Adults
Morris, David
L4 13584

LL 140 Writing Workshop
Weidner, Diane
H3J 13716

SNL Online Offerings

LL 150 Academic Writing for Adults
L4 12113
Schmidt, Kathleen

LL 150 Academic Writing for Adults
L4 12117
Gilbert-Levin, Renee

LL 150 Academic Writing for Adults
L4 12115
Hemmerling, Joseph

LL 150 Academic Writing for Adults
L4 16024
Wagoner, Jane
AI 176 Creative Writing
A1C 12260
A2A 12261
A5 12262
Dumbleton, Molia

FA 133 Editing Yourself and Others: A Collaborative Approach to Writing at Work FX 12315
H3D 12314
L7 12313
Greenberg, Michelle

AI 172 Making Poems: An Introduction to Verse
A1C 12375
A2A 12376
A5 12377
Sullivan, Tom

AI 211 Men of Fortune, Women of Cents: Analyzing Pride and Prejudice and the films it has inspired
A1D 16028
A1E 16029
A1X 16030
A5 16031
Kutty, Nina

FA 339 Professional Business Writing
H2X 12719
Schmidt, Kathleen

LL 140 Writing Workshop
H3J 12450
Dow, Tom

LL 140 Writing Workshop
H3J 12448
Fitzpatrick, Kristin

Degree Completion Offerings

DCM 330 Professional Writing
Wozniak, Kathryn
4 – DCM
2 – H3X
2 – FX
DCM 14350
H3X 14351
FX 14352
Meets Online.

Independent Study

IN 270 Writers in 1920’s America
A1A 11282
A1C 11283
H1F 11284
Scheideman, Warren

IN 203 Writing and Editing a Newsletter
FX 11275
Murphy, Douglas

Writing Center Forums on August 6th

2011-08-02T12:13:00.002-05:00

Independent Learning Pursuit Forum: This forum is designed to foster discussion, provide information, and offer support to SNL students who are currently working on or beginning an Independent Learning Pursuit. The discussion-based event features Writing Center Tutors, SNL faculty, and a research librarian, all of whom provide focused and individualized feedback to students. This is a great opportunity for SNL students to share tips and receive advice from their peers. All students and faculty are invited!

Date: August 6 from 12 noon to 2 pm (O'Hare)

Click here to RSVP.

Research-Writing Workshop: Participate in this workshop to get feedback on your research project—whether it be a quarter-long class project, an AP or ILP, or a thesis. UCWbL tutors will also provide valuable tips to help you successfully complete your project.

Date: August 6 from 12 noon to 2 pm (Naperville)

Click here to RSVP.

New Font Aids Dyslexic Readers

2011-08-01T15:58:00.002-05:00

A new font, aptly titled “dyslexie,” has been developed to aid those with dyslexia, a learning disability which affects one’s ability to read by transposing certain letters. The dyslexie typeface helps dyslexic readers by offering greater differentiation between similar looking letters, like b and d, p and q, v and w, h and n, c and e, i and j, and so on. It also bolds punctuation and capital letters to help readers better recognize the end of one sentence and the start of a new one. According to the Project Dyslexie website, www.studiostudio.nl/project-dyslexie/, “Independent research undertaken by the University of Twente proved that the Dyslexia font improves reading results. The study at the University of Twente showed that people with dyslexia made fewer reading errors when they use the dyslexia font compared to using standard font.”

Unfortunately, buying the dyslexie font can be prohibitively expensive for some, as it is currently priced up to $1000. This site offers alternative resources that are either cheaper or free: http://www.dyslexic.com/fonts. The site suggests that using some fonts already used with word- processors can be helpful to dyslexics, including Sassoon, Trebuchet MS, and Comic Sans.

SNL student, Maria Jasso de Razo, featured in Global Voices

2011-07-28T15:49:00.000-05:00

SNL student Maria Jasso de Razo is featured in the first annual issue of Global Voices, the online magazine published by The Collaborative for Multilingual Writing and Research (CMWR) and The University Center for Writing-based Learning (UCWbL). Maria wrote her paper, "How English as a Second Language Affected my Reading and Writing," for SNL writing course, "Writing Together - Writing Well," taught by Steffanie Triller and Janise Hurtig. The essay depicts the hurdles Maria overcame as an ESL student learning to read and write. On her essay being chosen for Global Voices, Maria says, "I never imagined that I could write something that would be published. You don't know how much this means to me. I can't believe it."

Read her essay here: https://depaul.digication.com/global_voices/paper_3

Online Resource for Writers -- Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing

2011-07-18T13:10:00.004-05:00

Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing - "is a book series containing peer-reviewed collections of essays--all composed by teachers for students--with each volume freely available for download under a Creative Commons license. The Writing Spaces' aims to build a library of quality open textbooks for the writing classroom as an alternative to costly textbooks."

One of the featured essays on the site is "How to Read like a Writer" by Mike Bunn. He discusses the difference between reading for content and actively reading for writing choices and techniques made by the author to better your own writing. Bunn writes, "Questioning why the author made certain decisions. Considering what techniques could have made the text better. Deciding how to include the best attributes of what you read in your own writing. This is what Reading like a Writer is all about." To read the whole text, please visit http://writingspaces.org/sites/default/files/bunn--how-to-read.pdf.

Writing Center Offers Forums for SNL Writing Projects

2011-07-06T12:01:00.001-05:00

Independent Learning Pursuit Forums: These Forums are designed to foster discussion, provide information, and offer support to SNL students who are currently working on or beginning an Independent Learning Pursuit. These discussion-based events feature Writing Center Tutors, SNL faculty, and a research librarian, all of whom provide focused and individualized feedback to students. This is a great opportunity for SNL students to share tips and receive advice from their peers. All students and faculty are invited!
Dates:
• July 16 from 12 noon to 2 pm (Naperville)
• August 1 from 4:30-6:30 pm (Loop--Lewis 1600)
• August 6 from 12 noon to 2 pm (O'Hare)

Click here to RSVP.

Advanced Project Forums: AP Forums allow students to discuss their Advanced Projects with other students, UCWbL tutors, SNL faculty, and a librarian. Participants discuss the steps that need to be taken before beginning the Advanced Project, generating ideas for topics, beginning research, and managing the project once it begins. SNL students at all stages in their Advanced Projects and faculty are welcome.
Dates:
• July 9 from 12 noon to 2 pm (O'Hare)
• July 11 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm (Loop--Lewis 1600)

Click here to RSVP.

SNL Writing Forum: This unique Forum at the Oak Forest campus will feature guidance from two UCWbL tutors and a librarian. SNL students of all levels are welcome to come and discuss their ILPs, APs, and class assignments. Date: July 13 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm (Oak Forest).

Click here to RSVP.

Research-Writing Workshops: Participate in this workshop to get feedback on your research project—whether it be a quarter-long class project, an AP or ILP, or a thesis. UCWbL tutors will also provide valuable tips to help you successfully complete your project.
Dates:
• July 23 from 12 noon to 2 pm (O’Hare)
• August 6 from 12 noon to 2 pm (Naperville)

Click here to RSVP.

What’s the difference between editing and proofreading?

2011-06-29T14:41:00.002-05:00

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill features a helpful online handout about the differences between editing and proofreading, available here: http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/proofread.html. Editing and proofreading are two separate steps within the revision process, although some use the terms interchangeably. Editing involves refining the content, overall structure, clarity, style, and citations. This stage involves rewriting and reorganizing your words to better support your thesis statement and argument. Proofreading is the final step of the writing process in which you correct the punctuation, grammar, and spelling of your writing, or the surface errors that are important for presentation. The handout promises that one will save time by taking these steps one at a time, rather than trying to edit and proofread writing all at once. To encourage visitors to begin honing their proofreading skills right away, the handout includes a fun, circular challenge—seven common proofreading errors for readers to detect as they read about editing and proofreading.

Additional Resources about Editing and Proofreading:

Purdue Online Writing Lab
(Proofreading): http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/561/ (printable version of a handout and makes a nice checklist; it’s also available on their website, which offers many other writing resources, here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/561/1/)
(Grammar, Punctuation, etc. Exercises): http://owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/

SNL Writing Guide – Editing Stage of the Writing Process: http://snl.depaul.edu/writing/editing.html

University of Minnesota: http://writing.umn.edu/docs/sws/quicktips/editing_proofreading.pdf

Different Approaches to Student Journal Reflections

2011-06-28T13:17:00.002-05:00

Starting Point, an online teaching resource for undergraduate instructors provided through Carleton College, recommends seven different formats for student journaling as part of the experiential learning process. Those offering service learning courses and/ or the externship competence should consider these unguided and structured journal assignments.

Unguided journal reflections include the “personal journal” and the “dialogue journal.”

- The “personal journal” is one in which the students freely recount their experiences without prompts.
- The “dialogue journal” is the model used in many SNL online courses. Students submit journal entries on a predetermined schedule, and the instructor provides feedback on the students’ findings in return.

Some students find it helpful to have more direction in their journal writing. Examples of guided journal assignments consist of the “highlighted journal,” “the key phrase journal,” “the three part journal,” “the double entry journal,” and the “critical incident journal.”

- The “highlighted journal” asks students to write about their experiences and then later go through the text and mark the pieces that pertain directly to course content.
- In the “Key phrase” journal, students are given course-specific terms and asked to incorporate them into their journal entries.
- The “three-part” journal asks students to divide each entry into three parts: Describing the experience, relating the experience to course content, and then applying the experience to their personal or professional goals.
- In the “double entry journal,” students divide their journal entries into two parts; one page is devoted to personal thoughts and responses to the experiential learning, and the opposite page is devoted to key concepts from class discussions and readings.
- The “critical incident journal” gives students prompts and asks them to evaluate their experiential learning experience through the lens of personal reflection and implications the experience will have for their future.

The full text is available by visiting: http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/service/types_journal.html.

Writing Center Services - Summer Quarter 2011

2011-06-16T14:53:00.002-05:00

The University Center for Writing-based Learning (UCWbL) would like to remind you and your students to utilize the below services during Summer Quarter.

Scheduling Classroom Presentations: Remember to schedule your informational presentations for Summer 2011. Presentations are a great way to get your students excited about utilizing the Writing Center’s services at your campus or online.

To schedule your presentation at the Loop or Lincoln Park campuses, visit http://condor.depaul.edu/writing/instructors/invite.html.

To schedule a presentation at one of the suburban campuses, please email Tom McNamara at tmcnamar@depaul.edu.

Presentations are about fifteen minutes in length and will include a demonstration of our online scheduling service as well as a quick tour of the resources available to students on our website. A writing center consultant who works at your campus will deliver the presentation and take any questions from both the students and you. Furthermore, the consultant can also lead a discussion about how the Writing Center can aid your students as they tackle work specifically for your course.

Suburban Campus Writing Groups: Please note that the Suburban Campus Writing Groups begin Saturday, June 18 at the Naperville and O’Hare campuses at 10 am, a valuable resource for students who live in the suburbs. Oak Forest SCWGs will begin on Saturday, June 25th at 10 am. Meeting on Saturdays throughout the term, these groups allow students to work on their writing in an atmosphere that promotes the sort of collaborative and active learning valued by SNL. Most importantly, the groups allow students to practice reading and responding to the texts of others, allowing them to develop critical reading skills that they can utilize when assessing their own texts. Also, our Lincoln Park and Loop Writing Centers are open for services, and students are welcome to schedule one-on-one appointments and submit essays for Feedback-by-Email by visiting http://condor.depaul.edu/writing/appointments/fbe.html.

Writing Groups: Students who are unable to utilize the Saturday morning Suburban Campus Writing Groups are welcome to form their own Writing Groups that meet on the Suburban Campuses at a time of their choice. Students may form a Writing Group with classmates or friends working on similar projects, and this is an excellent option for those working on long-term projects as a means to help them stay on track with their work. Those wishing to form Writing Groups may do so by visiting http://condor.depaul.edu/writing/what/SCWG/writing_groups.html.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to email Tom McNamara at (tmcnamar@depaul.edu) or visit the Writing Center's website (depaul.edu/writing). Please encourage your students to use these services!

Strategies for Instructors to Aid English Language Learners in the Classroom

2011-06-14T12:46:00.004-05:00

Global Voices contributor Nicholas Hayes suggests strategies for instructors to aid English Language Learners in his annotated bibliography, "Student Linguistic Identity in Freshman Composition Classes: Sources for Instructor Reference."

Read his annotated bibliography by visiting: https://depaul.digication.com/global_voices/Student_Linguistic_Identity_in_Freshman_Compositio/published

Values and Goals of the SNL Writing Program

2011-06-07T14:31:00.001-05:00

Like the School for New Learning, the SNL Writing Program embraces the values of life-long, reflective, student-centered, integrated and experience-based learning. The goals of the Writing Program follow from these values.

The life-long and reflective values focus on providing writing support to students during their time at SNL and preparing them to be self-reflective writers who will continue to improve beyond SNL. To best serve students and faculty, SNL Writing upholds the commitment to continuously renew our pedagogy by learning from others and reflecting upon our own practice.

Maintaining a student- centered writing program is achieved by meeting students where they are and helping them attain the goals they have set for themselves at SNL. This is also achieved through assigning writing projects that are shaped by students’ interests, teaching students to assess and address their own writing needs, and privileging writing instruction that is learner-centric.

The SNL Writing program is integrated into the overall SNL curriculum by delivering writing instruction that helps students succeed in the unique context of SNL, while also building their skills for success in their writing efforts outside of and after SNL. Writing is integrated into the teaching of all competences in ways that enhance learning.

Experience-based learning is accomplished by promoting writing as a means of reflecting upon, making meaning of, and communicating experience. The SNL Writing program values students’ various literacies, while helping students know how and when to move between these literacies. Experience based writing also teaches students how to use writing to describe, reflect upon, analyze, and situate their experience in academic discourse when necessary.

The SNL Writing Program values and goals are available online as part of the SNL Writing Guide.

Mom Knows Best: First Lady Communicates Importance of Reading and Writing to Daughters and British Students

2011-06-06T12:58:00.005-05:00

On May 25th, Rebecca Kaplan of National Journal published a story on Michelle Obama’s recent visit with students from the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School for Girls. In the article, Mrs. Obama shares with the students the same advice she gives her daughters to “help them achieve their goals”:

Read, write, read, read. If the president were here--one of his greatest strengths is reading. That's one of the reasons why he's a good communicator, why he's such a good writer. He's a voracious reader. So we're trying to get our girls, no matter what, to just be--to love reading and to challenge themselves with what they read, and not just read the gossip books but to push themselves beyond and do things that maybe they wouldn't do. So I would encourage you all to read, read, read. Just keep reading. And writing is another skill. It's practice. It's practice. The more you write, the better you get. Drafts--our kids are learning the first draft means nothing. You're going to do seven, 10 drafts. That's writing, it's not failure, it's not the teacher not liking you because it's all marked up in red. When you get to be a good writer, you mark your own stuff in red, and you rewrite, and you rewrite, and you rewrite. That's what writing is.

According to Mrs. Obama, applying the adage of ‘practice makes perfect’ to one’s writing and reading is the path to success. After all, this is the path Barak Obama followed all the way to the White House. It also helped him earn recognition as one the best orators of our time.

Her words also bring to mind another tried and true axiom, ‘writing is rewriting.’ Revisions are a necessary part of the writing process, and Mrs. Obama intimates that one need not wait for a second pair of eyes to make improvements. When self-editing drafts, some suggest that reading the paper backwards or returning to it after a couple of days helps one to gain fresh insight. Careful re-writes of a paper or project can be the difference between an ordinary piece of work and a work that really captivates the reader.

Now would be the perfect time to ask yourself what books should go on your summer reading list… and then add a few more! If there is room for one more maxim on this page, it is that ‘mom knows best.’ Following the parental advice of Michelle Obama to write, rewrite, read, and read some more can only lead to more engaged, knowledgeable, and skilled citizens of the world.

Complete article available here.

*Special thanks to visiting faculty member, Jill Joachim, for finding and sharing this National Journal article.

SNL Writing Faculty member, Kristin Fitzpatrick, publishes two short stories and wins award

2011-06-03T12:44:00.002-05:00

My short story, "The Lost Bureau," will be published in Epiphany Magazine. The story is about a female police officer who carries her dead husband's unregistered gun during her first week on patrol. One of my former Academic Writing For Adults students is a police officer and he agreed to an interview in order to help me with my research for the story. Another story of mine, "Queen City Playhouse," was awarded the 2011 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize from the North Carolina Writers Network. The story is about a group of actors trying to stage a production of The Tempest before the owner of their theatre dies. By winning first place in the contest, I received $1000 and a one-year membership to their network. There is an article about the contest at this link: http://www.ncwriters.org/news/809-kristin-fitzpatrick-wins-thomas-wolfe-fiction-prize

New Lifelong Learning Cohort Beginning Fall 2011

2011-06-02T10:28:00.004-05:00

If you have students or advisees that have not yet taken Foundations and are looking to graduate quickly with ongoing support from his or her Faculty Mentor, suggest registering for Pat Ryan’s Foundations of Adult Learning in Fall 2011. This course is the first in a series of cohort classes that will be team-taught in sequential quarters by Pat with writing faculty, Steffanie Triller. The students in this cohort, beginning with Foundations, will also take Academic Writing for Adults (L4) and Critical Thinking (L5) with the same cohort (8 Cr. Hrs) in Winter 2012. This course will be an 8-credit hybrid, and will include a significant online component. In Spring students will take Research Seminar (L8, L9: 6 Cr. Hrs.) The courses will take place in the Loop on Tuesdays. Finally, students will be offered the choice of taking an Advanced Elective course (E1, E2: 4 Cr. Hrs.) with Pat or Steffanie in the following school year.

Each successive course will build on skills and lessons learned during the previous cohort class. Both instructors and students will work together on a formative learning experience. Instructors will also support students in the writing of two Independent Learning Pursuits (ILPs).

Students interested in this opportunity should register for Foundations of Adult Learning (L2, L3, F1: 6 Cr. Hrs.) taught by Pat Ryan at the Loop in Fall 2011.

Getting to Know SNL Writing Staff: An Interview with Kaitlin Fitzsimons

2011-06-01T18:12:00.011-05:00

Tell us about your educational and work experiences before SNL

I graduated from Providence College with a Dual B.A. degree in English and Theatre, and a minor in Music. Some of my peers jokingly referred to my selected areas of study as “the trifecta of impracticality,” but I was confident that a liberal arts education would yield a career path that was suited to my interests. Throughout college, I worked a myriad of jobs including camp counselor, administrative assistant, resident assistant, cashier, and skate guard at an outdoor recreational ice rink. My first post-graduate job was fundraising and selling tickets for a regional Chicago theatre. While I never expected to be in a sales position, this job certainly taught me to be more assertive in order to close a sale, and also afforded me the opportunity to enjoy free live theatre. My position at SNL has allowed me to combine my passion for learning and people, and for that I am very thankful.

What attracted you to DePaul and SNL?

I am a huge advocate of higher education and lifelong learning. My time in college was so rewarding, and I believe everyone should have the opportunity to learn, write, debate, philosophize, engage in meaningful conversations, experience different cultures, interpret classic texts and works of art, and contribute to the newest research and technology available to us today. Through its focus on experiential learning and independent learning projects, the School for New Learning reaffirms that learning opportunities are all around us, every day. SNL’s extensive online course offerings classes further support the notion that not only does learning extend outside the classroom, but also across state lines. I love that my job supports the learning process, even in a small way.

What is your role with the SNL Writing Program?

I offer administrative support for the SNL Writing program by managing the snlwriting@depaul.edu email account. I am the first responder to all student and faculty correspondence regarding SNL Writing events, the SNL Writing Showcase, and writing placement essays. I also contribute to the two writing blogs, SNL Writing News and Writing at SNL. My other responsibilities for the Writing program include marketing and planning SNL writing events, compiling and analyzing writing placement data, and creating a writing resource packet for new SNL students which is distributed at SNL events.

What keeps you busy outside of work?

Since I am not currently participating in any theatrical endeavors, I make it a point to see as much live theatre as my free time and budget allow. Additionally, I love going to concerts and enjoy reading, writing, running, watching movies, baking, and participating in my faith community. As this will be my first summer living in Chicago, I’m very excited to play on a summer softball league, take advantage of the many festivals and beaches here, and just explore the city!

2010 - 2011 SNL Writing Showcase Winners Announced

2011-05-19T12:33:00.009-05:00

SNL Writing is pleased to announce the winners of the 2010- 2011 SNL Writing Showcase:

Jeffrey C. Barg, "A Happier New Year from Poston" and
"Do Squirrels Matter?"

Nathan Fey, "Mary Magdalene and the Markan Appendix"

Stephen A. Hall, "Cultural Competence in the Writing Center: Partnering with Students of Color in Writing through Understanding"

Jeffery A. Kidd, "A Terminal Day"

Margaret D. Sabatino, "Alternatives for handling stormwater runoff from disconnected downspouts in urban cold climate areas."

These students will be recognized with a plaque and public congratulations at the Spring Awards Luncheon to be held on June 4th, 2011.

The SNL Writing Showcase is an annual competition which celebrates the outstanding writing students do for their classes and Independent Learning Projects. Please direct any interested students to the SNL Writing website to download an application for the 2011-2012 showcase or to snlwriting@depaul.edu for more information.

UCWbL offers SNL Writing Forums - including ILP and AP!

2011-05-09T15:00:00.004-05:00

The University Center for Writing-based Learning invites all SNL students to participate in its upcoming workshops and forums! Students can RSVP for these events through the "Writing at SNL" blog found here: snl.depaul.edu/writing. Contact Tom McNamara at tmcnamar@depaul.edu or 312.362.6726 with any questions.

Writing for the Job: Bring Your Resume and Cover Letter to Life
Looking to break into the business world? Join our workshop to learn how to make targeted, effective resumes and cover letters to get that job you want. Bring a current letter or start from scratch with the help of our tutors.
Naperville Campus—Saturday, May 14th at 12 noon in Rm. 228
Oak Forest Campus—Saturday, May 14th at 12 noon
O’Hare Campus—Saturday, May 21st at 12 noon in Rm. 307

Advanced Project Forum
Discuss your Advanced Project with Writing Center Tutors, SNL faculty, and a librarian. Share tips and get advice from others who have been there!
Loop Campus—Tuesday, May 17 from 4-6 pm in Lewis 1600 (Loop Writing Center)

Independent Learning Pursuit Forum
Join other SNL students, Writing Center Tutors, SNL faculty, and a librarian to discuss your project! Share tips and get advice from others who have been there!
Loop Campus—Wednesday, May 25th from 4-6 pm in Lewis 1600 (Loop Writing Center)

Are students selecting reliable resources...or just junk?

2011-05-09T14:46:00.004-05:00

This one of many questions teachers and researchers speaking at the Conference on College Composition and Communication 2011 asked themselves when sifting through over 164 student research papers from institutions in 12 states. They found that students often don't thoroughly analyze, summarize, or selectively include information from sources that are both reliable and relevant to the topic at hand.

InsideHigherEd reports, "about 90 percent of one page in a student's research paper was either a direct quote or patchwriting -- and 9 of its 17 citations referred to the same page of the same source: a single entry on WebMD. While the paper was an extreme and atypical example, it also demonstrated a common trend: students tended to rely heavily on their sources -- so heavily, in fact, that students rarely seem to fully own the material and marshal it to form a novel argument."

Click here to read more.

Interview with SNL Student and UCWbL Fellow, Jill Anderson

2011-05-09T14:38:00.002-05:00

Jill Anderson, a soon-to-be graduate of SNL and UCWbL Writing Fellow, has put forth tremendous effort in bringing SNL students to the UCWbL and bringing UCWbL fellows to SNL classrooms. She also created a website dedicated to her Advanced Project theme: andragogy, writing, and writing fellows. Take a moment to check out an interview with Jill on the SNL Writing Guide as well as Jill's website:

Interview with Jill Anderson: http://www.snl.depaul.edu/writing/ (video in top right corner)

Jill's website, "Fellows of Andragogy": http://fellowsofandragogy.weebly.com

SNL Evening of Writing a Success!

2011-05-03T09:55:00.001-05:00

On Thursday, April 14, SNL students, faculty, and staff came together to share in the first SNL Evening of Writing.

SNL student Joyce McMurray said, "Attending the SNL evening of writing was truly a motivation to put me back on track with focusing on improving my writing skills, and to continue my journey of adult learning with the SNL Program. Kudos!"

If you were unable to attend this spring's Evening of Writing, do not worry. The SNL Writing Program will continue to hold evenings of writing in future quarters. Stay tuned!

Reminder: SNL Evening of Writing this Thursday, April 14

2011-04-12T14:59:00.003-05:00

Please remind students about SNL's inaugural "Evening of Writing"! The SNL Writing Program is devoting the 15th Floor of SNL's Loop Office to "all things writing-related" on Thursday, April 14th. All students, faculty, and staff are invited to dedicate some time to put pen to paper (or bring your laptop). Don't forget your preferred writing muses! Snacks will be provided.

What: SNL Evening of Writing
When: Thursday, April 14th, 2011 4:30-7:00pm
Where: 14 E. Jackson, 15th Floor (Rooms 1501, 1508, 1515)
Who: All SNL Students, Faculty, and Staff
Why: Sometimes you just need to sit down and write!
Cost: FREE

SNL instructor and alum publishes her first novel

2011-04-12T14:53:00.008-05:00

SNL alum and writing faculty member Rita Leganski recently announced that her novel, The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow, has just been accepted by Harper Collins. Publication date is forthcoming.

The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow weaves a tale of heartbreaking loss, perceived guilt, and atonement gone terribly wrong. And then there comes a healing, brought about by a silent and gifted little boy who shares his name with a mystic-turned-saint. Set against the background of New Orleans and the fictional town of Bayou Cymbaline from the 1920s to the 1950s, the story is rich with the character of a culture that is full to overflowing with conjured charms and sanctified spirits.

Thoughts on the L4 Competence: Academic Writing for Adults

2011-03-15T12:56:00.004-05:00

by Joan Travers

Recently, we asked SNL student Joan Travers to share some thoughts about her choice to take the Academic Writing for Adults course over the L4 Proficiency Exam. Her reflection follows:

One of the things SNL stresses to students in introductory classes is the writing intensive nature of the program. Not only do all the classes rely on writing as the primary form of expression and evaluation but so do the experiential ILP’s. This can be exceedingly intimidating to an adult returning to school, especially if that student hasn’t spent time writing in several years.

As a returning student myself, I found this to be incredibly daunting. At one of my first meetings at SNL, I was told that my writing skills were sufficient enough to take the L4 proficiency exam. And while I liked the price and the limited time commitment of the exam, I opted to enroll in Academic Writing for Adults. If such a high premium was placed on writing then I figured I could use the practice. Even if my skills were believed to be up to par, at least I would understand for myself the expectations actually needed for success in a class designed to concentrate solely on writing and the writing process.

Since I had a limited background in writing, having taken a few creative writing classes in the past, I was not completely comfortable with all my writing skills. I lacked the ability to write research papers and how to cite properly. Through taking this writing class, I was able to learn and practice some of these skills. I also grew confident in my abilities to express my ideas at a level necessary for SNL. And I learned techniques to help me overcome some of my apprehension I’ve always had about writing, like procrastination and proofreading.

As an assignment for the class, I tried my hand at writing my first ILP. I turned to my creative writing background and used some of the new skills and techniques I learned in the course to write a paper about my interaction with physical science and the environment during a skydiving experience I had. I started by writing about my experience as if telling the story or events, and then applied some technical research to explain the events. I used this as an opportunity to develop my research and citing skills, using the feedback I received from working with my writing teacher. The end product was not only an ILP I could submit for an additional class credit, but also an example that I have the ability and know-how to complete a satisfactory ILP.

So while this writing course took longer than a proficiency exam and cost a bit more, the benefits were invaluable. I learned new writing skills and got constructive writing practice, but ultimately I gained the confidence to be a competent student at SNL. This course helped me to write better, but also to manage my time better and to understand and respect the process of learning.

Click here to read Joan's skydiving ILP. Her essay, "My Skydiving Mishaps: A Quick Lesson in Physics," won a Writing Showcase award in 2010. She plans to graduate in 2011 with a Focus Area of Wilderness Education.

Deadline for Writing Showcase Entries is April 1, 2011

2011-03-09T15:20:00.004-06:00

Please ask your students to submit their best written work to the SNL Writing Showcase by April 1, 2011. Students can see previous winners and download the 2010-2011 application here:
http://www.snl.depaul.edu/writing/WritingShowcase.html

How Effective are Plagiarism Detection Services?

2011-03-08T08:40:00.003-06:00

According to Debora Weber-Wulff at the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, plagiarism detection software is not making the cut. She recently tested 26 plagiarism detection services, finding that the most effective services detected only 70% of plagiarism.

The top 5 systems were deemed "partially useful" and received a grade of C-:

1: PlagAware
2: Turnitin
3: Ephorus
4: PlagScan
5: Urkund

At the bottom of the list were the following "useless systems for education":

22: PlagiarismSearch
23: PlagiarismChecker
24: Grammarly
25: PercentDupe
26: ArticleChecker

The University of Applied Sciences in Berlin makes the following recommendation: "The focus should be on teaching students about plagiarism and how to avoid it instead of investing time in using software."

The test overview and summary can be found in English here:
http://plagiat.htw-berlin.de/software-en/2010-2/

Debora also writes a blog dedicated to plagiarism:
http://copy-shake-paste.blogspot.com/

Writing instructor Tom Dow co-authors new writing textbook

2011-02-21T14:57:00.004-06:00

Tom Dow, an SNL writing instructor, recently co-authored a writing textbook for students titled, Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing.

A brief description of the textbook from the authors:
"This book on writing comes from four community college teachers with different backgrounds and training (with contributions from students, as well) in a collection of voices that speaks directly to students and writers. It drops the pretense of traditional textbooks and talks honestly with students in a way that has them reading and responding in some surprising ways."

Congratulations to Tom and the co-authors.

Resource for SNL Students Interested in ILPs or Independent Studies

2011-02-21T14:47:00.006-06:00

Students interested in doing an ILP or an independent study might find some of MIT's Open Courseware (OCW) resources helpful. Their OCW Scholar courses are designed for students who have limited access to additional resources. Videos and simulations accompany many of the courses.

More information can be found here:
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/ocw-scholar/?utm_source=Featured-Course_1-12-11

Study finds that writing about worries before an exam results in better performance

2011-02-15T11:37:00.004-06:00

A recent University of Chicago study found that students who write for 10 minutes before a test decrease the brainpower they are using to be anxious and thus increase the brainpower they are using on the test material. Students in the study who wrote about the anxiety they were experiencing before an exam scored significantly higher on a sample exam than students who did not write about their anxiety.

"Writing about your worries for 10 minutes before an upcoming exam leveled the playing field such that those students who usually get most anxious during exams were able to overcome their fears and perform up to their potential," according to primary investigator and University of Chicago professor of psychology Sian Beilock.

Beilock found that students performed better on the test when they wrote specifically about the test anxiety itself. Beilock suggests that these findings are useful for particularly anxious students who should consider writing for 10 minutes about their anxiety before a class in whcih they must write an exam. Even if instructors do not invite students to write about their anxiety before an in class exam they might consider suggesting that particularly anxious writers spend ten minutes writing about their anxiety before beginning an essay, homework assignment, or test.

The full article can be found here:

Writing about worries eases anxiety and improves test performance

Students can combat test anxiety and improve performance by writing about their worries immediately before the exam begins, according to a University of Chicago study published Friday in the journal Science.

Academic Writing Resources for SNL Students

2011-01-10T16:00:00.003-06:00

As the winter quarter gets into full gear, feel free to share these writing-related resources with SNL students:

SNL's Writing Guide: http://snl.depaul.edu/writing/index.html

DePaul University Writing Center's Resources for Writers: http://condor.depaul.edu/writing/writers/writers_index.html

DePaul University Writing Center Blog: http://depaulucwbl.wordpress.com/

Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL): http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

Diana Hacker's A Writer's Reference Website: http://www.dianahacker.com/writersref/

Click here for even more resources on the SNL Writing Guide's "Writing Help" page.

Writing Center Presentations, Suburban Campus Writing Groups, and Fishbowls

2011-01-04T19:01:00.003-06:00

The Center for Writing-based Learning would like to remind you to schedule your informational presentations for Winter 2011. Presentations are a great way to get your students excited about utilizing the Writing Center’s services at your campus or online.

To schedule your presentation at the Loop or Lincoln Park campuses, visit http://condor.depaul.edu/writing/instructors/invite.html.

To schedule a presentation at one of the suburban campuses, please email Tom McNamara at tmcnamar@depaul.edu.

Presentations are about fifteen minutes in length and will include a demonstration of our online scheduling service as well as a quick tour of the resources available to students on our website. A writing center consultant who works at your campus will deliver the presentation and take any questions from both the students and you. Furthermore, the consultant can also lead a discussion about how the Writing Center can aid your students as they tackle work specifically for your course.

Please note that the Suburban Campus Writing Groups begin Saturday, Jan. 15th at the Naperville, Oak Forest, and O’Hare campuses at 10 am, a valuable resource for students who live in the suburbs. Meeting on Saturdays throughout the term, these groups allow students to work on their writing in an atmosphere that promotes the sort of collaborative and active learning valued by SNL. Most importantly, the groups allow students to practice reading and responding to the texts of others, allowing them to develop critical reading skills that they can utilize when assessing their own texts. Also, our Lincoln Park and Loop Writing Centers open on January 10, and students are welcome to schedule one-on-one and online appointments.

Finally, please consider scheduling a Fishbowl Workshop for your class. Fishbowl Workshops allow instructors to invite representatives from the Writing Center to his or her class to model effective peer response for in-class writing workshops. During a Fishbowl Workshop, tutors engage students in providing effective response and can even help facilitate peer review sessions. To schedule your Fishbowl, visit http://condor.depaul.edu/writing/what/SCWG/fishbowl.html.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to email Tom McNamara (tmcnamar@depaul.edu) or consult the Writing Group page on the Writing Center website (depaul.edu/writing). Please encourage your students to use their services!

A Writer's Reference - New Edition of Writing Handbook for Students

2011-01-04T18:10:00.006-06:00

For many years, the required text for SNL's Academic Writing for Adults course has been Diana Hacker's A Writer's Reference. After taking the course, many students have said that they will never sell this book back to the bookstore...a few students have admitted that they keep it on top of their desk at work! A wealth of information and examples related to thesis statements, organization, citation styles, formatting, grammar, and mechanics makes this textbook useful for students at any level, in any course, not just students taking their first (or second, or third) college writing course.

The publisher, Bedford/St. Martin, has just released the seventh edition of A Writer's Reference with a new co-author, Nancy Sommers. This edition has new sections on how to interpret written feedback from instructors and how to prepare a portfolio. If you're interested in checking it out, feel free to pick up a copy from Katie Wozniak or order a free desk copy from the publisher here.

Stealing some Reflection practices from Service Learning

2010-12-07T12:44:00.002-06:00

Whether or not you are engaged in service learning as a college instructor, you probably are engaged in reflection. Many of us use Portfolios in our courses, and one of the great benefits of having students complete Portfolios is the metacognitive work that they do in gathering and comprehending the work they have done in our classes.

As we continue to move toward the use of Portfolios/ePortfolios at SNL it might be useful to borrow some reflection practices that are also put to use in the realm of service learning. Below, I borrow from a PowerPoint presentation designed by Jeffrey Howard, Assistant Director for Faculty Development at DePaul's Steans Center for Community-based Service Learning.

Reflection is a deep, intentional process of examining, analyzing, and interpreting experience so as to learn from it. However, "reflection" often holds pejorative implications for students and teachers. Students have sometimes been known to "shut down" when asked to "reflect" again. So, as instructors we must show them how to reflect. Sometimes, this means not using the r-word.

Jeffrey Howard has a wonderful word for what we attempt to learn through reflection, and that word is "wonderment." Good reflection leads to students who wonder. Reflection is a learning strategy that grows out of our learning objectives and learning assessment methods. Reflection is more than just "for reflection's sake."

To get to this state of "wonderment" Jeffrey Howard suggests these three components of reflection:

Stimulus (e.g., journal question, photograph, quote, case study, poem, article, structured classroom activity, service learning activity, students' written work)
Vehicle (journal, interview, paper, whole class or small group discussion, student presentations, portfolio)
Feedback

While these may seem obvious to us, it can serve as a good reminder to be purposeful about reflection with students. The quality of the stimulus, vehicle, and feedback often lead directly to the amount of learning that a student gleans from the reflection process, and from the course.

In A Practitioner's Guide to Reflection in Service-Learning: Student Voices and Reflections, (1996) Janet Eyler, Dwight Giles, and Angela Schmiede suggest five Principles of Good Reflection Practice, which I have amended from Service Learning to general instruction.

It must be continuous. So often we only build reflection into our courses at the end. However, as the SNL writing faculty discussed regarding Portfolios in our October meeting, the best kind is both formative and summative. The best reflection happens before, during, and after the activities of a course.
It must be connected. How are your assignments (reflection or otherwise) connected to the competencies offered in your course?
It must be challenging. Rather than a no-brainer, reflection should encourage critical thinking and analysis that produces new understanding/perspectives and raises new questions.
It must be contextualized. Consider who is doing the reflecting. How much work have they already done in the course? What level are students at as writers?
It must be coached. This happens through modeling, assignment design, and feedback.

If you are designing or revising a reflection essay for a Portfolio, consider whether your reflection practice in the course follows these five principles. If not, consider building intermittent reflection into your students' writing practice. See a great example of Katie Wozniak's 'Meta-note' on the SNL Writing Wiki under Workshops > October 17, 2009: Catching up; Discussion of Research; Meta-Notes; Having Students Self-Assess; Feedback > MetaNote_Wozniak.pdf.

Early New Year's Resolutions

2010-11-21T08:03:00.000-06:00

Between now and the start of the winter quarter I plan to sit down and list three things that I can do in my next class to encourage and support students who need writing help. I want to encourage and support them to get that help from the pros in an SNL course, workshop or through the Writing Center. I do this now, regularly. Yet there must be more I can do, or ways I can do it better.

Too often it seems students are flummoxed when they receive feedback about their writing (perhaps mine is the first they have received?) If I can identify three things and practice them consistently, then perhaps more students will take the step to become better communicators and thus better lifelong learners. After all, that's the goal...

Now Accepting Student Submissions for the SNL Writing Showcase

2010-11-05T16:17:00.001-05:00

Please ask your students to consider submitting their best written work for the SNL Writing Showcase. The awards won't be given out until April 2011, but submissions are welcome all year. Students can see previous winners and download the 2010-2011 application here:
http://www.snl.depaul.edu/writing/WritingShowcase.html

Anxiety and Stress Management Workshop for Students, Nov. 4, Loop Campus

2010-10-26T19:21:00.005-05:00

Students looking for a better way to handle their stress and anxiety are welcome to attend the "Anxiety and Stress Management" workshop at DePaul. The Commerce Undergraduate Program Office (CUPO) and the Actively Choosing Education (ACE) workshop coordinators are offering this free workshop to students. Details are below:

Anxiety and Stress Management Workshop
(DePaul Center, Suite 8500)
Thurs, November 4 4:30-5:30 PM
We will learn practical ways to manage test anxiety before, during, and after an exam. This is a great workshop to learn how to manage your stress as we approach finals!

Offered throughout the year, other workshops have focused on time management, planning for writing assignments, and study skills. Please contact CUPO at ACEworkshops@depaul.edu or 312/362-5358 for more information.

MSU researcher studies student writing behaviors

2010-10-22T11:30:00.004-05:00

A study of first-year college students at seven post-secondary institutions across the U.S. shows that these students most frequently write text messages and email. No surprise, right? However, many of the results of Jeff Grabill's 2010 study are surprising: how much students value certain types of writing, what they write for personal fulfillment, and whether digital genres are as popular with this population as most believe them to be. Grabill states in his online white paper, "These findings [...] shed light on the writing practices and values of contemporary college students. In particular, these findings point to the pervasiveness of writing in the lives of our participants and the importance of hand-held devices like mobile phones as a writing platform." Grabill and his study group also point out differences across institution types including Associate's Universities, Master's Universities, and Research Universities.

Grabill's study does not seem to include the writing behaviors of adult and non-traditional first-year students. More data is needed on adult and non-traditional students, especially with regard to writing genres, use of digital media, and variance across institutions and geographical locations. Would we find that adult students have similar behaviors as the traditional first-year students?

For more on Grabill's study, see http://wide.msu.edu/special/writinglives/.

National Day on Writing is Wed., Oct. 20 - Check out SNL's Contribution at DePaul Student Center

2010-10-19T10:26:00.003-05:00

In celebration of the National Day on Writing, the "Gallery of Writers" display will be in DePaul's Lincoln Park and Loop Student Centers from 11-5 on Wednesday, October 20. Several of SNL's faculty, staff, and students will be represented on a group poster, so please check it out!

The University Center for Writing-based Learning will also have a table set up for people to come make their own posters to add to this collection; anyone who contributes to this display will receive a free t-shirt that says, "I Write with Pride". All those who contributed to SNL's poster are welcome to stop by the tables or either Writing Center office to pick up their t-shirts, too.

Your support and participation are greatly appreciated. The UCWbL is excited to showcase the many writers in the SNL program!

Why do SNL writers participate in the Suburban Campus Writing Groups?

2010-10-11T13:10:00.001-05:00

The Suburban Campus Writing Groups continue on Saturday, Oct. 9 from 10-11:30 am and will meet at the Oak Forest, O'Hare, and Naperville campuses on all Saturdays until Nov. 13. Visit http://condor.depaul.edu/~writing/new_css/what/SCWG/scwg.html for more information.

Why should students come? Read on to find out why students are participating:

"The writing group held at the Oak Forest campus is very valuable for these reasons:

1. The distance is great!
2. The time on Saturday is great.
3. The group is small, giving me the attention needed.
4. I got to know a Writing Center consultant who I can submit my papers to during the week for Feedback by Email!
5. The Group Leader is relaxed, very helpful, and knowledgeable, making me feel comfortable with what I need to learn."

"The Suburban Campus Writing Groups have been a very positive learning experience. Not having any background with academic writing, I found myself second guessing my material and not knowing how to critique it. The staff was great with their assistance, but it was the interaction with other students that provided the best return on time invested. While I have used this workshop to review class materials, I have also used the resources for a sounding board for blog materials, ILPs and my resume. I would suggest that everyone take advantage of these sessions to make your writing better. You will see improvement and gain confidence very quickly after a few sessions."

"I actually have received more than I expected from the Suburban Campus Writing Groups. The SCWGs helped me opened my mind to think outside the perimeters of a box. The SCWGs gave me a chance to talk when no one may want to listen, expand outside the box, and converse through writing without boring someone. The Groups help me to dig deep into the recesses of my mind and actually 'VENT' or 'UNLOAD'."

“This was a perfectly timed and very positive experience for me. When I say that Morgan 'saved my life,' I am exaggerating only slightly. I had been carving away at the block marble and trying to find the 'angel' within it before he led me to the answer. Following that meeting, my instructor recognized the improvement between successive drafts, and my submitted final earned a good deal of praise from her.”

“Tom and Morgan were knowledgeable, polite, enthusiastic, and they appeared to really enjoy what they were doing. Their engagement with each of us created a comfort zone. I felt and saw in other participants a willingness to share ideas and to address specific writing challenges. I enjoyed the immediate and warm connection between all of us and felt that newcomers immediately became part of the group. I saw courtesy, respect, patience and encouragement. I saw (and felt no lack of my own) excitement when ‘something clicked.’ I just wanted to run right home and get to work, rather than avoid the assignment as happened when I lacked focus.“

Advanced Project Workshops will take place this weekend

2010-10-04T22:27:00.002-05:00

The Writing Center will be offering Advanced Project workshops this Saturday, October 9th, on all Suburban Campuses. As part of the workshop, students will develop a plan to complete the Advanced Project, review proper citation style, and explore various research methodologies. Students will also have the opportunity to view and discuss previous Advanced Projects.

AP workshops will take place after the regularly scheduled Suburban Campus Writing Groups. Please contact Tom McNamara to RSVP.

Schedule Your Writing Center Presentation

2010-09-20T10:33:00.002-05:00

A message from the Writing Center's SNL Coordinator. Please make note of the new ILP and AP workshops being offered this fall on the Suburban Campuses.

Dear SNL Faculty,

My name is Tom McNamara, and I am the coordinator of the Writing Center's Suburban Campus Writing Groups and SNL outreach. I'd like to let you know about some of our new initiatives and encourage you to request a presentation for your class so that students can find out more information about our services. During these presentations, an experienced Writing Center tutor can visit your class to discuss our services with your students. These 10 to 15 minute presentations are meant to provide information about Writing Center services and are not instructional workshops. Please contact me or visit our website (depaul.edu/writing) to schedule an appointment.

As usual, your students are welcome to participate in Writing Groups at the Suburban Campuses, which give SNL students who study in the suburbs an opportunity to consult with experienced writing tutors about their work. These groups also allow students to participate in conversation about the writing of others, giving them opportunities to give response to other students and thus improve their reading skills. Those who participate regularly in the Groups report that engagement in such conversation about writing has, in turn, helped them write more effectively. Of course, students are also encouraged to schedule Face-to-Face, webcam or instant message appointments, or submit essays for Feedback-by-Email. Information about all of our services can be found at depaul.edu/writing.

Additionally, the Writing Center will begin offering ILP and Advanced Project workshops during the Autumn term. These workshops will allow students working on these projects the opportunity to consider strategies that will help them successfully complete these tasks. During the Autumn Quarter, the ILP workshop will take place on Sept. 25 on the Suburban Campuses, and the Advanced Project will be held on Oct. 9, also at the Suburban Campuses.

You might also consider contacting Matthew Pearson, our Coordinator for Faculty Services, about the Writing Fellows program. Writing fellows assist students in your class by making thoughtful and extensive revision-oriented comments upon drafts of assigned papers. They then confer one-on-one for a substantial amount of time with each student in effort to help students make smart, significant revisions to their papers before they are turned in for a final grade. Matthew's email is mpearso4@depaul.edu.

Finally, you might consider inviting a writing tutor to your class to coordinate a Fishbowl Workshop. During a Fishbowl Workshop, one of our tutors will visit your class and facilitate a Peer Review Group in front of your whole class, sharing with them strategies for providing effective response to other writers. You may contact me to schedule a Fishbowl Workshop for your class.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the Writing Center during the term. I'll be most happy to talk with you about how we can serve your students.

All the best,

Tom

Study shows students often need explicit writing instruction for ILPs

2010-08-31T20:06:00.000-05:00

SNL’s Independent Learning Pursuits (ILPs) are our way of doing prior learning assessment (PLA). In "Composing Knowledge: Writing, Rhetoric, and Reflection in Prior Learning Assessment," Cathy Leaker and Heather Ostman use their experience working with students on PLA submissions at Empire State College to argue that students need direct writing instruction to craft successful submissions:

. . . many of our students have a good deal of ‘subject matter knowledge,’ but they needed explicit direction in the particular conventions used to articulate such knowledge within “academia” . . . Similarly, the students could talk broadly about their knowledge, but they had little practice with the specific rhetorical strategies that might make that knowledge visible within a particularly challenging context of academic assessment. And finally, many students floundered in their efforts to articulate their learning within a loose genre that seemingly had no distinct features or explicit requirements beyond the expectation that it should represent learning and not experience. However, these problems suggested less a skill deficit that must be remedied than a misdirected pedagogy that could be redirected. We discovered that through explicit attention to writing process . . . and through the meta-learning afforded by guided reflection, our students not only crafted their prior learning portfolios with greater confidence and success, but also began to think more deeply about the role of writing as a less than neutral tool for asserting knowledge claims. (696-697)

Leaker and Ostman developed a course for students at Empire State to help students write their PLA submissions. At SNL, students have the option of working on ILPs as part of the Academic Writing for Adults and Writing Workshop courses. In addition, the Writing Center is planning to offer workshops on ILPs for SNL students each quarter. These two-hour workshops will take place in conjunction with one of the regular Saturday Suburban Campus Writing Groups on the Oak Forest, Naperville, and O'Hare campuses this fall. Plans are also in the works for Loop and Online ILP workshops. A workshop schedule will be sent to instructors after the start of the quarter.

Work Cited

Leaker, Cathy, and Heather Ostman. "Composing Knowledge: Writing, Rhetoric, and Reflection in Prior Learning Assessment." College Composition and Communication 61.4 (2010): 691-717. Print.

Whom to ask

2010-08-20T09:50:00.002-05:00

Please contact Katie, KWOZNIA1@depaul.edu, for all issues pertaining to

-- the Academic Writing for Adults (L4) course
-- writing issues related to placement and admissions
-- suburban campus writing support
-- the writing blogs, wikis and website

Please contact Steffanie, STRILLER@depaul,edu, for all issues pertaining to

-- the Writing Workshop course
-- the DePaul Writing Center
-- service/community-based learning in writing classes
-- the staffing and scheduling of academic writing classes

"Plagiarism lines blur"

2010-08-02T12:32:00.001-05:00

Kevin Buckely shared this article on how students, including one at DePaul, often do not think they need to cite information they gather from online sources, particularly when these sources do not have obvious authors. See http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02cheat.html

New Interview on the Writing Guide for SNL students

2010-07-27T09:52:00.000-05:00

SNL graduate Joy Boggs talks about making the transition from writing in the business world to writing for school and now to writing as a graduate student in DePaul's Women's and Gender Studies Program. See Conversations with SNL Writers (http://snl.depaul.edu/writing/index.html).

Synopsis of Computers and Writing Conference 2010 By Katie Wozniak

2010-07-23T17:01:00.000-05:00

In May, I attended the annual Computers and Writing Conference at Purdue University. Scholars in the rhetoric and composition field have become very cognizant of the role that technology plays in the writing classroom and the way that it shapes both student and faculty perceptions of writing situations. The Computers and Writing conference supports the development and continuation of study in these areas. Presentations at this year’s conference covered topics ranging from social networking to gaming, digital scholarship to multimedia composition, and new media to research methods. Major authors in the Computers and Writing field include Cheryl Ball, Kathleen Blake Yancey, Patricia Sullivan, David Blakesly, and Cynthia Selfe.

My conference presentation, titled “Hacking the Writing Classroom: A Floor Plan that Merges Virtual and Face-to-Face Learning Environments,” was a response to a presentation by Walls, Schopieray, and DeVoss at last year’s Computers and Writing Conference. In essence, I proposed a restructure of the physical and virtual writing classroom with special attention to the functions of collaboration, access, and a/synchronicity. Moving from the linear, industrial age setup of the classroom, I suggested a spider web structure as an heuristic for thinking about learning, technology, and writing. This spider web heuristic might be applied not only to the floor plan or layout of the classroom, but also to furniture, technology, and communication within the classroom.

In addition, I attended several presentations that focused on writing technologies and learning environments, as these are my research interests. Here are a few synopses of select presentations:

One presenter described her experience with Aspergers autism, the stereotypes surrounding autism, and the limits and enhancements she has experienced in the writing classroom (both face-to-face and online). She noted that autism has been regarded (incorrectly) as a completely debilitating disease, especially when it comes to communication; however, many students with Aspergers autism have found that they are able to communicate better with “normal” students through writing rather than speaking in class, especially when an ongoing discussion is available on an internet forum.
Several presentations focused solely on the latest (and greatest) writing technologies for brainstorming, annotating, and collaboration. These included applications such as Dabbleboard, diigo, box.net, WriteBoard, SubEthaEdit, Google Portfolios, and Google Docs.
Since more and more students are using multimedia both as resources and modes for writing, concern has grown with how to properly document and cite them. One presenter offered the following video, titled “How to Cite a Cereal Box in MLA Format”: http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-cite-cereal-box-mla-format-331096/ This video isn’t just about how to cite a cereal box, however. It presents an interesting way of looking at citation styles as “guides” rather than “rules,” helping students to critically analyze the reasons why we cite in the first place and how they can problem-solve when they can’t find the “right rule,” especially for multimedia sources.
I can’t rave enough about the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives, sponsored by over thirteen colleges and universities. It is a repository of wonderful stories about reading, writing, and learning from people across the world, documented forever on the web. You can contribute your own literacy narrative, too! http://daln.osu.edu/

Have You Scheduled Your Writing Center Presentation?

2010-06-22T21:24:00.000-05:00

Dear Faculty Member:

The Center for Writing-based Learning would like to remind you to schedule your informational presentations for Summer Quarter 2010 at the Loop and Suburban Campuses. Presentations are a great way to get your students excited about utilizing the Writing Center’s services at your campus.

Presentations are about fifteen minutes in length and will include a demonstration of our online scheduling service as well as a quick tour of the resources available to students on our website. A writing center consultant who works at your campus will deliver the presentation and take any questions from both the students and you. Furthermore, the consultant can also lead a discussion about how the Writing Center can aid your students as they tackle work specifically for your course.

Finally, please note that Writing Groups begin this Saturday—June 26—at the Naperville, Oak Forest, and O’Hare campuses at 10 am, an invaluable resource for students who live in the suburbs. Meeting on Saturdays throughout the term, these groups allow students to work on their writing in an atmosphere that promotes the sort of collaborative and active learning valued by SNL. Most importantly, the groups allow students to practice reading and responding to the texts of others, allowing them to develop critical reading skills that they can utilize when assessing their own texts. Also, our Lincoln Park and Loop Writing Centers are open, and students are welcome to schedule one-on-one and online appointments.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to email me (tmcnamar@depaul.edu) or consult the Writing Group page on the Writing Center website (depaul.edu/writing). Please encourage your students to use our services!

Thank you for your continued support,

Tom McNamara

Lecturer, Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse

Writing Groups Coordinator, UCWbL

802 W. Belden

Chicago, IL 60614

Writing Workshop is for all SNL students – from talented writers about to graduate to struggling writers just starting at SNL

2010-06-16T11:49:00.037-05:00

Rita Leganski

Writing Workshop isn’t always about remediation. In my spring 2010 class, I had a student who was completing her degree with Creative Writing as a Focus area, and who wished to concentrate on her advanced project, a series of short stories. She was a talented writer, but had not taken any formal writing courses. She had completed two stories prior to the start of the quarter, which we used as her writing samples, and I centered my instruction on various literary techniques. Class instruction consisted of discussion of readings and exercises in the following texts: The Elements of Style (Strunk & White); Sin and Syntax (Constance Hale); and, What If? (Bernays and Painter).

We workshopped those first two pieces in terms of point of view, connotation, abstract vs. concrete, structure, and style. She then made several revisions and applied what she’d learned in the writing of two new stories. Of particular note was her application of ethos and pathos as well as employment of a motif that joined all of the stories together.

This student’s workshopping efforts culminated in the production of four different short stories that showed how the lives of the various protagonists had been affected by the same event. Collectively, the stories comprised an opus titled "Olam Ha-Ba: A Story in Four Voices," for which she won an Award for Excellence and was selected to speak at Naperville’s Scholars’ Night.

I had another student who was at the beginning of her academic career. She had not decided on a Focus area yet, but felt it would be some facet of business. Prior to Writing Workshop, she had taken Critical Thinking and we used her final paper from that class to practice revising. It was clear that she was quite accomplished at critical thinking, transition, proving a thesis statement, organization, and correct grammar; however, it was also clear that she showed an inclination toward clutter, as seen in sentences that were sometimes 40+ words long and so heavy that they lacked meaning.

Classroom instruction included using the prompt: “What am I trying to say?” and discussing the Hacker online exercises, various handouts regarding clutter, and a careful examination of an example of one of E.B. White’s revision process. Concision became our goal. We concentrated on identifying redundancy and metadiscourse, and by the end of the course, she was producing clear, concise, coherent sentences. The following examples show how she revised the same paragraph from draft 1 to draft 3. Draft 1 includes a 43-word sentence.

Draft 1:

"This essay ties to our course segment on morality. It intends to send the reader into thought about recognizing these tragic events of human rights should they occur in the future under different cuircumstances, and have an understanding of the challenges that exist which may tempt us to turn a blind eye. We will never know if there could have been any intervention that would have been successful is [sic] saving the majority of the six-million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. And we don t know for sure if we can prevent a like event in the future. But we can commit to being more observant in general, and acknowledge some retrospective learnings, as well as potential missed opportunities of the past..."

Draft 2:

"This essay ties to our course segment on morality. Individually and within society as a whole, we should have learned enough to recognize and intervene if another Holocaust were to occur. By reviweing the past and noting the direction of our future, we can hopefully understand the challenges that may tempt us to turn a blind eye."

Draft 3:

"We should have learned enough not only to recognize but to inervene if another Holocaust were to occur. By reviewing the past and noting the direction of our future, we can identify the challenges that may tempt us to turn a blind eye."

It is of particular note that she applied the listing and freewriting techniques to refining her choice of a Focus area, and has gone from Communications to Telecommunications in the process.

Information about Service Learning from Steffanie Triller

2010-06-14T19:57:00.002-05:00

In May, writing instructor Steffanie Triller attended the Community College National Center for Community Engagement’s annual national conference: Formulas for Success in Service Learning and Civic Engagement. Steffanie attended the conference as a recipient of a Community-based learning grant from the School for New Learning. She emerged from the desert (the conference was held in Scottsdale, AZ) with some tips for developing service learning (SL) courses:

· Making SL Reciprocal using the “Non-Zero Sum” principle. The main idea of this principle is that working for reciprocity in a SL experience results in a non-zero sum. When a sum is non-zero, everyone benefits from the experience. “Ideal” community-based service learning experiences benefit all stakeholders involved. Some tips for developing reciprocity in your SL courses include:

o “Think like a second grader” (no boundaries!) in the planning process of a course; this allows you to explore more possibilities when you develop your course

o Involve all stakeholders in all conversations; (stakeholders=anyone who will benefit from this work. Think big.)

o Request a needs-assessment from all stakeholders;

o Record deliverables to institutionalize service learning; (Broward College puts podcasts on the web where students/community partners record reflections on successful experiences.)

o Plan on partnering with a community-based organization for at least three years to maximize meaningful service;

o Connect service learning experiences to the learning outcomes of your course;

o Develop protocols for SL in your classroom.

· Suggested Protocols for SL. In one session, participants brainstormed and the facilitator shared successful protocols for SL courses. I think they’re pretty good, so I’ll share a few:

o Service should be meaningful.

o Reflection time should be provided.

o Curriculum and duration of project should be clearly established and disseminated to the students and the community partner.

o All involved have the right to a voice.

o Diversity and pluralism should be equally valued. (Diversity values difference; plurality retains it as we work together).

o Partnerships must be reciprocal.

o Education is really co-education, facilitated by the teacher and the community-based learning site.

o Developing a SL class is an integrated process.

· Creating a SL Writing Experience.

o SL instructors should ask themselves three questions before developing a class:

§ Who do we want to help?

§ What is their goal?

§ What do they need to do?

o Once we decide what we want to accomplish, we need to connect with coordinators in community organizations and schools who are prepared to run a sustainable service experience.

o Start small with the right people.

o Do not do grammar instruction. The goal is to give students a voice.

o Have an outcome. In this case it was writing with intercultural growth and transformation.

o This advice went into the award-winning “Chandler Writes” program in Chandler, AZ. College students entered high school and grade school classrooms for four sessions. In the first session they tutored students; in two subsequent sessions they wrote together as equals with students. In a final session, the college students presented the grade/high school students’ work.

o This is a beautiful model of literacy for any writing instructor wanting to incorporate SL into the classroom.

o This model is based on the methodology and work of Thomas Deans, who has written two excellent texts: Writing Partnerships and Because We Live Here.

Research by the American Association of Community Colleges has shown that SL participation is a predictor of increased student learning outcomes. The more students do, the more they can learn. If you are interested in developing a community-based service learning course, Steffanie is more than happy to talk with you. 312-362-7631 or striller@depaul.edu.

SNL Writing Instructor Kathryn Wozniak to start PhD program

2010-05-26T21:16:00.001-05:00

After being accepted at each of the three PhD programs to which she applied, Kathryn Wozniak has decided to pursue her doctorate at DePaul in Computer Science.

Yes, you read correctly, a writing teacher getting a PhD in Computer Science.

Kathryn plans to study Human-Computer Interaction and Instructional Technology. She says, "My goal is to research the types of technology that enhance face-to-face and virtual writing situations in pedagogical and non-pedagogical environments. I am interested in joining scholars and researchers in understanding and creating tools that effectively accomplish face-to-face writing tasks in virtual settings."

2009-2010 Writing Showcase

2010-05-10T17:33:00.000-05:00

The SNL Writing Program congratulates the following authors on having their excellent work chosen for the 2009-2010 Writing Showcase:

Mark Fung, "Analyzation and Application of the Creative Writing Process"

David Graham, "Polly's Dilemma"

Monique Maher, "Birth"

Robert Martin, "Identifying and Addressing Deficiencies in United States Healthcare"

Leonard T. Musielak, "'Google-ing' China: An Ethical Analysis of Google's Censorship Activities in the People's Republic"

Edward Pinkowski, "Warsaw, Chicago, and Greek Tragedies"

Amy Tesch, "Creativity Can Lead to Better Health . . . Care Reform"

Joan Travers, "My Skydiving Mishaps: A Quick Lesson in Physics"

You can read many of these pieces of writing on the Writing Showcase webpage (http://snl.depaul.edu/writing/WritingShowcase.html).

Information on Responding to Student Writing from Laura Baltuska

2010-05-05T22:27:00.001-05:00

SNL Writing Instructor Laura Baltuska recently attended the Chicago Composition Symposium on new strategies for assessing and responding to student writing. Here she sums up what she learned from Nancy Sommers of Harvard University on responding to student writing.

______________________

Responding to Student Writing: Workshop, Nancy Sommers

Sommers began the session by exploring questions she poses for her students at the beginning of each semester:

What was your best writing experience?
What was your worst writing experience?
How did instructor comments on drafts affect this?
What comments do you remember the most?
What is the purpose of instructor comments?

Key points about comments:

All comments on student drafts should be written to the student as opposed to the paper, and the best comments will push students to improve for next time (push for revision) (ex. Maybe next time, take a risk…To open a paper, try to ask a question or focus on a detail to grab your reader…Ask a question you don’t have an answer to (This is important because college writing is all about asking questions you don’t have answers to.), etc.).

There are lots of things you want to teach, but it’s important to really think about whether the comments you’re leaving on student drafts really teach these skills.

For each comment you write on a draft, think of specific lessons you can teach a student (maybe 2). Think about why and how these comments would teach these lessons.

The language you use in the comments you make should reflect what you’ve talked about in class. The same goes for the language used in all of your assignment prompts.

Give time to let your comments set in and for the students to work on revision. Use classroom time for revision, and have students come up with specific goals for revision that they’ve talked about with you so they are focused and know what to work on for improvement.

After revisions, Sommers also stresses that students come up with “Dear reader” letters (cover letters) for their audience (you, peers, etc.). It’s good to ask students to put in the letter for their rough draft, “If you had two more days to work on this paper, what would you work on?” Doing so lets you know if the student is able to assess his or her own writing skills and gives you a way to enter into the paper.

Speak to your students about comments in general:

Here’s why I write comments…. Include this manifesto in your syllabus.
Here’s what I’d like you to do with my comments.
Ask students about your comments at midterm. They should give you feedback on your feedback so you can improve.
Comments should be treated as a text in the class. You spend time writing them, so students should examine them as a text.
Ask students what they do with your comments, and clarify what they are supposed to do with your comments. Comments establish a dialogue with students, and they are to engage with your comments to enter into this dialogue.

Clarify that your comments are just as important as their writing, and that your comments are an invitation for students to ask questions about them. Comments are part of a dialogue, not a monologue.

Consider adapting a response pattern to student papers in the form of a comment sheet, written as a letter: Last time I asked you to do this…Moving forward…. For the next time you write…. For the next assignment…. Make your comments personal to the student.

Comments of this sort are good as a rough draft approach. Your comments may differ for a final draft.

You can also have students talk back to you about your comments answering the following: What do you understand about these comments and what will you do with them? They can write you back a letter, too, which should amount to a ½ page to 1 full page revision plan for the paper before it’s submitted the next time.

In terms of responding to grammar, focus on the big picture issues in first drafts (not surface errors) and perhaps grammar related to content issues in later drafts (ex. Comma splice before quotes).

Most teachers tend to comment on grammar because it’s easier, but it’s best to choose perhaps 2 rhetorical lessons that are harder to come up with and make you think before you address grammar issues.

What you want to do is avoid becoming the student’s copy editor, “fixing” the paper for him or her.

If you see any “trends” in grammar issues, take time to go over these in class and note, “After I teach it, you should do it right.”

At midterm, you should take the time to ask students what they want you to comment more on, and they should respond in their “Dear reader” letters. If they respond that they want more grammar help, then do mini grammar boot camp sessions in class.

When writing comments, focus first on claim/thesis, then maybe transitions, then incorporating source material, then grammar.

Keep your comments brief.

Reading a 6-10 page paper should take you about 10 minutes.

We have lots of things we need to teach, and individual instruction in comments and conferencing forces you to prioritize. Use each student’s priorities to take out the most helpful things he or she should focus on, and then that student will always refer back to what you’ve talked about.

We have a short attention span and so do they, so keep comments brief and specific.

DePaul's School for New Learning Helps Students Parlay Their Writing Talents into Careers by Deborah Snow Humiston

2010-04-27T21:20:00.000-05:00

A writing-intensive curriculum is helping a growing number of graduates from DePaul University’s School for New Learning (SNL) strengthen their writing skills and even parlay them into careers as writers, playwrights and authors.

And while SNL has long been committed to writing across the curriculum, in recent years it has strengthened its focus by establishing a writing program and hiring full-time writing instructors to further help students and faculty members.

Tailored for adult learners, SNL incorporates writing in all its courses, not just writing-focused ones, a practice known as “writing across the curriculum,” said Michelle Navarre Cleary, SNL writing coordinator and an assistant professor.

“SNL is by its very nature extremely writing-intensive, and that helps students hone their writing skills,” Navarre Cleary said. “It really pushes them to experiment with different writing forms and processes.

SNL graduate Mark Wolverton (B.A. ’01) agreed. “SNL provided me with invaluable educational and professional opportunities that allowed me to build upon a rather unconventional and varied background and develop my talents and skills to forge a brand-new career path,” he said. Wolverton has written three books; scripts produced for radio, film and television; and had his plays presented in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere. His latest book is “A Life in Twilight: The Final Years of J. Robert Oppenheimer” (St. Martin’s Press, 2008). He also writes for national magazines, including Air & Space Smithsonian, American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Scientific American, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science and Sky & Telescope. “SNL is the perfect place to find yourself and realize your full potential both personally and professionally,” Wolverton said.

Other notable SNL graduates with writing careers include:

● Mark A. Bryan (B.A. ’86), an internationally recognized expert in creativity and innovation and author of five best-selling books. He is best known for his self-help books, including “The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity,” which he co-authored with Julia Cameron. “It was my admission to Northwestern and eventually to Harvard that made me realize just how well SNL prepares its students,” Bryan said. “They managed to teach me enough to get into a first-tier graduate school despite my struggle when I started.”

● Penny Pollack (B.A. ’07), dining editor at Chicago Magazine, who co-authored with Jeff Ruby the book “Everybody Loves Pizza: The Deep Dish on America’s Favorite Food” (Emmis Books, 2005). “My mentors at SNL helped me hone my critical thinking skills. They gave me a new way to think about what I was learning and how to view things through different lenses,” Pollack said.

● Robert Knight (M.A. ’96), whose latest book, “Journalistic Writing: Building the Skills, Honing the Craft” (Marion Street Press), debuted April 27 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Knight was a professional writer before coming to SNL, but said, “SNL forever broadened the palette that I work from. It taught me to think more clearly and deeply than I ever have about philosophy, leadership and a world view.” He added, “I feel that I gained an extra layer of humanity – and humility. The more I get of one, the more I seem to need of the other.” Knight has worked as a writer and/or editor at United Press International and Chicago’s famed City News Bureau. He has written freelance articles for more than 40 publications and news services, including Christian Science Monitor, Reuters and The Washington Post. He is also author of “The Craft of Clarity” (Iowa State Press, 1998).

● Marion S. Orem (B.A. ’81), a digital storyteller and author of “Women Who RV and Their Kindred Spirits” (Authentic Voices Productions LLC, 2007). “Almost 30 years later, my DePaul degree still serves as the foundation for an ongoing Web-based portfolio of writing.”

● Leslie Fox (M.A. ’93), who self-published a book on Bowens Family Theory, a theory of human behavior applied to leadership and change management, based on her SNL graduate work. “In DePaul’s writing-intensive program, I was encouraged to present my ideas to the wider business community by publishing articles and papers, which challenged me to sharpen my written communication skills,” said Fox, CEO of Care Communications Inc., a national health information management consulting firm. “Eventually, that experience led me to publish a book on leadership.” Fox is the author of numerous articles, papers and publications, including “The Art of Change Management to Lead Successful Projects.” Currently, she is co-author of the “Hands-On Help” column that appears monthly in ADVANCE for Health Information Professionals.

Navarre Cleary came to SNL in 2005 with the task of significantly strengthening support for both students and faculty in the improvement of student writing. Under her leadership, SNL has created a writing program, hired two new full-time writing instructors in fall 2009, offers an individualized writing workshop, provides help with a website and offers additional writing support at DePaul’s Loop and suburban campuses.

“SNL is light-years ahead of other schools that have been working on writing across the curriculum and writing in the disciplines initiatives and trying to get students to do more writing in more classes besides just the writing classes,” she said. “It’s clear through research that students develop as really strong writers by writing in all kinds of different situations, learning how to move from one context to another and continuously working on their writing.

“Many of our students came to SNL because they know when they leave here they’ll be strong writers,” Navarre Cleary said. “They don’t necessarily come in as strong writers, but they know they need writing skills for whatever it is they want to do. They want to be immersed in an environment in which they’re going to be writing all the time. They want to be pushed.”

Students for Spring Writing Groups Starting Saturday 4/10

2010-04-06T16:23:00.001-05:00

Dear SNL Faculty:

As the spring term commences, I hope that you’ll aid the Writing Center in its outreach to SNL students. Last winter, the Writing Center began offering Suburban Campus Writing Groups (SCWGs) at the Naperville, Oak Forest, and O’Hare campuses. These groups allow students to, with the aid of Writing Center consultants, work on their writing in an atmosphere that promotes the sort of collaborative and active learning valued by SNL. Participants have received the program enthusiastically, returning each semester and suggesting the groups to their friends. Most importantly, the groups allow students to practice reading and responding to the texts of others, allowing them to develop critical reading skills that they can utilize when assessing their own texts—often making their own writing more effective.

Can you help the Writing Center ensure the success of the groups on the Oak Forest, Naperville, O’Hare, and Loop campuses? If you know anyone who would benefit from participation, please send their names and, if possible, their emails to tmcnamar@depaul.edu. Also, please encourage your current students to attend. Writers of all levels are welcome, and, in fact, the program thrives on the diversity of its participants.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to email me (tmcnamar@depaul.edu) or consult the Writing Group page on the Writing Center website (depaul.edu/writing).

Thank you for your continued support!

Tom McNamara

Reading some great papers?

2010-03-24T08:35:00.001-05:00

April first is the deadline for 2009-2010 Writing Showcase submissions. As you do your final grading, do not forget to suggest that students submit their A papers to the Writing Showcase. Students can find submission information at http://snl.depaul.edu/writing/WritingShowcase.html

New Writing Center Outpost in Loop Adult Student Center

2010-03-13T21:29:00.002-06:00

New Outpost Location!

The UCWbL is pleased to announce that the Writing Center will have a new Outpost location in the Loop campus beginning Tuesday, March 2. Like our Lincoln Park Outpost in Richardson Library, the Loop Outpost will serve writers on a walk-in basis only. The new Outpost is located in the Adult Student Center, room 11017 of the DePaul Center. It is open to all students and will operate on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m.

Nominate students to be Writing Center Tutors by 4/9

2010-03-13T21:20:00.001-06:00

Please nominate your strong writers to be Writing Center tutors. To nominate students, please see http://condor.depaul.edu/~writing/html/about/employment.html.

SNL student tutors are invaluable not only for their work with fellow SNL students, who are often more comfortable working with an adult tutor, but also for their ability to educate other tutors about SNL and adult students.

This is a particularly excellent opportunity for students interested in education or graduate work in English.

As part of their training, tutors take a tutor training course which has been pre-approved for the L6 and H2X competencies.

Nominations are due by noon on Friday, April 9, 2010.

"I love being a collaborative writing tutor at the DePaul Writing Centers. I am getting hands-on experience for a future career in teaching. It's educational and interesting to work with the students from cultures across the globe - truly, this is an experience in globalization on many levels. I am motivated to improve my writing skills in order to be a better tutor; and, the Writing Center is full of people who love nothing better than to chat about writing and tutoring - what better way to improve your own writing skills." -- SNL student and Writing Center Tutor

If you have questions, please contact Michelle (mnavarr9@depaul.edu).

Writing Groups Coming to the Loop in Spring!

2010-02-28T16:11:00.000-06:00

When I took my Loop Foundations class to the Writing Center last month, they learned about the tutor-led writing groups being held at the suburban campuses on Saturdays. I encouraged my students to use these writing groups not only to get useful feedback on their writing but also to work on ILPs and eventually their advanced projects. To the amusement of the tutors in the Writing Center, I compared the writing groups to Weight Watchers or exercise groups as a way for students to hold themselves accountable for getting something done on a regular schedule.

My students had one question -- "Why aren't their writing groups at the Loop campus?"

I'm happy to say that starting this spring they will be. Announcements with more details will be forthcoming on the Writing Guide for SNL students website (http://snl.depaul.edu/writing/index.html). Students can also contact the writing group coordinator, Tom McNamara at tmcnamar@depaul.edu

John Hattie and Helen Timperley’s “The Power of Feedback”

2010-02-28T15:58:00.001-06:00

Last fall SNL hosted some folks from All Hallows College in Ireland who are putting together a program for adult learners at their school. One of our visitors recommended John Hattie and Helen Timperley’s article “The Power of Feedback.” In this review article, Hattie and Timperley show that "Feedback is among the most critical influences on student learning" (102), but they also show that not all feedback is equally valuable. While most of the research on which they base their conclusions comes from studies with younger students, my research with adult students at SNL suggests that their conclusions often apply to our students. Therefore, I’d like to share some of their conclusions with you.

Hattie and Timperley argue that feedback should help answer three overlapping questions: Where am I going? (goals), How am I going? (performance as measured against goals), and What next? (future goals). Most usefully, Hattie and Timperley distinguish between four types of feedback: feedback on task (FT), feedback on process (FP), feedback on self regulation (FR), and feedback on self (FS). The first three are for progressively more sophisticated learners. They are designed to help students move from the correct performance of a specific task to being self directed, internally motivated, critical learners with high self-efficacy. Feedback on self they see as almost entirely useless and sometimes counterproductive.

They claim that feedback is more effective when it tells students what they have done well and how they have improved than when it tells students what they did wrong (85). However, they also assert that disconfirming feedback is very powerful: "Feedback has its greatest effect when a learner expects a response to be correct and it turns out to be wrong" (95).

They nuance the question of when to offer positive or negative feedback by looking at the types of feedback. For example, they argue that positive feedback on self works best when accompanied by feedback on task, but that negative FS is generally more useful than positive FS because it can challenge self perceptions (although they note that people have lots of ways to discount negative feedback about themselves) (98). Feedback on task is best given immediately, while feedback on process works better when there is a delay, giving students time to process what they have done (98).

For feedback on self-regulation, a student’s commitment to goals and self-efficacy effect determine whether positive or negative feedback is most useful. If a student has high goal commitment (something they want to do), then positive feedback is best. If a student as low goal commitment (something they have to do), then negative feedback is more effective (99). They argue that negative feedback can prompt students to respond to a challenge, be dissatisfied with their previous work and raise goals, but that positive feedback can increase persistence and engagement (99). For students with high self-efficacy, positive and negative FR both help (99). For student with low self-efficacy, positive FR can have positive (motivating) or negative (afraid to mess up) effects, while negative FR seems to be only negative (prompting avoidance) (99).

While people like feedback because it is "psychologically reassuring," that does not mean it is always useful (95). Feedback that is "off topic" -- that is not focused on helping students attain their goal -- is not useful. They use as an example of this feedback on writing: "Too often, the feedback given is unrelated to achieving success on critical dimensions of the goal. For example, students are given feedback on presentation, spelling, and quantity in writing when the criteria for success require, say 'creating mood in a story'" (89). Feedback on writing also tends to focus on the paper (the task). However, feedback on process (such as how to go about finding sources or proofreading) will frequently provide bigger gains. Feedback on task can be used to support feedback on process or self-regulation (90-91), such as "I noticed that you have many typos and small grammar errors in this paper. Here is a place to find strategies for proofreading: http://snl.depaul.edu/writing/editing.html Try some of these and then return the paper to me."

Hattie and Timperley confirmed that feedback is effective when it specific and focused. The cite several studies which show that lack of detail can be a major issue with FT when it leaves students unclear on how to use it (100). This is true whether the feedback itself is positive or negative. Vague, overly general positive feedback leaves students unsure about what worked and why so they cannot transfer their success. Unclear negative feedback leaves them in the dark about what to fix and why.

Written feedback is much more useful for students than grades or points. Studies indicate that comments rather than grades lead to significant improvement, while grades by themselves and even comments combined with grades did not improve performance (92).

This information on feedback also leads to conclusions about the construction and presentation of assignments and assessments. Well-defined assignments with specific criteria lead to more focused and so effective feedback, while overly general or nonspecific goals leave students and feedback unfocused. Teachers can enhance student learning by "providing appropriate challenging and specific goals" which are then "more likely to include information about the criteria for success in attaining" the goals (87). While assignments should be focused, they also should be challenging (88).

Interestingly, the one point at which they distinguished between younger and older students was in the discussion of students’ perception of praise. While younger students tend to like praise, older students are much more wary: "older students perceived praise after success or neutral feedback after failure as an indication that the teacher perceived their ability to be low. When given criticism after failure and neutral feedback after success, they perceived that the teacher had estimated their ability to be high and their effort low " (97).

For more on giving feedback on writing, see http://snlwriting.pbworks.com/Responding-to-Student-Writing

Work Cited

Hattie, John, and Helen Timperley. "The Power of Feedback." Review of Educational Research 77.1 (2007): 81-112.

Do your students need help with MLA and APA?

2010-02-23T02:09:00.000-06:00

If so, direct them to the Writing Guide for SNL Students (http://snl.depaul.edu/writing/index.html) where they can now view videos on each of these citation styles.

Suburban Campus Writing Groups Starting 1/16

2010-01-11T14:13:00.000-06:00

Dear SNL Faculty:

As the winter term commences, I hope that you’ll aid the Writing Center in its outreach to Suburban Campus students. Last winter, the Writing Center began offering Suburban Campus Writing Groups (SCWGs) at the Naperville, Oak Forest, and O’Hare campuses. These groups allow students to, with the aid of Writing Center consultants, work on their writing in an atmosphere that promotes the sort of collaborative and active learning valued by SNL. Participants have received the program enthusiastically, returning each semester and suggesting the groups to their friends. Most importantly, the groups allow students to practice reading and responding to the texts of others, allowing them to develop critical reading skills that they can utilize when assessing their own texts—often making their own writing more effective.

Will you help the Writing Center ensure the success of the groups on the Suburban Campuses? If you know anyone who would benefit from participation, please send their names and, if possible, their emails to tmcnamar@depaul.edu. Also, please encourage your current students to attend. Writers of all levels are welcome, and, in fact, the program thrives on the diversity of its participants.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to email me (tmcnamar@depaul.edu) or consult the Suburban Campus Writing Group page on the Writing Center website (depaul.edu/writing).

Thank you for your continued support!

Tom McNamara

New, Improved Writing Guide for SNL Students

2009-12-18T14:25:00.000-06:00

Just in time for the holidays, get your new, improved Writing Guide (http://snl.depaul.edu/writing/index.html) featuring examples of travel study externship journals, an interview with a prolific ILP writer, and so much more!

Writing Assignments

2009-12-10T17:10:00.001-06:00

You can find the materials on writing assignments from the December Faculty Development Workshop here: http://snlwriting.pbworks.com/Lots-of-Ideas-for-Writing-Assignments#WritinganAssignment

Got great papers?

2009-11-29T20:19:00.000-06:00

As you finish up your grading, be sure to invite students who have written stellar papers to submit their work to the Writing Showcase (http://snl.depaul.edu/writing/WritingShowcase.html).

Students Respond to Teacher Comments

2009-11-29T20:15:00.000-06:00

Interviewers analyzed teacher comments and asked students at Frenso State University how they understand teacher comments, how they respond to teacher comments, what they think of peer comments, if they think race or gender influence they comments they receive, and which teacher comments they found most and least helpful.

DePaul University Writing Center Final Exam Hours

2009-11-16T13:36:00.000-06:00

DePaul University Writing Center Final Exam Hours:

Writers, please note our deadlines and PLAN AHEAD!

LAST DAY of regular operations: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (the last day of classes)

LAST DAY to request Feedback by Email: Thursday, November 19 (the second day of finals) – Due to the extremely high volume of requests, turnaround currently is 5-6 business days.

EXAM WEEK SERVICES, Wednesday, November 18 through Saturday, November 21:

LPC & Loop Offices: Wednesday, November 18: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

LPC & Loop Offices: Thursday, November 19: 10:00 – 8:00

LPC & Loop Offices: Friday, November 20: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

LPC ONLY: Saturday, November 21: 11:00 am – 4:00 pm

LPC Library Outpost Hours, Richardson library Reference Desk area: Friday 11:00 – 3:00

APPOINTMENTS:

We must limit appointments during finals week, due to the volume of requests:

You may schedule only ONE appointment in advance (http://condor.depaul.edu/~writing/html/sched/WCOnline.html).

Subsequent visits can be made on a walk-in basis only.

If our online schedule looks completely booked, please know that we will have extra tutors on hand to accommodate walk-in visitors.

The Writing Center will be closed after 4 pm Saturday, November 21. The offices will reopen January 11, 2010.

Best wishes for a successful end to the quarter. We appreciate your continued interest and support!

University Center for Writing-based Learning

Writing Center Office Locations:
Lincoln Park Campus Office: 250 McGaw Hall
802 W. Belden, Chicago IL 60614 773.325.4272
Chicago Loop Campus Office: 1600 Lewis Center
25 E. Jackson Blvd., Chicago IL 60604 312.362.6726
Email: wcenter@depaul.edu
Web: http://www.depaul.edu/writing

Using WIMBA for an online writing workshop

2009-10-22T13:29:00.002-05:00

If your online class requires writing and you want to help your students be better writers, you don't have to tackle the issue alone. Last Sunday in slightly more than an hour in the WIMBA classroom of my current class, Michelle Navarre Cleary held an informative, interactive mini workshop on writing strong essays.

The workshop was optional for students and for those who could not attend, it was archived so that they could review it at a convenient time. Michelle crafted the content to address particular issues from the first and second essays in the class and then used actual student papers (the students volunteered to have them used anonymously) to show examples of things done well, almost well and needing attention. She provided links to helpful resources as well.

In the session itself she took questions on the fly and really personalized the information provided to meet the needs of the students. And this was done while there were still several essays to submit so that the students would have the opportunity to improve their class work right away. In fact, I've just received the next group of papers so I can't wait to see how her ideas have been incorporated.

I'm glad I invited Michelle to do this workshop and plan to make it a part of every class from now on.

Helping your students understand what you mean by an essay

2009-10-17T20:37:00.001-05:00

"Write an essay on . . . ." While this may seem like a simple request, many of our students have no idea what we mean by an essay. You can help them out by pointing them to this "Quick Guide to the 'Traditional Academic' Essay" from Elizabeth Coughlin, Assistant Director for the DePaul University Writing Center: http://condor.depaul.edu/~writing/html/stud/planning/quick.html

Morning and Afternoon Saturday Writing Groups now at Naperville

2009-10-13T20:15:00.000-05:00

The Writing Center is leading morning (10:30 to noon) and afternoon (12:30 to 2:00) Writing Groups on Saturdays at the Naperville Campus. To learn more about these Writing Groups, see http://condor.depaul.edu/~writing/html/sched/suburbs.html

A cool tool for getting words on the page

2009-10-10T18:20:00.000-05:00

Many students tell me the hardest part of writing a paper is getting started. "Writer or Die" (http://lab.drwicked.com/writeordie.html) is a tool for freewriting that helps writers get past the blank page and start generating material that they can later rework and revise. You might even require students to do a "Writer or Die" session after you first assign a paper. You don't need to have them give you this very rough draft, but you could ask that they e-mail you a copy of the "Bragging Widget," which tells how much they wrote in what period of time.

The struggle to “sound like” a college student

2009-09-30T20:14:00.000-05:00

This is one of a series of postings reporting on the findings from my interviews and work with SNL students about their development as writers. These interviews started last fall. I continue to meet with some of the study students each quarter to follow their progress. All student names have been changed.

Like many of the students I spoke with, Tiffany and Melina’s writing is weakened because of their anxiety about and attempts to sound like college writers. This posting shows how Tiffany and Melina struggle with how to communicate as college students and presents some ways you can help students like them.

Like many adult students, Tiffany and Melina have ample confidence in some spheres of their lives while being intimidated in others. Tiffany home schooled her sons and is a landlord who acts as a de facto social worker for her tenants. When talking with her one-on-one, it is hard to get a word in edgewise. In class, she never speaks. She says, “I’m like I know this stuff but why in class I freeze up? “ She reports doing better in a "more casual setting." Similarly, Melina wonders why she is a leader in her social circle, but at work and at school she is not. Friends and acquaintances come to her for advice and help, while at work and school she is afraid to speak up:

I’m the leader. I take charge of everything. I’m always in control of everything. Everybody comes to me for advice, for help, for anything. But then, when it comes to work or when it comes to school, I shut down. I’ll have things in my head when the teacher is asking questions like, “What did you guys think of the chapter I asked you guys to read?” I’ll have things that I want to say but I won’t say ‘em. I don’t know why that happens to me . . . And they’ll tell me, everybody’s like you know you’re so smart, you know what you’re talking about and you… speak well and blah, blah, blah but and I know that I do and… I always tell myself well why, why can’t I just come out and be that person in school? Or at work… It doesn’t happen, I don’t know.

While confident speakers in certain parts of their lives, Tiffany and Melina freeze up at school because they are afraid to say the wrong thing and to say it in the wrong way.

They both struggle with college writing assignments because they are unsure how to write like a college student. Although Tiffany journals for two to three hours a day as part of her spiritual practice, she feels “intimidated” and “inadequate” as a writer. She says “my stuff is like kindergarten . . . like children’s stuff.” To write more “scholarly,” she attempts to imitate the style and language of what she reads for class and she uses the thesaurus on her computer to make her writing sound “better.”

Like Tiffany’s journaling, Melina enjoys writing long letters to friends and family. However, at work, Melina labors over her e-mails to make sure they sound “businessy like.” For more important work writing tasks, she asks a friend with communications degree “how does this sound?” Like a number or students in this study, Melina fears that her writing will give away her lack of a college degree.

When writing for school, Melina has plenty to say. Her concern is that her readers will not “understand what I’m trying to say” because of “the way I’m writing it.” She also worries that her writing is not what she is “trying to put out you know?” The issue for Melina is not just with being able to communicate her ideas to an academic audience, but also with how she communicates and thus what messages she sends about herself.

Tiffany and Melina are in a bind. They want to communicate to their professors and peers as college students, but they have had very little experience as college students. Both first-generation college students, Tiffany relies upon her children and a college graduate friend while Melina turns to her co-workers with degrees for guidance.

The desire of students like Tiffany and Melina to sound like college writers can result in a multitude of problems including procrastination, writing that borrows too much from the structure and language of a source, and writing that is so wordy and convoluted as to be almost unreadable. For example, Melina strives to be more formal by using phrases like “structuralize the context.” When asked about this wording, she said she was trying to “sound like school.”

These problems are not unique to returning adult students. Scholars have shown that, in becoming college writers, students of all ages struggle to learn the conventions of academic writing and so sound like college students (for example, Carroll, Herrington and Curtis). Rebecca Moore Howard argues that this learning may involve imitation and copying that borders on or is plagiarism (for more on why students plagiarize and what you can do to prevent it, see http://snlwriting.pbworks.com/Plagiarism). Theresa Lillis shows how the taking on of an academic voice can be particularly fraught for working-class students like Tiffany and Melina who may find their home languages and cultures devalued by the academy.

For adult students, the stakes are arguably higher than for younger students. Melina knows that her ability to sound professional directly impacts her ability to be successful at work. Tiffany had to send her home-schooled child to a community college to learn English because she could not teach him. While she suffered the embarrassment of learning to swim with her children, she could not bring herself to take English classes with them.

You can help students like Tiffany and Melina by demystifying college writing and making clear what your expectations are. Giving students examples of excellent work from previous students is a good way to give them a more realistic idea of what they are being asked to do. You can choose these examples to highlight the variety of ways students can approach the assignment.

Even more helpful, is to give students feedback on their writing early in the quarter. This feedback helps students calibrate their sense of audience. Tiffany explained that before receiving feedback from her teacher, she was anxious because, “I don’t know what he’s looking for.” After receiving feedback, she better understood her teacher’s expectations and so, “I felt more confident to start just being more open . . . and not feeling so intimidated cause . . . he was able to understand my writing.” Once liberated, Tiffany stops worrying about sounding like a college student and starts writing like one.

Works Cited

Carroll, Lee Ann. Rehearsing New Roles: How College Students Develop as Writers. Studies in Writing & Rhetoric. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2002.

Herrington, Anne J., and Marcia Curtis. Persons in Process: Four Stories of Writing and Personal Development in College. Reconfiguring English Studies. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English, 2000.

Howard, Rebecca Moore. “Plagiarisms, authorships, and the academic death penalty.” College English. 57 (1995): 788-807. ProQuest Education Journals. ProQuest. DePaul University Libraries, Chicago, IL. 18 December 2005 http://proquest.umi.com.

Lillis, Theresa M. Student Writing: Access, Regulation, Desire. London: Routledge, 2001.

Suburban Campus Writing Groups Starting 9/26

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Encourage your students to participate in one of the Suburban Campus Writing Groups. These Saturday morning writing groups will be convenient not only for suburban campus students, but also for Loop and online students who live in the suburbs.

Both seasoned and struggling writers are sure to gain valuable insights by attending. Studies show that writers improve most when they are able to gain multiple perspectives on their work. These groups give students such an opportunity, all while helping them become more effective writers and training them to give the best feedback possible to others. See the comments below from SNL students who participated in these groups in the Winter and Spring Quarters.

This quarter writing groups on the Suburban Campuses begin on September 26 and continue to November 14. Groups are facilitated by consultants from the University Center for Writing-based Learning and will meet from 10 to 11:30 am.

Students can sign up for he full eight week session or only four weeks (Sept. 26 to Oct. 17 or Oct. 24 to Nov. 14) by emailing the Suburban Campus Writing Group coordinator at tmcnamar@depaul.edu.

Some comments from SNL participants:

“This was a perfectly timed and very positive experience for me. When I say that Morgan “saved my life,” I am exaggerating only slightly. I had been carving away at the block marble and trying to find the “angel” within it before he led me to the answer. Following that meeting, my instructor recognized the improvement between successive drafts, and my submitted final earned a good deal of praise from her.”

“Tom and Morgan were knowledgeable, polite, enthusiastic, and they appeared to really enjoy what they were doing. Their engagement with each of us created a comfort zone. I felt and saw in other participants a willingness to share ideas and to address specific writing challenges… I enjoyed the immediate and warm connection between all of us and felt that newcomers immediately became part of the group. I saw courtesy, respect, patience and encouragement. I saw (and felt no lack of my own) excitement when ‘something clicked.’ I just wanted to run right home and get to work, rather than avoid the assignment as happened when I lacked focus.“

Some comments from Exit Surveys:

I really liked how we learned how to break down essays (writing process).

The day and time of the SCWG [Suburban Campus Writing Group] meetings were very convenient.

It has improved my writing skills.

The thing I liked best about my SCWG experience was the one-on-one help.

I liked everything about my SCWG experience.

Some stats:

60% of participants who responded to the exit survey were advised by an instructor to join an SCWG.

80% of participants who responded to the exit survey said this was their first experience with the Writing Center.

90% of participants who responded to the exit survey were “very satisfied” with their experience with the SCWGs. 10% were “satisfied.”

60% of participants who responded to the exit survey were “very satisfied” with the level of writing knowledge the SCWG Leaders exhibited during meetings. 40% were “satisfied.”

100% of participants who responded to the exit survey said they were “very likely” to participate in another SCWG.

40% of participants who responded to the exit survey used other Writing Center services during the quarter they were registered for the SCWG; 50% of those participated in a face-to-face appointment at the Writing Center; 100% of those scheduled feedback by e-mail appointments; 0% scheduled a webcam/IM appointment or used the quick questions feature.

100% of participants who responded to the exit survey said they would definitely recommend the Writing Center to a friend.

Have the Writing Center Visit Your Class

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Having Writing Center Tutors visit your class for a ten to fifteen minute presentation at the start of the quarter will let your students know about the many resources available to them and make them more comfortable using these resources.

If your class is at the Loop Campus, you can arrange a visit simply by completing the form on the Writing Center's website at this address: http://condor.depaul.edu/~writing/html/fac/pres.html

If your class is at a Suburban Campus, Writing Center tutors will be dropping by classes in the first few weeks of the quarter to ask if they can do a quick presentation.

If you teach online, please point out to your students that the Writing Center provides feedback by email as well as online tutoring using instant messaging and webcams. They can learn more here: http://condor.depaul.edu/~writing/html/sched/index.html

For your syllabus

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The Writing Center has developed the following syllabus supplement detailing their services for SNL students. Please consider adding it to your syllabus.

___________________________

The Writing Center

All students are urged to utilize the Writing Center to discuss their assignments for this course or any others. For your convenience, writing groups have been established under the direction of the Writing Center on the Oak Forest, Naperville, and O’Hare campuses, meeting Saturdays from Sept. 26 to Nov. 14 at 10 am. You may also use our online services at your convenience, including Feedback-by-Email and IM conferencing (with or without a webcam). If you are able to use services at the Loop and Lincoln Park campuses, you may schedule appointments (30 or 50 minutes) on an as-needed or weekly basis, scheduling up to 3 hours worth of appointments per week. All writing center services are free.

Writing Center tutors are specially selected and trained graduate and undergraduate students who can help you at almost any stage of your writing. They will not do your work for you, but they can help you focus and develop your ideas, review your drafts, and polish your writing. They can answer questions about grammar, mechanics, different kinds of writing styles, and documentation formats. They also can answer questions and provide feedback online, through IM/webcam chats and email. Obviously, the tutors won’t necessarily be familiar with every class or subject, but they are able to provide valuable help from the perspective of an interested and careful reader as well as a serious and experienced student-writer.

Schedule your appointments with enough time to think about and use the feedback you’ll receive. Bring your assignment handout and other relevant materials to your appointments.

Quick Links & Locations:

For information regarding the Suburban Campus Writing Group program, visit http://condor.depaul.edu/~writing/html/sched/suburbs.html
To schedule an appointment at the Center’s LPC and Loop locations: http://condor.depaul.edu/~writing/html/sched/WCOnline.html
To schedule Real-time conversations with IM and/or webcam: http://condor.depaul.edu/~writing/html/sched/im.htm
To request Feedback by Email: http://condor.depaul.edu/~writing/html/sched/email.html
Loop Campus Office: 1620 Lewis Center, 312.362.672
Lincoln Park Office: 250 McGaw, 773.325.4272
For more information, visit: http://www.depaul.edu./~writing/