Resources for Faculty
Harvard Study of Undergraduate Writing
Harvard’s four-year “study of undergraduate writing . . . experiences of 400 students [class of 2001] . . . to gain a better understanding of the role writing plays in a college education and to compose as complete a portrait as possible of the college writing experience.” Provides links to a summary of the research results and a short video, Shaped by Writing , you can download at your desk: Harvard Study
Crafting Effective Writing Assignments
Advice on developing assignments that meet your teaching goals, a check sheet for instructors, and samples of writing assignments: What Makes a Good Writing Assignment?
Ideas for Short Writing Assignments
Under”Faculty Handouts,” read about assignments that “Require No Out of Class Time [for the prof.],” “Minimal Out of Class Time,” and so on. Fresh approaches to using writing to promote critical thinking, organized to suit faculty workload concerns: Ideas for ungraded and quick-to-assess writing assignments
Ideas for short in-class writing activities to improve learning and model writing as a tool for thinking: In-Class Writing Activities
Peer Review
How to develop feedback forms for students to review classmates’ drafts and papers. Geared to writing in political science but easily adapted to suit other disciplines and programs: Questions to Guide Peer Review
Peer review guidelines for students from the Bates Biology Department. Adaptable to other natural and social sciences: Peer Review Guidelines
Responding to and Grading Student Writing
Includes a list of priorities for reading students’ drafts and papers as well as tips on making comments: Responding
Tackles some of the myths about evaluating students’ papers and offers concrete examples of faculty comments: Responding to Student Writing
From the Bok Center, provides “a sense of criteria for grading papers” by categorizing the role of “thesis, use of evidence, design (organization), and basic writing skills (grammar, mechanics, spelling)” in assigning grades to students’ written work:Grading Guidelines
Plagiarism
The Bates College Statement on Plagiarism: Bates College Statement on Plagiarism
Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Plagiarism Resource Site”is especially concerned with news, developments, and resources that consider the issue in the context of undergraduate teaching and learning”: C-B-B Plagiarism Resource Site
Provides information on plagiarism and discussion about instilling in students respect for academic integrity: The Center for Academic Integrity of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke
Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers by Robert Harris. Information about detecting plagiarism as well as ideas about ways to make students responsible for doing their own research: Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers
Ladd Library page, Reference and Research Resources. Under “Writers’ Resources,” links to citation manuals and information for students aboutdistinguishing between scholarly and popular sources and evaluating WWW sources (from the CBB/IT Consortium): Writers’ Resources
Writing in the Natural Sciences and Math
Extensive material developed by members of the Biology Department and Seri Lowell, Writing Specialist in the Sciences. Applicable to other sciences and to interdisciplinary courses. If your students are not aware of this site, please call it to their attention: How to Write A Paper in Scientific Journal Style and Format: Table of Contents Bates College
Poster Sessions and Presentations
Seri Lowell’s excellent handout on the “keys to a successful poster,” including advice about why posters fail and “sweating the details” to create a well-designed poster: Preparing a Successful Poster