Keri Epps Assignments & Activities Archive Assignment Description As a writing instructor dedicated to researching and teaching rhetorical genres, I often struggle with how to facilitate students’ learning of what makes a genre, how it circulates, and who it matters to. In short, designing scaffolded assignments around “genre” has seemed difficult in writing courses at […]
How to Write a _____ Like a _____ Read More »
Heather Shearer Assignments & Activities Archive Assignment Description Many composition instructors ask students to read drafts aloud during writing workshops because doing so helps writers identify logical gaps, stylistic mishaps, or localized errors they overlook when reading drafts silently. To amplify the writerly knowledge gained from reading drafts aloud, we can extend the read-aloud practice
“Lend Ears!”: Creating Audio Recordings of Final Drafts to Develop Rhetorical Awareness Read More »
Melvin E. Beavers Volume 5 Assignment Description The purpose of this assignment is to use rhetoric to think and write critically about technology and the users’ experiences with it. To do so, students will work collaboratively to determine what makes a smartphone app successful. Once they agree, each student is bound by the criteria they
Rhetorical Analysis: Creating an App Casebook Read More »
Ellen Cecil-Lemkin and Tamara Gluck Volume 5 Chapter Description From school to the workplace, managing team projects isn’t always easy, but this chapter aims to prepare students for success. In this chapter, we guide students through different tools for working with others, maintaining project goals, and completing projects where technology is at the forefront. We
Navigating Your Collaborative Project Read More »
Benjamin Miller Volume 5 Chapter Description This essay recommends that writers use digital tools to keep track of what’s changing as they write—and to include a quick comment with each notable change, saying what they’re trying to achieve. These revisitable histories are helpful in several ways. First, when we notice what we’re changing (often unconsciously)
What’s the Diff? Version History and Revision Reflections Read More »
Matthew A. Vetter and Oksana Moroz Volume 5 Chapter Description In a previous Writing Spaces essay entitled, Wikipedia Is Good for You!?, James P. Purdy introduces us to the idea that the online encyclopedia, often devalued in educational spaces, can serve as a starting place for research and a process guide to research-based writing. By
You Are Good for Wikipedia Read More »
Derek Van Ittersum & Tim Lockridge Volume 4 Chapter Description This chapter introduces “writing workflows,” a concept that helps writers examine how tools shape writing processes.* It suggests that writing does not take place solely in the mind, with the tools merely transcribing that activity. Instead, it describes how any experience of writing is shaped
Find the Best Tools for the Job: Experimenting with Writing Workflows Read More »
Sarah Seeley, Kelly Xu, & Matthew Chenn Melzer Volume 4 Chapter Description This chapter is a collaboration between a professor (Sarah Seeley) and two former students (Kelly Xu and Matthew Chen). We begin with a discussion of a key concept: the discourse community. In doing so, we illustrate why it is necessary to examine the
Read the Room! Navigating Social Contexts and Written Texts Read More »
Lindsey C. Kim Volume 4 Chapter Description As our students utilize more networked technologies in their writing, it has become critical that both students and teachers understand the role privacy plays in their digital activity. This chapter aims to help students understand why privacy is an important concept to consider when writing online and to
Understanding and Maintaining Your Privacy When Writing with Digital Technologies Read More »
Ashley J. Holmes Volume 4 Chapter Description This essay challenges students to use public writing to embrace their role as an “academic citizen” (i.e., someone who takes the writing and research we do in college and puts it to practical and civic use in our communities in the hopes of contributing toward positive social change).
Public Writing for Social Change Read More »
