Writing Program Investigation

You will select, explore, and research a university’s writing program, particularly its First Year Composition (FYC) program, and also, it’s English department majors and graduate level programs relevant to FYC/composition.

Think of it as a Writing Program/FYC/Approach to Composition investigation.

The Evidence:

Certainly, examine whatever statements the department, program, and/or institution makes about their first year composition program and 1101/1102 level offerings. But also (and perhaps more informative,) look for artifacts, documents, profiles, people, events and other bits of information beyond official brochures and department websites, and outside of easily accessible/clearly connected information — look for things that say something about the university’s approach to FYC. Such “things” (items, artifacts, elements, documents, etc.) include, but are not limited to, the following:

• standard syllabi, textbook/s, and other pedagogical materials for FYC (and in some cases, pre-FYC basic writing or ESOL courses)
• info about GTA participation, funding, eligibility, training, oversight, responsibilities, and freedoms
• graduate level course offerings relevant to FYC (like FAU’s ENC 6700: Comp Theory and ENG 6925: Colloquium, though keep in mind different universities use different course numbering systems and titles^[1])
• “unofficial” artifacts and materials such as individual syllabi, course materials, websites, handouts, tools, groups, etc.
• associated faculty (including their alma maters, CVs, and areas of disciplinary interest/expertise)

Questions:

As you’re gathering evidence, keep in mind that you’re gathering evidence for a purpose — to investigate the Writing Program’s approach to writing and theoretical underpinnings. In order to understand and communicate the WP’s approach to writing, you should answer most (or all) of the following questions.

• Generally, what is the purpose of writing? What is/are the goal/s of writing?
• Specifically, what is the purpose of FYC? What is/are the goal/s of FYC?
• How do they understand truth? knowledge? the audience/reader? the writer? the student? (the student-writer?), the text?
• What is the teacher’s role?
• How is writing best taught? How is writing best learned? How is writing improved?
• How would the writing program answer Therborn’s ideological questions? What is good? What exists? What is possible?

The Investigation Report:

On or about the Xth week of class, you will deliver a readable “Investigation Report” that communicates the findings of your investigation and describes the Writing Program’s approach to writing. The report doesn’t need to be in essay or report format. Instead, it should be written in whatever way makes the document most readable/usable (white paper? fact sheet? infographic?…?)

The document should:

• communicate your understanding of some (or all) of the “questions” above
• point to “evidence” that supports your claims
• be organized in some logical, readable way
• be selective in what information it presents (don’t just copy/paste everything you find into a document).
• synthesize the information you found online and demonstrate your broad understanding of composition theory and/or major theoretical schools
• take a cue from professional writing in terms of readability, usability, and conciseness
• be smart and informed without engfish^[2] or mushfake^[3].

Additional Notes, Guidelines, and Information:

You may work with a partner or alone, and each student or team of students must choose a different writing program. When you make a selection, please comment on this page to claim your university. After someone claims a program, no one else can claim it.

If you can’t find any information (or anything interesting) about your writing program, choose a different program. If you can’t make sense of what you find out about your program, or if it appears to lack a coherent approach (or coherent strands of approaches, guiding theories, etc.), then choose a different program.

You may find the various statements useful.

• “NCTE Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing,” (Nov. 2004)
• “CCCC Statement on the Multiple Uses of Writing.” (Nov. 2007)
• “Writing Now: A Policy Research Brief Produced by the National Council of Teachers of English.” (2008)WPA Council of Writing Program Administrators “Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing” and Executive Summary (Jan. 2011)
• “WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition (3.0)” (Jul. 2014)

Some potential programs that come to mind (no promises about their appropriateness or the outdatedness of my assessment): Michigan, Rutgers, The Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Dartmouth, University of South Florida, Carnegie Mellon University, Texas Tech…

Yeah, I know “outdatedness” isn’t a word.