As John Warner notes in Why They Can’t Write, “there’s little dispute that grades do more harm than good in helping students learn writing” (2018, p. 213). Grades are both a disincentive for students to learn and an imprecise measure of what they have learned. Students in classrooms with traditional grading practices—that is, those that… Read more »
As a college English teacher with over twenty years of experience, John Warner is often asked why recent graduates can’t write. Warner typically responds, “They’re doing exactly what we’ve trained them to do; that’s the problem” (2018, p. 2). As the subtitle to Warner’s Why They Can’t Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities… Read more »
Do your students struggle to learn difficult concepts in your courses? Do they often fail to meet your expectations on final writing products? Do they seem to dislike writing in general? Writing-to-learn assignments are short, informal tasks that help students understand course concepts and generate their own ideas for future exploration. Students complete these assignments… Read more »
Searching for scholarly information can often feel like detective work. Some students are able to solve the mystery right away, while others gather clues that eventually lead them to the ideal source. Google Scholar is often the primary point-of-entry for students. Some may feel comfortable with the familiar interface, or perhaps they are used to… Read more »
Did you know that Writing Tutorial Services (WTS) is one of the few writing centers in the country offering subject-specific tutoring? This service allows your students to get tutoring that best matches their needs for your courses and assignments. And did you know that students can now schedule appointments online through the WTS website? Students… Read more »
Because science is often written about for a skilled adult audience that is well-versed with a particular scientific subject, it can be challenging to make scientific literature accessible to our undergraduates. Often, it seems that doing so will mean hours of scouring the literature, more hard work to boil down complex points, and, despite an… Read more »
