In This Issue
 Book Club
 Spring WAC Workshops
Endings, Beginnings, and Writing Across the
Curriculum
Beth Hedengren
This Spring/Summer
Register for events!
Email writing@byu.edu
University Writing
Book Club:
Engaged Writings
and Dynamic Disciplines
Wednesdays
May 11
June 15
July 6
August 17
Noon–12:50pm
4116 JFSB
Read More
Spring WAC Workshops:
See here for topics
Monday–Wednesday; Monday
May 16–18, 23
10am–12:00pm
2–4pm
Read More
Brief Guide to Writing
By Beth Hedengren
One of the things I like about teaching is that it has clear endings and beginnings. As you orchestrate the
end of this semester, I know you are also thinking about beginning the next one. Spring and summer terms
usually provide a bit more time to reflect on how to improve our classes. Upcoming University Writing
events provide chances to learn and reflect on teaching writing: the Spring/Summer WAC Book Club, the
Spring WAC Modular Workshops, and the Writing Matters Summer Seminar. The Seminar is already filled,
but we still have space available in the Book Club and the Spring Workshops. We hope you will register.
Here is some recent research on writing to start your reflection. In a new book published by University of
Chicago Press, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College
Campuses, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa report on the results of a
study of 2300 students from a wide variety of colleges and universities.
Arum and Roksa found that after the first two years of college 45% of
students made no significant improvement in their thinking and writing
skills. However, Arum and Roksa did find that students demonstrated
strong improvement in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing
skills when they took classes requiring more than forty pages of reading a
week and more than twenty pages of writing a semester.
Of course, it’s not surprising that students held to rigorous standards of
reading and writing learn to read, write, and think better.
The concern is that students are seldom held to these rigorous standards.
Consider the data collected from BYU students for the 2010 National
Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Students responded to the
following question During the current school year, about how much
reading and writing have you done?
On average, BYU freshmen and seniors reported they were assigned to
read between 5–10 books per year. Both classes also reported that they
were assigned per year only 1 to 4 long papers (between 5 and 19
pages). Slightly more shorter papers were assigned: both freshmen and
seniors reported 5–10 short papers (fewer than 5 pages) assigned for
the year.
That means that in the 8 to10 courses a student might take in 2
semesters, they might have been assigned only one paper of more than
over 5 pages. Even the shorter papers are fairly sparse. In the 8 to 10
classes a year, only 5 to 10 short papers were reported, on average.
These could be as short as one page. Perhaps a student would only
write 5 pages in a year. Even if we figure 10 papers at 5 pages each,
that is 50 pages for 8 to 10 classes, not anywhere near the 20 pages per
semester per class that Arum and Roksa suggest.
We all know that students need to learn to write. Published learning
outcomes for almost every department include something about writing well. Yet, since writing is a skill,
students can only improve if they practice writing frequently. We need to include writing assignments in
many of our classes. Come to our spring and summer workshops to learn more about how to assign and
evaluate writing efficiently and well.
University Writing Book Club
Have you ever wondered how writing in your field is similar and different from writing in other fields? Or
have you wondered how colleagues teach writing and how students perceive their instruction?
As you are placing book orders,
consider including The Brief
Guide to Writing. This short
booklet provides your students
with a review of the basics of
good writing. It is available in the
Bookstore for only $1.50.
To consider these questions further, come to our annual University Writing Book Club. University Writing will
provide the book, and you will provide the thought-provoking discussion. Register early: we can only accept
twenty participants. (Register at writing@byu.edu, deadline May 2.)
This year we will be reading Engaged Writers and Dynamic Disciplines: Research on the Academic Writing
Life, by Chris Thaiss and Terry Myers Zawacki. The authors report on faculty interviews as well as student
surveys and focus groups. Following are some questions they explored:

What is ‘academic writing’? How do disciplinary differences and commonalities contribute to this
definition?

How do our students grow to fluency in academic and disciplinary discourses, while realizing their
own ambitions for learning and expression?
If you would like a review copy,
just contact us at
writing@byu.edu
Here’s the reading schedule. Hope you’ll be able to join us!
Click here for a link to ordering
instructions and a PDF version of
the Brief Guide
2011 University Writing Book Club
Engaged Writers and Dynamic Disciplines: Research on the Academic Writing Life, by Chris Thaiss
and Terry Myers Zawacki.
Teaching Tip
Writing in Spring or
Summer Classes
Since Spring and Summer
classes go by so quickly,
sometimes teachers are tempted
to cut back on writing
assignments.
Date
Wed,
May 11
Time
Noon12:50
Place
4116
JFSB
Wed,
June 15
Wed,
July 6
Wed
Aug 17
Noon12:50
4116
JFSB
4116
JFSB
4116
JFSB
4116
JFSB
4116
JFSB
Reading
Chapters 1 & 2 (pp. 1-45)
“What’s Academic? What’s ‘Alternative’?” and “Faculty Talk
About Their Writing, Disciplines, and Alternatives”
Chapter 3 (pp. 58-88) “How Our Informants Teach Students to
Write”
Chapter 4 (pp. 95-134) “Students Talk About Expectations,
Confidence, and How They Learn”
Chapter 5 (pp. 136-170) “Implications for Teaching and
Program Building”
Instead, consider how writing can
especially enhance Spring and
Summer classes.
Back to Top
1.
Spring WAC Workshop
Break up long class
sessions. Half way through
class, ask your students to
write for 5 minutes. Possible
topics include:
 Summarize what you
have learned so far.
 Write questions you
have about the content.
Each of our Spring Writing Matters Modular Workshops is a self-contained 2-hour unit. If you can take two
hours from your spring work, then you can take this course. And for each 2-hour workshop you complete,
you will receive $50 for your research account.
 Discuss applications of
the material learned.
Even if you have previously attended the summer workshop, consider attending a module as a refresher
course, another chance to think carefully about how you can improve your teaching.
Have students share their
writings, and use them to
help you focus on students’
needs in the next hour.
2.
Many of you have told us that, even though you wish you could, you simply can’t take a full week from your
research and teaching to participate in our Writing Matters Summer Seminar. No worries! We have
developed a program for people like you, one in which you can choose to attend as many or as few
sessions as you want.
Assign several short
microthemes rather than
one long paper. Design an
assignment that is very short
(only 1-2 pages) with
rigorous expectations. If the
expectations are similar for
each paper, the students will
learn to write better through
the repetition. And, because
the papers are very short,
your grading will be
simplified.
Just let us know you’re coming; to register, email writing@byu.edu by May 1.
Here is the schedule, so you can choose which workshops you would like to attend:
Spring WAC Modular Workshops, May 16-18 and May 23
Register (writing@byu.edu) for as many as you like; $50 research money for successful completion
of each module. Deadline for registration: May 2
Date
Time
Place
Topic
Presenter
Monday,
May 16
10-12
A.M
4188
JFSB
The Power of Exploratory Writing: How
5 minutes can Improve Student
Learning (Without Adding [Much] to
Your Workload.)
Beth Hedengren, Associate
Coordinator of University
Writing (WAC)
Monday,
May 16
2-4
P.M.
4188
JFSB
Visualizing Success: Designing
Posters, Brochures and PowerPoints
Danette Paul,
Associate Professor, English,
specializing in Rhetoric and
Composition
Tuesday,
May 17
10-12
A.M.
4188
JFSB
Transforming Readers to Writers: Three
Steps to Creating Effective Writing
Assignments
Beth Hedengren,
Associate Coordinator of
University Writing (WAC)
Tuesday,
May 17
2-4
P.M.
4188
JFSB
Teaching Students to Talk in Class:
Oral Communication Skills
Brian Jackson, Associate
Coordinator of University
Writing (Advanced Writing)
Wed,
May 18
10-12
A.M.
4188
JFSB
Styling Written English: How Knowing a
Little about Grammar Helps You Be
Cool
Debbie Harrison,
Specialist in Writing and
English Language
Wed,
May 18
2-4
P.M.
4188
JFSB
Minding the Research Gap: Teaching
Students to Use Sources Effectively in
Support of Their Own Arguments
Beth Hedengren,
Associate Coordinator of
University Writing (WAC)
Monday,
May 23
10-12
A.M.
4188
JFSB
A Physician, Not a Judge: Teacher
Comments Can Help “Heal” Student
Writing
Beth Hedengren,
Associate Coordinator of
University Writing (WAC)
Monday,
May 23
2-4
P.M.
4188
JFSB
Making the Grade: How to Evaluate
Student Papers Fairly and Consistently
Joyce Adams,
Writing Specialist for the
College of FHSS
Back to Top
Contact Information
Beth Hedengren, Associate Coordinator, University Writing (WAC) o 4110B JFSB o 801-422-3486 o beth_hedengren@byu.edu
University Writing Secretary o 4110 JFSB o 801-422-3565 o writing@byu.edu