What Is University
Writing?
First-year Writing At
Arizona State University
Sarah Duerden,Senior Lecturer
Writing Programs
Arizona State University
http://www.public.asu.edu/~atsjd
Overview
What is college-level
writing?
The two semester
sequence at ASU
What is taught; what
is not taught
My versions of 101 and
102
Problems my students
encounter
How to further prepare
students for college
writing
Q&A
What Is College-level Writing?
• According to Patrick Sullivan, “a
student should write in response to an
article, essay, or reading selection that
contains at least some abstract content
(16).
• The writer should
demonstrate the
following:
– a willingness to evaluate
ideas and issues
carefully,
– some skill at analysis and
higher level thinking,
– the ability to integrate
some of the material from
reading skillfully,
– and the ability to follow
the standard rules of
grammar, punctuation,
and spelling (17).
Students At ASU
http://www.asu.edu/writingprograms/
teacherresources/wpguide/missionstatement.htm
Goals:
• to engage the ideas encountered in academic and serious
public discourse,
• to develop complex ideas and arguments through serious
consideration of different perspectives,
• and to connect their life experiences with ideas and information
they encounter in classes.
By:
• exploring what others have written about issues,
• using their readings to expand their notion of what counts as an
appropriate position,
• exploring the multiplicity of any topic,
• and realizing that multiple stories or interpretations exist.
In Practice
• We require the use of
college-level nonfiction readings that
invite students to
become actively
engaged with the
author's point of view,
rather than simply to
read for "information"
or "main ideas."
In Practice,
continued
– students learn to evaluate arguments,
weigh evidence and scrutinize
reasoning.
– they learn that multiple interpretations
are possible, but that not all are
"equally valid," that although
language is semantically rich, more
responsible readings are
distinguished by careful analysis and
textual support.
– students learn to use reading to
examine identified perspectives
through historical and cultural
analyses that consider both the
antecedents and the implications of a
particular perspective, and that
explore how such perspectives are
embedded in complex cultural
contexts.
In Practice Cont.
• In English 101 (first semester) we focus specifically
on making clear claims in response to non-fiction
texts supported by a variety of evidence including,
– Other written texts,
– Ethnographic research,
– Personal experience.
• Often (but not always) the focus in 101 is on popular
culture including pop culture texts and articles
analyzing those texts.
• Teachers required to use a Rhetoric and may choose
to use a Reader in addition.
English 102
In the second
semester, our focus
is on formal
argumentation that
involves articulating
a claim, using
definitions
consistently,
supporting the claim
with a variety of
evidence, and
drawing
conclusions.
Students read and
write various genres
of argument.
In English 102, students
learn the following:
how to write
persuasively and to
understand the
demands made on
them by the arguments
they encounter,
how to assess not only
"factual" evidence, but
the values, emotions
and needs that affect
the reasoning process,
how to construct and
present a persuasive
character for
themselves,
and develop their
understanding of the
relationship between
evidence and
conclusions.
Research In All Courses
• In both courses, students engage in various forms of
research for each paper.
– Whether collecting data through fieldwork, interviews, listserv
participation, web-searches, or library holdings, students are
encouraged to investigate how language defines a particular
community, how its members communicate with one another in
writing, how writing generates concepts for understanding human
experience, and how it sometimes results in community action.
– Part of students’ research involves collecting relevant samples of
writing that communities produce.
– Thus, the kinds of research we emphasize enables students not
merely to conform to convention, but to enter into the scholarly
debate which the conventions are intended to facilitate.
– Therefore, for us there is no such thing as “The Research Paper.”
Research is part of all writing.
In All Courses
Four major writing projects*
Multiple drafts
Most teachers read drafts and
make formative comments;
others do not read all rough
drafts
All teachers use peer review
extensively (many teachers
require two different drafts for
peer review before the
polished paper)
Some allow for a one-time
revision of a graded paper;
others do not
*In WAC 101 (across two
semesters) students
complete 3 papers each
semester and a final
In All Courses
•
•
•
•
•
All teachers make extensive use
of small group discussion; small
group work for invention etc.
A reflective final or portfolio in
each course.
Teachers choose texts from
approved lists so courses do
vary.
All classes capped at 19.
Some taught in regular
classrooms, others in computermediated classrooms. Some
taught as hybrids; some
sections fully online.
First-Year Writing Sequences
• ENG 101-->ENG 102 (70% of students
take this track)
• WAC 101-->ENG 101-->ENG 102 (20%
of our students take this track)
– We also have ESL versions of 101, WAC
101, and 102
• ENG 105 (10% of students take this
one-semester course)
Possible Differences Between
High School And College
• No Literature in First-Year Composition.
• We stress the notion of discourse communities so that students
see that writing differs according to which discourse community
they are writing for.
• We actively discourage specific formulas for structuring essays.
– In particular this means abandoning the five paragraph theme
because it often limits students’ thinking (for a larger discussion see
Sharon Crowley in The Methodical Memory and Keith Hjortshoj The
Transition to College Writing).
• We actively encourage
students to use the personal
voice (if appropriate for the
rhetorical situation of the
paper).
• We expect standard
grammar, punctuation, and
spelling.
• And, according to Jack
Meiland, the biggest
difference is that college
work “requires that students
engage in a different kind of
intellectual activity” (104).
What Is Not Taught
Grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Teachers may develop mini lectures on style
tips such as when and how to use passive
voice or how to make transitions more effective.
• Formulas or rigid
structures for papers or
paragraphs.
– Emphasis may be on genre
such as accepted genre for
proposal etc.
• Academic Writing as the
only style.
– We teach students to adapt
their writing to the
discourse community and
rhetorical situation.
My Own Versions Of 101
• In my version of English 101 our readings and papers we write
focus specifically on the transition to college.
– Assignment One: Critique of article about college students
supported by personal experience, ethnographic research, and
outside readings.
Assignment Two: Article supported by personal experience,
ethnographic research, and outside experts exploring
academic literacies encountered at ASU and the changes
necessary to succeed.
Assignment Three: Taking a position on some problem
related to education and suggesting a solution by using the
readings on education as a starting point and conducting
further research.
Assignment Four: Evaluation of a popular culture text aimed
at college students, focusing particularly on values inherent in
the text, using outside experts as support.
My Version Of
English 102
Assignment One: Critical Analysis
of an argument examining the
rhetorical strategies employed and
explaining what makes the
argument effective or ineffective.
Assignment Two: Examining the
origins of a current issue or trend or
situation by investigating what the
issue is and arguing its origins,
explaining who is affected by the
issue, the different groups of people
who have taken a position on issue,
its scope and seriousness.
Assignment Three: Arguing Value
by returning to the issue in the
second paper and arguing what is
wrong or right or what is flawed or
not.
Assignment Four: Arguing Crisis
by showing how a problem is
becoming or has become a crisis
and either advocating that
something be done or some
procedure be changed or arguing
for or against a policy proposal that
has actually been made.
In Each Course
• Homework comprises a reading journal
and heuristics
• Reading Journal:
Students must
summarize each
reading and write a
response to the reading
(in 102 they must
include an additional
section in which they
describe the author’s
appeals and evidence)
• Heuristics: For each
paper I create a series
of tasks that help
students generate and
develop material from
which they can draw to
produce a draft
Problems Students Encounter:
Reading
• Some have severe problems reading and accurately
comprehending complex non-fiction prose.
• Therefore, many are unable to summarize accurately.
• Many can describe what an author does, but they cannot
summarize the argument. They write a description but not a
summary (first the author does x. Then she says y).
• If the essay uses a delayed thesis or employs inductive logic,
they are confused.
• Many are unwilling to read ideas that they don’t agree with.
• Many are unwilling or unable to evaluate ideas they don’t agree
with.
Problems Students Encounter: Organization & Development
•
•
•
Some are unwilling to abandon formulas that were useful in high school (and in particular for
essay exams).
Some are frustrated by the fact that we don’t use exact models for them to emulate.
Some have difficulty with seeing that writing depends on the discourse community and
changes according to the rhetorical situation.
Research
•
Some see research as the last step
they do after they have outlined a
paper.
– In other words, rather than
allowing themselves to see that
a conversation on a topic exists
and they are about to enter it,
they want to formulate their
opinion and then add what
others have said.
– Because they are not skilled
readers, some misinterpret
outside research.
– Of course Google rules along
with Wikipedia.
How To Prepare Students For
College Writing
• No easy task given how much you are expected to
already cover as high school teachers and the
literature focus you are required to take.
• However, more practice reading complex non-fiction
texts would help students transition to the kind of
questioning or intellectual work that Jack Meiland and
Patrick Sullivan describe.
• Also helping them learn how to write an accurate
summary rather than a description of texts; I do this
in a literary context by pointing out the difference
between summarizing a film in contrast to giving a
blow- by- blow synopsis of the plot.
How To Prepare Students For College Writing (continued)
–
–
could students summarize arguments
about the literature they are reading?
When I introduce summary, I give
students an article and guidelines for
writing a summary. Then in the next
class, I go through my own writing of a
summary of that argument. Then I
have them pool their versions to
develop a group version. I find writing
group summaries in class a good way
to help students develop this skill.
could students be asked to read and
summarize arguments about the
subject matter dealt with in the
literature? For example, when my
literature students read The Curious
Incident in the Nighttime, I had them
read and summarize arguments about
Asperger’s Syndrome and how best to
educate those with the disorder.
How To Prepare Students For
College Writing (continued)
• Sustained and overt discussion of rhetorical situation for each
assignment—even if the audience is just the teacher, there are
rhetorical constraints they must follow.
• Discuss the concept of discourse community—literature is a
particular discourse community with conventions that differ
significantly from the sciences and social sciences.
Discussion and use of a
variety of evidence.
Focus on research as a
way to support ideas
rather than a paper in
and of itself.
Discussion of research
as a way of entering a
debate rather than what
is added after the paper
is written.
Continued use of peer
review (our students
come well prepared for
this and we try to
develop their skills
further by focusing on
goals for each
assignment).
Practicalities
Computer literacy
Ability to follow
stand rules of
grammar,
punctuation, and
spelling
Familiarity with MLA
documentation and
how to use
handbook
Works Cited
ASU Writing Programs: http://www.asu.edu/writingprograms/
Crowley, Sharon. The Methodical Memory: Invention in CurrentTraditional Rhetoric. Southern Illinois Press, 1990.
Hjorshoj, Keith. The Transition to College Writing. Boston: Bedford St
Martin’s, 2001.
Meiland, Jack. “The Difference Between High School and College.” You
Are Here. Russel Durst. (Ed.) New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003.104115.
Steering Committee of the Outcomes Group. “WPA Outcomes Statement
for First-Year Composition.” College English 63 (2001): 321-325.
Sullivan, Patrick. “An Essential Question: What is College-Level Writing?”
in What is College-Level Writing? Patrick Sullivan and Howard Tinberg
(Eds). Urbana: NCTE, 2006. 1-30.