The Upper-Level Writing Requirement

1
The Upper-Level Writing Requirement

• Advising,
• Answering Student Questions,
• and Figuring It Out Ourselves

2
Todays Agenda

• Introductions
• Objectives for the meeting
• Outcomes for 300-level courses
• English department 300-level courses
• Briefly describe how four existing 300-level
  classes meet program outcomes
• Help us! Developing FAQs
• Contact us with questions or ideas

3
Introductions

• Elizabeth Birmingham
• Kevin Brooks
• Eunice Johnston
• Amy Rupiper-Taggart
• Dale Sullivan
• Make sure you know everyone at your table

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Objectives

• Introduce you to some of the people you may
  contact with questions about the upper-level
  writing requirement.
• Discuss courses you may want your students to
  consider taking to meet the upper-level writing
  requirement.
• Share the outcomes for the upper-level writing
  courses.
• Generate a list of questions that would help you
  advise students and better understand the
  upper-level writing program.

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Outcomes for Upper-Level Writing Courses

• General Education Outcome 1 Communicate
  effectively in a variety of contexts and
  genres, using a variety of communication
  skills.
• General Education Outcome 6 Integrate
  knowledge and ideas in a coherent and meaningful
  manner.

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Outcomes for Upper-Level Writing Courses
(continued)

• English Department Outcome 4 Manage
  sophisticated writing and research projects,
  planning, documenting, completing, and assessing
  work on-time and within the constraints of the
  project.
• English Department Outcome 7 Develop
  professionalism exhibited in such qualities as
  self-direction, cooperation, civility,
  reliability, and care in editing and presenting
  the final product.

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Outcomes for Upper-Level Writing Courses
(continued)

•  Disciplinary Outcome Master
  the discourses and generic conventions of the
  discipline(s).

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300-level English Courses

• Business and Professional Writing
• Creative Writing I
• Creative Writing II
• Visual Culture and Language
• Writing in the Design Professions
• Writing in the Health Professions
• Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences
• Writing in the Sciences
• Writing in the Technical Professions

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320 Business and Professional Writing

• English 320 provides intensive practice employing
  the conventions of professional genres to write
  for business and professional contexts. This
  course teaches you to respond to a variety of
  workplace tasks by designing appropriate
  documents and presentations, individually and in
  teams. While it isnt possible to duplicate a
  work environment in the classroom, this course
  provides activities, assignments, and
  opportunities that will develop the skills and
  habits you will need to write and function
  professionally in corporate, non-profit, or small
  business environments.

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320 Assignments

• Job packet research report, informational
  interview (memo), letter of application, resume
• Web design website presenting research into
  organizational communication, design analysis,
  rhetorical analysis
• Project management proposal, progress report,
  project, oral presentation, final report

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321 Writing in the Technical Professions

• Intensive practice employing the conventions of
  professional genres to write about technology
  development and use for expert, business, and
  more general audiences. This class is
  appropriate for engineering students and others
  who intend to work in the technical disciplines
  including technical writers.

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321 Assignments

• Instructions and usability testing group project
  with multiple drafts and testing by actual users.
• Review of literature proposal, annotated
  bibliography, abstract, presentation, formal
  paper.
• Reports recommendation, feasibility, evaluation
• Job application package
• Technical definition and description
• Reporting numerical information (memo)
• Reporting problems (email) or analysis of a case
  study of the communications related to a problem
• Public writing on an issue related to technology

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324 Writing in the Sciences

• English 324, Writing in the Sciences, explores
  the sciences as social systems that produce
  knowledge through research, communication,
  publication, and review.

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Class Modules for English 324

• Module 1 Science as a Social Enterprise.
  Students read a book like The Nemesis Affair,
  look up a primary article associated with the
  case in the book, and write an essay that
  describes the articles place in the case and
  analyzes the arguments used in it.
• Module 2 Writing a Research Report. Students
  propose a research project, design the study,
  conduct the research, report progress, write
  portions of the report for review, and then
  compile the final research report in the
  traditional IMRAD structure.
• Module 3 The Genres of Science Writing. Students
  study a case chronologically by reading documents
  from different stages in the research projects
  cycle. They write an essay describing the case
  and explaining how different documents in the
  case helped move it along.
• Module 4 Writing Popular Science. Students
  identify a current or historical case in science,
  collect primary articles from the case, read
  them, and create a journalistic story describing
  the research project.

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358 Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences

• Theory and practice for writing multiple genres
  in the humanities and social sciences. My section
  of 358 takes popular culture as its common object
  of analysis students across the disciplines
  share some common knowledge of pop culture, but
  typically have not spent much time approaching it
  as academics rather than as consumers. The
  emphasis is on approaching popular culture texts
  critically, reading them closely, and developing
  skills and knowledge for writing three very
  different genres that require a critical stance
  in relationship to popular culture. The class
  uses whole class workshop, small and large group
  activities, model analysis, and reading of
  rhetorical theory as primary approaches to
  teaching and learning.

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358 Assignments

• Popular review of pop culture text
• Scholarly analysis of pop culture artifact(s)
  using rhetorical criticism
• Collaborative parody of pop culture text or trend

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Help!

• Please choose a group recorder (the person at
  your table whose birthday is soonest).
• Read through the FAQ sheet at your table and talk
  to the people around you.
• Help us with a two tasks
• Respond to FAQ sheet
• Generate more questions

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Task One

• Circle those questions/answers on the sheet that
  your group identifies as useful.
• Strike through any questions that seem too
  obvious or not useful.
• Tell us if you think there is a better way to say
  something.
• Please have your recorder compile all of your
  responses on one FAQ sheet.

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Task Two

• Provide questions that you or other academic
  advisors might have had this week concerning the
  upper-level writing requirement as you were
  talking to students about their courses.
• Provide those questions about the upper-level
  writing requirement that you are hearing from
  students that confuse or stump you.
• Do you have any questions you would like us to
  try to respond to today?
• Chat with each other and please have your
  recorder write down the questions you have.

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Feedback

• We will revise our FAQ sheets based on your
  feedback, and make sure that they are sent out to
  all of you who registered for this lunch.
• We want to encourage you to contact us if you
  have questions or concerns about the upper-level
  writing course(s) that would be most appropriate
  for your majors.

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Thank you!

• Contact us
• Elizabeth.Birmingham_at_ndsu.edu
• Kevin.Brooks_at_ndsu.edu
• Dale.Sullivan_at_ndsu.edu
• Betsyupper-level writing courses
• Kevinfirst-year writing courses
• Daleif you are confused by Betsy or Kevin
• (happens a lot).