One of the challenges faced by college writing instructors is how to make the traits and skills we want to teach relevant to students. In this presentation we will reflect on how to use the methods of research and argument valued by professional academic writers as a means of inviting our students to critically engage with ideas and issues that are important not only to us, but to them as well.

By learning how to locate, read, and respond to complex discipline-specific scholarship and to engage in problem-seeking methods of thought and argument—especially when they do so with ideas and issues of personal importance—our students build the kinds of skills that will produce clear and practical benefits in every academic major. By teaching academic research writing as a genre common to all academic disciplines, and by identifying and practicing the component genres that comprise the researched argument, we can authentically pursue writing across the curriculum and writing in the disciplines goals.

We will focus on the exploratory research narrative as a key component genre that makes the research writing process manageable, enjoyable, and relevant to students’ individual interests and does so in a way that emphasizes creative engagement with ideas and frees students of many misperceptions about the value of critical intellectual work. We will show how the exploratory essay fits into an assignment sequence that incrementally draws students into the public, conversational exchange of ideas with their peers in the classroom and in the larger academic community.

Speakers

John Goshert, Director of Writing, University of Baltimore Amy Parsons, Professor of English, University of Wisconsin

Speakers

John Goshert, Director of Writing, University of Baltimore