Summary and Resources

One way to elicit good writing from your students is to break down the assignment into the steps necessary to complete it. Ensuring that they move through the assignment in stages will enable them to construct a thoughtful response (and discourage student tendencies to tackle the assignment the night before!). Showing them examples of the kind of writing you’re anticipating will facilitate their own constructions.

Resources, Material, (and lots) of handouts for Preparing Students to Write

Global writing issues

•   Effective Thesis Statements
          Handout 1 - Thesis Statements: Anthropology
          Handout 2 - Thesis Statements: History
          Handout 3 - Thesis Statements: Literature
          Handout 4 - Suggested Exercises

• Using and Introducting Materials from Sources
          Handout 1 - Using and Introducing Materials from Sources
          Handout 2 - Using Textual Evidence: Anthropology
          Handout 3 - Using Textual Evidence: Literature

• “Citing and Documenting Sources” and “Intellectual Property” on Bruin Success with Less Stress.

• Summary and Description vs. Analysis
          Handout 1 - Summary vs. Analysis - Anthropology
          Handout 2 - Summary vs. Analysis - History
          Handout 3 - Summary vs. Analysis - Literature
          Handout 4 - Suggested Exercises

• Organizing, Outlining, Drafting
          Handout 1 - Organizing, Outlining Drafting
  

• "The Quote Sandwich" - Courtesy of Susan Griffin, UCLA Writing Programs
          Handout 1 - The Quote Sandwich

Local writing issues

• Grammar notes
          Handout 1 - Apostrophes
          Handout 2 - Commas and Semicolons
          Handout 3 - Pronoun References
          Handout 4 - Pronoun Types
          Handout 5 - Sentence Faults
          Handout 6 - Exercise - Apostrophes
          Handout 7 - Exercise - Commas
          Handout 8 - Exercise - Pronoun References
          Handout 9 - Exercise - Pronoun Types

• Style notes
          Handout 1 - Active vs. Passive Voice
          Handout 2 - Parallelism
          Handout 3 - Sentence Variety
          Handout 4 - Writing Concisely
  

• Writing Process
          Handout 1 - The Writing Process - generic
          Handout 2 - The Writing Process - Anthropology
          Handout 3 - The Writing Process Example - Anthropology
          Handout 4 - The Writing Process Example - Literature

Additional Reading for Preparing Students to Write

• Jeanne Fahnestock and Marie Secor, “The Stases in Scientific and Literary Argument,” Teaching Argument in the Composition Course: Background Readings, Timothy Barnett, ed. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s) 2002.
  
• Toby E. Fulwiler,”Journal Writing Across the Curriculum,” How to Handle the Paper Load: Classroom Practices in Teaching English 1979-1980, Gene Stanford, ed. (Urbana IL: NCTE) 1979.
  

Okay. You’ve thoroughly prepared your students to complete their assignment successfully, and now you have that dreaded stack of papers on your desk. What now? Read on for how to get through that pile with style and speed.