CIDR - Writing

Writing can be a useful tool not only for evaluating student performance, but also for promoting student learning and critical engagement. Writing assignments can range from in-class "minute papers" to quarter-long research projects and can be successfully incorporated into any number of teaching environments.

Students are more likely to succeed as writers when they are given clear guidelines as well as explicit instruction in the skills they need to complete an assignment. And while some skills transfer across disciplines, many writing skills are discipline-specific, so even a brief explanation of some of those disciplinary differences can go a long way towards helping student writers succeed in your class.

CIDR Resources

	CIDR Teaching and Learning Bulletins Helping Student Writers Succeed CIDR Teaching and Learning Bulletin, 3(1) Teaching Writing-Integrated Courses CIDR Teaching and Learning Bulletin, 8(3) Planning Research Assignments CIDR Teaching and Learning Bulletin, 11(1)

	Consult with CIDR CIDR consultants are also available to meet with you to discuss Using Writing as a Teaching Strategy in the context of the classes that you teach. To schedule a consultation, call 206-543-6588, or contact us by email to arrange an appointment.

UW Resources

Writing Centers at the University of Washington
General writing help and discipline-based writing centers in a number of UW departments

The Writing Program
University of Washington College of Arts & Sciences

Additional Resources

Teaching with Writing
from the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of Writing at the University of Minnesota, including sections which address

Creating effective writing assignments
Sequencing the writing process
Working with grammar and mechanics
Writing with computers
Responding to and grading student writing
Creating effective peer response workshops
Soliciting student feedback
Support for writing instruction in all disciplines

Harvard Study of Undergraduate Writing
Over the four years, we gathered more than 600 pounds of student writing, 520 hours of transcribed interviews, and countless megabytes of survey data .... In the summer of 2002, we invited study participants, along with some of their professors, to speak on camera about college writing. The result of those conversations is the fourteen-minute film Shaped By Writing which can be viewed here. The film is accompanied by a brief guide that highlights the most important findings of our study.

Manoa Writing Program
Information for teachers of writing-intensive courses at the University of Hawaii, including links to Writing Matters, the newsletter of the Manoa Writing Program. Contents include:

Effective Writing Assignments, No. 1
Responding to Student Writing, No. 2
Writing & Research, No. 3
Overcoming Writing Errors, No. 4
Helping Students Make Connections, No. 5
Working with ESL Students' Writing, No. 6
Peer Review, No. 7
Teaching Your Field's Forms of Writing, No. 8
On-line Interaction, No. 9
Using Writing to Improve Reading, No. 10
Getting Students to Think, No. 11

Professor Erika Lindeman on "Writing to Learn"
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Strategies - Teaching with Writing
from the University Writing Program at Virginia Tech. It includes the following sections:

Designing Writing Assignments
Research and Documentation
Classroom Implementation
Evaluation of Writing Assignments

Writing Across the Curriculum
The Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program at the University of Richmond provides teaching resources for writing-to-learn activities

Writing for Learning -- Not Just for Demonstrating Learning
by Peter Elbow, University of Massachusetts, Amherst