Center for Writing

• The Center for Writing has resources for faculty and students
• Teaching with writing workshops

Help for international or multilingual student writers

• The Student Writing Support program in the Center for Writing employs multilingual specialists. Your students can select a specific consultant and make weekly appointments if needed.
• More advice on responding to non-native speakers
• Voices of Minnesota's multilingual writers (videos about learning to write American academic English)
• Student writing support for multilingual writers
• Valuing written accents, a project at George Mason University

Updated guidelines for WI courses

The guidelines for University of Minnesota writing intensive courses have recently been changed to be more flexible.  For help in developing a WI course, please feel free to contact Leslie Schiff, schif002@umn.edu.

CBS Writing Enriched Curriculum Project

• The CBS Writing Enriched Curriculum Writing Plan (2010)
  • CBS-defined discipline-specific writing characteristics CBS faculty-identified, from the Writing Plan
  • CBS desired writing abilities for graduates CBS faculty-identified, from the Writing Plan
• Faculty handbook for mentoring University Honor students in CBS Version 1.0 piloted in 2010 by Sarah Corrigan and Leslie Schiff
• Thesis assessment rubric Modified from the Duke University BioTAP, thesis assessment protocol

Writing instruction tools

How to get student feedback on the discipline-relevant writing you have incorporated into your course

• SRT form for mid-semester feedback
• SRT form for end of semester feedback

Using real student writing samples to improve writing in your course

• To access archived student writing samples from CBS courses, please contact Leslie Schiff, schif002@umn.edu
• Student Release Form This can be used to gather copies of student work for future teaching examples
• EEB Assignment checklist tool

Example assignments and course materials

Many of these were developed by EEB faculty members and submitted to the EEB teaching and writing moodle.  Please send example of writing assignments and other assessments to Leslie Schiff for inclusion in this section.

Short writing assignments

• News summary with peer response
• Weekly essay assignment and rubric EEB 5322
• Virology compare and contrast
• How to write a comparative analysis (from Harvard)

Laboratory reports

We are looking for examples of lab reports that effectively model components of research papers; please email Leslie Schiff.

• LabWrite (resources from NCSU for faculty and students)

Multi-stage research papers

• Research question workshop slides EEB 4609W
• Multistage research paper with rubric EEB 4611
• Multistage research paper assignment EEB 4609W
• Peer response workshop EEB 5146

Resources for assignments involving synthesis

• Synthesis worksheet Virology MicB 4141W/4171 (preparation for compare/contrast); worksheet #2
• Synthesis workshop EEB 4609W (how to example; used with real student writing samples)

Research presentations

• Viruses at the Edge
• Research presentation guidelines EEB 3407
• Student presentations EEB 5601

Scientific writing tips for students and instructors

• Example writing tip sheets (a, b)
• Editing tip sheets MicB 4141W (c, d)
• Plagiarism workshop EEB 4609W
• Commenting on student writing (from UC Davis)

Critical Reading Assignments

• Critical paper review EEB 5122
• Critical reading assignment EEB 3001
• Critical reading questions EEB 3001

Rubrics

• Writing to Learn concept maps Virology MicB 4141W/4171
• Writing assignments Virology MicB 4141W/4171 (includes CBS scientific writing characteristics
• Scientific writing assignments

Approaches to enhance specific writing abilities

These materials were developed by EEB to fill specific needs in their curriculum.  The assignments are developed to target students at multiple levels and can be completed as either short (<5-10 minute) or longer (~25 minute) assignments.  They are intended to be adapted to different courses and purposes.

Interrogating sources/critical reading

• Evaluating and using sources: Online sources
  • 5-minute workshop: Evaluating online sources presentation
  • 5-minute workshop: Evaluating online sources lesson plan
  • 5-minute workshop: Evaluating online sources handout
• Evaluating and using sources: Primary vs. secondary sources
  • 5-minute workshop: Primary vs. secondary sources presentation
  • 5-minute workshop: Primary vs. secondary sources lesson plan
  • 5-minute workshop: Primary vs. secondary sources handout
• Interrogating sources - cover page
• How to read a scientific paper
• How to read a paper
• Interrogating discussions
• Navigating a scientific paper
• Dissecting an abstract (from Nature)

Synthesizing disparate sources

• Introduction to Synthesis 1
  • 5-minute workshop: Synthesis Intro Workshop presentation
  • 5-minute workshop: Synthesis Intro Workshop lesson plan
  • 5-minute workshop: Synthesis Intro Workshop handout
• Introduction to Synthesis 2
  • 5-minute workshop: Synthesis Intro & Evaluation Workshop presentation
  • 5-minute workshop: Synthesis Intro & Evaluation Workshop lesson plan
  • 5-minute workshop: Synthesis Intro & Evaluation Workshop handout
• Practicing Synthesis 1
  • 5-minute workshop: Synthesis Practice Workshop presentation
  • 5-minute workshop: Synthesis Practrice lesson plan
  • 5-minute workshop: Synthese Practice handout
• Practicing Synthesis 2
  • 5-minute workshop: Synthetic Writing presentation
  • 5-minute workshop: Synthetic Writing - Advanced Students lesson plan
  • 5-minute workshop: Synthetic Writing - Advanced Students handout
• Synthesis - cover page
• How to concept map
• Concept map intro example (combining sources to form an argument)
• Combining sources
• Synthesis workshop - for instructors
• Synthesis workshop - for students
• Making sense - context and translations
• Keeping track of key results and conclusions
• Model paragraph

Teaching and writing references

Books available for perusal in Leslie Schiff's office, schif002@umn.edu.

• Scientific Writing and Communication (Papers, Proposals and Presentations), by Hofmann (recommended by Jennifer Powers)
• How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, by Day and Gastel (used for Biol 4960H honors support course, 2011)
• A Short Guide to Writing About Biology, by Pechenik (used for Biol 4960H honors support course, 2011)
• Essentials of Writing Biomedical Research Papers, by Zeiger
• Writing Papers in the Biological Sciences, by McMillan
• The Craft of Scientific Presentations (Critical Steps to Succeed and Critical Errors to Avoid), by Alley
• Writing in the Life Sciences (A Critical Thinking Approach), by Greene
• Revising Prose, by Lanham
• Style, Lessons in Clarity and Grace, by Williams
• Engaging Ideas, by Bean (this is a fabulous book with lots of teaching ideas, not just writing)