Writing Across the Curriculum

            at Viterbo University

 

Mission:      

The Writing Across the Curriculum committee sponsors initiatives to support faculty members who teach writing, with the goal of improving student writing at Viterbo.

 

 

Committee Members

for 2008-2009:

Barbara Gayle, Academic Vice President; Lindsay Cummings, Learning Center; Bill Stobb, English; Sheryl Jacobsen, Nursing; Virginia Pharr, Religious Studies; Anita Wood, Business

 

The Writing Across the Curriculum committee is available for workshops with individual instructors (and their students), departments, and schools.  If you have a question about using writing in a course, either as a means of encouraging learning or as a device for measuring learning, contact the the Writing Across the Curriculum committee..  

 

Previous WAC workshops

 

Using Write-to-Learn Assignments

 

Working Writing Into Your Course

 

Designing an effective writing assignment

 

Sequencing Assignments

 

Evaluating student writing

 

Using The Everyday Writer

 

Some useful resources for WAC:

These Writing Center and Writing Across the Curriculum

web pages provide course design guidelines, ideas for

writing assignments, and a wide variety of other useful

material.  Looking for ideas for a writing course?  Browse

these links and you're certain to find something.

 

St. Martin's Handbook exercise central

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/smhandbook/pages/bcs-main.asp?v=&s=01000&n=00030&i=01030.00&o=

 

Articles for Instructors on Promoting Academic Integrity

and Preventing Plagiarism

http://www.uvm.edu/~judicial/ahresources.html?tp=true

 

Writing Across the Curriculum at UW-Madison:  http://mendota.english.wisc.edu/~WAC/ 

 

Purdue University's online writing lab:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

 

The Writing Center at Colorado State University:

http://writing.colostate.edu/

 

"Writing and Grammar," a series of student exercises from

Utah Valley State College:

 http://www.uvsc.edu/owl/aboutwc.html

 

"Teacher Resources," from the University of Hawaii-Manoa:

http://mwp01.mwp.hawaii.edu/resources.htm

 

Handouts from the Reading/Writing Center at Hunter College:

http://rwc.hunter.cuny.edu/writing/on-line.html

 

The Writing Center at Renesselaer: http://www.rpi.edu/dept/llc/writecenter/web/wc_web/school/index.htm

 

 

Upcoming events:

First meeting of 2008-2009 TBA

New Handbook Initiative: Viterbo's Composition courses recently adopted Easy Writer, replacing The St. Martin's Handbook,.  If you would list this text as required or optional for any of your courses, you can receive a complimentary desk copy.  Contact Bill Stobb at westobb@viterbo.edu.  

Viterbo Writing-intensive Courses: from the Viterbo Catalog

All students must pass at least one writing-intensive, junior or senior level course or sequence of courses within their major fields. These courses are marked with a “W” in the catalog. Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree students should consult with the B.L.S. advisor to determine which course or courses will meet the requirement.

Approved writing competency courses include:
AADM 300; ARTS 470, 471; BIOL 397; CHEM 397; EDUC 215, 316, 329, 330, 335, 390, 482; ENGL 201, 210, 211, 307, 310, 311, 312, 319, 395, 455, 481; MATH 344; MGMT 300; MUSC 327, 328; MUTH 338; NURS 482; NUTR 373, 473; PSYC 330; RLST 450; SOCL 430; SOWK 441; SPAN 406; THTR 281, 291, 300, 301, 325; WMST 400

Viterbo English 103/104 Course Descriptions and Student Learning Outcomes:

English 103: Composition and Introduction to Argument

Course Description:  English 103, the first of two required composition courses, begins with personal writing and moves into essentials of argumentation, such as thesis, evidence, and counter-argument.  The course also stresses essentials of written communication such as effective organization and sentence structure.  Students learn to read texts closely in order to summarize, analyze, and respond to them, and are introduced to research methods and the use of sources in argument.  By the end of the semester, students will be able to write thesis-driven arguments that integrate their own experience with sources outside themselves.

 

Student Learning Outcomes for Eng 103

Students will:

  • Apply strategies for close reading to a variety of texts, including personal essays and argument essays;
  • Apply critical thinking—especially analysis and inquiry—to readings and issues;
  • Use personal experience to engage readers, support qualified claims, and provide footing for ethical argumentation;
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the elements of argument, specifically claim and support;
  • Write with a sense of purpose in relationship to audience and context.
  • Utilize the Internet and the Viterbo University Library for research;
  • Integrate a variety of sources—journalistic articles, essays, speeches, interviews, visual texts—into their arguments;
  • Document research using MLA formatting;
  • Respond effectively to their own drafts and the drafts of others;
  • Revise writing to effectively achieve the intended purposes.

English 104: Composition and Introduction to Literature

Course Description:  English 104, the second of two required composition courses in Viterbo’s general education curriculum, is a topic-based writing course.  Instructors determine a topical focus for their 104 sections—topics might include the environment, immigration, health care, gender, or poverty—but all sections of 104 introduce students to the conventions of literary genres such as fiction, poetry, drama, and literary non-fiction.  Other course texts may be drawn from journalism, the humanities, film, and the arts and sciences.  By examining literature within a social context, students see the relationship between art and culture, while gaining an introduction to literary studies.  English 104 extends the focus on argumentation, research, and the writing process established in English 103 and culminates in a research project.

 

Student Learning Outcomes for Eng 104

Students will:

  • Apply critical thinking—analysis, evaluation, synthesis—to readings and issues;
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between form and content in texts they read;
  • Frame productive questions about readings and issues;
  • Make claims that are arguable and well-qualified;
  • Create effective arguments through the structuring of complex ideas;
  • Utilize the Internet and the Viterbo University Library for research;
  • Integrate sources of various kinds into their arguments;
  • Document research using MLA formatting;
  • Respond effectively to their own drafts and the drafts of others;
  • Develop adaptable strategies for writing processes.