Writing Guidelines for W1 Courses

Students are required to complete three progressively more advanced writing-attentive courses: the W1, W2, and W3.  The First-Year Seminar and Writing Committee approves W1 and W2 courses; individual departments and programs oversee the guidelines for the W3, which for most students is the senior thesis.  The FYS/W Committee has established five principles as the foundation of W1 and W2 courses:

1. Writing is taught, not just assigned.
2. Writing assignments of varying scope or genre are a significant portion of
the coursework.
3. Students have multiple opportunities to revise their writing.
4. Faculty members give feedback on writing, commenting on rhetorical
issues in addition to content.
5. Research skills and scholarly citation practices are taught, not just
assigned.

In addition to these broad pedagogical principles—which underlie specific recommendations at the W1 and W2 levels—faculty have agreed on a shared commitment to specific learning goals for students in writing courses.  These learning goals fall under the categories of Inquiry, Argument, Evidence, Organization, and Style.  Although the committee does not expect that each individual learning goal will be explicitly addressed in a writing-attentive course, we anticipate that the day-to-day pedagogies of a W1 or W2 course will be logical places to integrate discussions, exercises, and assignments that might address multiple goals as appropriate throughout the semester.

The W1
The overarching goal of the W1 course is to enhance students’ understanding of how analysis and intellectual discovery shape the process of writing.  W1 courses are meant to introduce students to college-level expectations of writing, exposing students to the conventions of particular fields, disciplines, or interdisciplines, while emphasizing the commonalities of good writing across subject areas.  Students must take one W1 course, a requirement usually fulfilled by the First-Year Seminar.

The W1 course introduces students to a number of skills that fall under the college-wide writing learning goals broadly defined as Inquiry, Argument, Evidence, Organization, and Style (please see “Learning Objectives for Writers”).  Examples of student outcomes that might be appropriate objectives for a W1 include the following:

Inquiry:  Recognize the recursiveness of the writing, thinking, and research process; become accustomed to rethinking and deepening ideas by attending to feedback

Argument: Develop the answer to an initial question into a reasoned position; articulate a thesis statement or guiding idea

Evidence: Understand varied research strategies; critically evaluate sources; use sources responsibly

Organization: Understand the ways in which the organization and structure of a piece of writing guide the reader and strengthen an argument

Style: Appreciate the careful crafting of language; understand common conventions

Learning objectives such as these can be achieved in a wide variety of ways in W1 courses built on five consistent pedagogical principles:

1. Writing is taught, not just assigned. W1 courses incorporate discussion of the practice of writing, whether sentence-level (such as grammar or mechanics), paragraph-level (such as transitions or development), or essay-level (such as introductions and conclusions or ordering of evidence).  In-class writing and other informal exercises also help students improve their writing.

2. Writing assignments of varying scope or genre are a significant portion of
the coursework.To cultivate attention toward the process of writing, a W1 course asks students to write a number of assignments that may vary in length, scope, and approach; these assignments might take the shape of several short but interrelated essays, sequenced assignments, or a longer writing project completed in stages, with an end result of approximately fifteen pages of finished formal writing.

3. Students have multiple opportunities to revise their writing. Revision should be built into the majority of assignments but might take a number of forms: graded or ungraded rough drafts, further revision of graded work, or revision of sections of a longer work (introduction, thesis, or annotated bibliography, for example) when revision of an entire piece will not be required.

4. Faculty members give feedback on writing, commenting on rhetorical issues (such as argument, evidence, and style) in addition to content.  Commentary comes in a variety of forms: written feedback from instructors; electronic feedback from instructor or peers; individual conferences with instructors, writing assistants, or others; or peer review between classmates.  Commentary from multiple readers and/or at different stages of an assignment can be especially effective.

5. Research skills and scholarly citation practices are taught, not just assigned. To help students more skillfully locate and use information, a W1 course asks students to develop their research skills, both in the use of library or electronic resources and in the responsible use of sources within their own writing.  Use of library resources might entail an assignment-specific session in the library or an introduction to the research methodology of a particular field or fields; responsible use of sources within their own writing might entail discussion of citation formats, quoting and paraphrasing, and plagiarism.

For a complete list of learning objectives for writers see:
http://www.bates.edu/dof/teaching-and-advising/writing-attentive-courses/learning-objectives-for-writers/