4.00 Credits
Students enrolled in this course will be working towards the written communication of a long-term, independent research project (i.e., a thesis), and, as such, students in this course will explore the form and function of research writing genres within their own field of study. They will compose relevant pieces of their project such as introductions, rationales, reviews of literature, descriptions of methods, findings, and discussions. In order to do this, students will discover and utilize tools for managing large scale writing projects, such as task and time management, setting incremental deadlines, keeping research/reading journals, and mitigating distractions, isolation, procrastination and perfectionism. Further, they will develop and apply knowledge of writing processes, such as brainstorming, searching for patterns, organizing, reorganizing, revising, refining, and proofreading. In addition to regular class meetings, students in this course will be required to have a weekly, recurring appointment with one SWA in the WRC. Course Evaluations: Students will be evaluated based upon their active participation in all in-class writing workshops, engagement with weekly readings and online discussions, completion of assigned activities in and out of the classroom, attendance at their weekly SWA meeting, and application of course concepts, strategies, and knowledge to their long term research writing project. Students must have required course texts and software in hand by Week 2 of the semester. This course will be capped at 15 and preference will be given to students writing their senior thesis. Writing Studies Courses Writing is a complex activity that occurs differently in different contexts and requires ongoing practice and guidance. Effective writing depends on the writer's ability to understand and address audience, purpose, and topic. Consequently, a single class can't teach students to write in all situations because genres and conventions vary from community to community and context to context. Students can become better writers when they have multiple opportunities to write in classes across the curriculum throughout their education- not just in their first year. Writing Studies courses provide a foundation for faculty across the disciplines to build on as they teach students the conventions and expectations of their disciplines. Writing Studies courses are grounded in Writing about Writing theory and pedagogy, wherein the content of the course is writing. Students read and write about writing in order to think critically about their own writing and writing practices; subsequently, they often change many of their beliefs about writing, which then impacts their processes and strategies. Students in Writing Studies courses not only learn procedural knowledge ("knowing what": e.g. what a thesis is) but declarative knowledge ("knowing how": e.g. how to analyze the rhetorical situation to know how to develop the appropriate argument). All Writing Studies courses include both formal and informal writing assignments, provide multiple opportunities for feedback/feedforward, and facilitate ongoing revision of writing processes and products.