Helpful Links

The UMR Writing Center offers the following links from the Center for Writing at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities to assist instructors in working with their enrolled students.

Designing the Course

When designing a course that involves substantial writing, you may find it useful to keep a few key components in mind: course-specific learning objectives, discipline-specific writing expectations, sequencing of writing assignments, and, within those assignments, opportunities when instructors (and/or peers) can coach or provide feedback on drafts.

In this section, you’ll find materials and examples that can help you effectively integrate writing within your specific course.

http://writing.umn.edu/tww/design/index.html 

Offering Feedback

Asking students to reflect on a course's writing assignments and instruction provides instructors with valuable measures of student learning and specific suggestions for course improvement. Two lists of feedback items are offered below with the idea that instructors can adopt them, customize them, or use them as menus from which to pull relevant items.

http://writing.umn.edu/tww/feedback/ 

Assignments and Activities

From in-class activities to sequenced informal and formal assignments, there are a wealth of possibilities for involving your students in meaningful writing practice and learning.

In this section, you’ll find a wide variety of examples that can inspire your creation of writing assignments and writing activities for your course.

http://writing.umn.edu/tww/assignments/ 

Responding and grading

Commenting upon and grading student writing are among the most direct (and therefore valuable) elements of writing instruction. These two activities are also chief among the concerns voiced by faculty members and other instructors, who may feel under-qualified to diagnose and evaluate written strengths and weaknesses.

In this section, you’ll find paradigms for effectively and efficiently responding to student writing, as well as multiple approaches to grading and evaluation.

http://writing.umn.edu/tww/responding/ 

Grammar and Mechanics

Many instructors perceive that they should spend considerable time teaching correct grammar and usage. Studies tell us, however, that spending lots of time on explicit grammar instruction is less effective than brief and focused work on "surface" issues in the writing in which students are currently engaged and at an appropriate time in the process.

In this section, we provide resources on how to teach grammar and mechanics in courses across the curriculum.

http://writing.umn.edu/tww/grammar/ 

Preventing Plagiarism

What we often call plagiarism may actually be an incomplete or improper understanding of the principles and protocols of citing one’s sources. Nonetheless, the explosion of information available in print and online makes it easier to plagiarize, that is, intentionally lift another’s prose or ideas without proper attribution.

In this section, you’ll find successful approaches to teaching students how to use sources appropriately and to avoid plagiarism.

http://writing.umn.edu/tww/preventing/index.html 

Working with English Language Learners

As many of our currently enrolled students at UMR are foreign-born, we find that the majority of those students seeking assistance at the Writing Center face many challenges specific to that population. While they often experience the same frustrations and difficulties as native-born writers, they also contend with cultural and organizational differences as they interpret and construct multi-faceted course assignments and projects. The following links offer suggestions in working with English language learners in your classroom

1. http://writing.umn.edu/tww/responding/quicknns.html
2. http://writing.umn.edu/tww/responding/non-native.html
3. http://writing.umn.edu/tww/responding/ValuingWrittenAccents--Non-nativeStudentsTalkaboutIdentityAcademicWritingandMeetingTeachersE.pdf 

Browse by Discipline

The writing in the disciplines pages below contain links to sample writing-intensive syllabi, writing assignments, and grading schemes, as well as links to local and national resources on writing. These materials are categorized by discipline or disciplinary cluster, but we encourage you to peruse pages outside your discipline for ideas that can be adapted to your students' needs and interests.

http://writing.umn.edu/tww/discipline/index.html