 FAQ AND OTHER RESOURCES
Frequently
asked questions
Resources for:
Resources for University Writing
The first of the stated objectives of
first-year writing instruction
at The George Washington University is to help our students develop the
"capacity for critical reading and for analytic thinking that examines
assumptions and evidence, in both scholarly texts and informed public
commentary." The conference is one among several UW20 "capstone"
initiatives that aim to provide students with the opportunity to
combine these capacities through publicly presented scholarship. (For
others, see here.)
In line with these objectives, we see this section of the conference web
site as having a legacy beyond any given year's event. Here, you will
find materials related to teaching critical
thinking and publicly engaged
research and writing that have been developed by University
Writing Program faculty over many semesters in a cumulative and
collaborative process. Many of these materials have potential uses that
extend well beyond the conference and should be of interest to any
students, faculty, adminstrators, or others concerned with how these
skills and scholarly values might be better learned or taught.
In these pages you will find,
for example:
- Suggestions for the ways that teachers of writing (and
other subjects
as well) can build into their classes
some of the excitement and
challenges of public intellectual engagement and the process of
scholarly peer review by which writing moves from proposal to
presentation.
- Guidelines to the "Art of
Asking Questions" that are as applicable to in-class peer review
sessions and the framing of critical research problems as they are to
serving as part of an actively engaged conference audience.
- Samples of post-event
responses to presenters that serve as object lessons in moving
students from being passive consumers of scholarly work to active
participants in shaping its ongoing development.
- A pragmatic introduction to the specifics of particular presentation formats, including
panels and poster sessions, that can help expand the sense instructors
and students might have of what "academic writing" is, and how
assignments might be designed to provoke and capture some of these
alternate modes of framing research.
- Practical tips for faculty,
moderators, and other experience public presenters in how to guide
first-time public scholars through some of the nuts and bolts of
speaking in public, such as troubleshooting
technology problems, and anticipating
questions.
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