Red Sunset

Welcome to The Writing Center’s Open Educational Resources (OER) page. In the first section, students can find materials that will help them–from first-year to senior–with their writing assignments. In the second section, Instructional staff can find materials that may help them develop their teaching praxis. Throughout this OER page, students and faculty can find support for writing, reading, and teaching.

Support for Students

Academic Writing

Academic Writing is a specific type of writing and can vary across disciplines. The following documents will help students adhere to some guiding principles found in academic writing i.e., conciseness, formality, and clarity. Reading sources that are discipline-specific are a great way to learn how to write in your discipline, so for more tips on reading critically, see the Reading Critically section.

• “Considering the Rhetorical Situation”
  This worksheet will help students learn a little more about what Academic Writing is, and how it may apply to their field of study. It includes scenarios that will challenge students to think about ways they may develop strategies for their writing, and it offers instructors an avenue to create their own applications for students as they consider rhetorical situations for their coursework.
• “Developing Thesis Statements and Forecasting Messages”
  This document will help students develop effective thesis statements and forecasting messages useful in directing audiences for the student’s written work.
• “Developing Unity and Cohesion in Texts”
  In this handout, I cover processes for writing unified and cohesive texts. I highlight the practice of using transitions to help writers connect ideas throughout their work and offer transitional phrases for students to use.
• “Developing Effective Signal Phrases”
  Use this document to begin exploring the varieties of signal phrases to use in academic writing contexts.
• “A Guide to Writing Concisely”
  This handout will help students write concisely in multiple fields of study including Engineering, computer science, and the humanities. Use the examples to aid in writing professional texts in multiple contexts.
• “Understanding Voice and Parallel Structure in Writing”
  This handout provides students some clarity on writing with an academic voice and using parallel structures to engage their audiences.

e-mail 

• “A Guide to Writing e-mail”
  Use this document to help you write professional e-mails to professors and colleagues!

Generative AI

In this section, I offer strategies for thinking about and using Generative AI as a writing tool. While the jury is still out on Generative AI, I, nonetheless, offer considerations for AI as we venture into the ever-changing world of technology and how to navigate the challenges it provides.

• “Exploring Strategies for Using AI”
  In this handout, I offer strategies for using AI in classrooms. Reflecting on the work of Lisa Rourke from Brandeis University, I offer some best practices for implementing AI in multiple contexts.
• “Writing Prompts for Generative AI”
  Following up on Lisa Rourke’s work, this document will help instructors and students apply specifics to generating prompts for AI as we seek the most positive and useful results.

Oral Presentations

In this section, I offer students some best practices in developing their oral presentations.

• “The Elements of Oral Communication”
  In this handout, I offer students central elements of oral communication, and I offer exercises students can use to reinforce the elements of oral presentations.
• “Representing Data in Oral Presentations”
  Presenting figures, graphs, and charts is instrumental in presentation design. Use this document to help you present data in presentations.

Reading Critically, Summary, Paraphrase, and Citing Directly

The sources here can be used to help students develop and apply best practices as they begin the rigorous work of reading and writing in academic contexts.

• “A Guide to Reading Critically”
  In this document, I offer strategies for reading difficult texts for deeper understanding of the texts, and I offer strategies for annotating texts for greater comprehension.
• “A Guide to Summary, Paraphrase, and Direct Citations”
  This handout offers students strategies for using paraphrase, summary, and direct citations. These strategies may be employed across the curriculum and in various writing situations.

Research and Writing in Academic and Professional Contexts

In “Research and Writing in Academic and Professional Contexts” I offer handouts that will help students understand what writing looks like in different fields of study, and I offer students strategies for developing their writing in their fields of study.

• “Research Writing in the Humanities and STEM: An Overview”
  This handout helps students understand the differences between writing in the humanities and writing in STEM fields. There are important differences that each context requires for students to successfully navigate the different writing situations.
• “Using a Synthesis Matrix”
  Use this matrix to help you organize sources in preparation of writing research papers.
• “Writing in Professional Contexts”
  In this document, I present Keith Grant-Davies’ work to help students understand rhetorical situations and how to respond to constraints that emerge from a dynamic and interdependent relationship with an audience.

Understanding Citation Styles

In this section, I offer handouts that will helps students learn best practices for integrating source material into their texts while also using various citation guides.

• “Strategies and Resources for Using Chicago, APA, and MLA Documentation Styles”
  In this handout, I offer students strategies for using various citation guides.
• “Understanding Plagiarism and How to Avoid It”
  This handout will help students understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.

Writing Processes 

In this section, I offer students information on the writing process, ways to develop their process, and what learning looks like in academic contexts. I also offer students useful strategies in shaping their learning strategies, determining how well strategies are working, and how to continue developing those learning strategies.

• “A Guide for English Language Learners (ELLs)”
  In this handout, I offer some advice and guidelines for ELL/ESL learners as they navigate the waters of academic writing and what may be expected as they write in the American academy of higher education.
• “A Guide to Self-Regulated Learning”
  In this document, I introduce the idea of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) as a strategy for developing best practices in learning. Promoted by Paul Pintrich, SRL, in academic contexts, illustrates processes students can use to help them reflect on their processes for learning, determine how well they are working, and how they may develop more useful strategies for learning in higher educational contexts.
• “A Guide to The Recursive Writing Process”
  In this handout, I offer students clarity about the writing process. As a recursive process, writing processes vary between individual writers, and with it’s clarity, this document will help students employ different tracts as they begin to develop a process that works for them.
• “Revision: A Key to Effective Writing”
  In this document, I offer students some best practices for revision. All texts get revised before they get submitted, so this document will help students develop their revision practices to submit polished work.
• “Writer’s Block: Understanding it and Combating it”
  Find ways to combat writer’s block and free up your creative energy in this document!

Writing the Reflective Report

Writing a Reflective Report is an important part of the scientific fields, specifically Engineering. Get a leg-up on writing projects by following the organization of the reflective report in this document.

• “Writing a Reflective Report”

Instructional Support

Laboratory Teaching and Embedded Consultants 

• “Guiding Principles of a Laboratory Writing Classroom”
  With laboratory teaching beginning in composition classrooms around 1887, it is a recognized and established composition pedagogy. This handout will help TAs or instructors experiment with laboratory teaching in the classroom.
• “Employing Teaching Assistants (TAs) or Embedded Consultations in the Writing Classroom”
  Employing TAs or Embedded Consultations provides professional development for TAs and their Instructors. Developing and offering collaborative learning opportunities also encourages support and builds confidence. Find some useful strategies in this handout.

Peer Review and Collaborative Learning

In this folder, I offer practices for providing Peer Review and Collaborative Learning in writing classrooms.

• “Implementing Peer Review”
  In this handout, I offer some best practices for implementing Peer Review in classrooms including preparation, benefits, and practices to use.

Providing Feedback 

• “Building Feedback Strategies for Writing Assignments”
  In this handout, discover strategies for offering dynamic and effective feedback.

Significant Learning 

• “Using Significant Learning to Develop Scoring Guides and Rubrics”
  In this handout, I offer L. Dee Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning as a way to reconceptualize our approach to assignment building and evaluation. This document describes Fink’s taxonomy, and I offer examples of how it may be implemented in scoring criteria.

Writing in the Disciplines (WID) 

• “Developing and Implementing Scaffolded/Constructivist Writing Assignments”
  In this handout, I offer strategies for developing assignments as they may fit into a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) body of work (WID, WTL, & WTE).
• “Writing, Engineering, Scientific Processes, and Rethinking Expertise”
  In this document, I present the various ways that writing is similar in process to many other fields of study. This document encourages collaboration across the disciplines to help faculty build onto emerging WID practices.