Reorganizing the Freshman Research Writing Classroom

ENGL A111: Methods of Written Communication

• Course prepares students for tracked 200-level ENGL courses by providing introduction to college-level research writing
• Focus of UAA catalog course descriptions changed over time, largely following shifts in contemporary composition theory
• 1970s:  Orderly thought, clear expression, and close analysis of appropriate texts; introduction to research techniques
• 1980s: Rhetorical modes, sustained writing,  and improved grammar, punctuation, and critical thinking
• 1990s: Ways in which environment influences language2000s: Documented research paper in APA style
• 2010: Incorporation of multi-modal media (imbedded graphics, audio, and  video) into writing

Research and writing skills are difficult to learn if the required tasks, skills, and topics are presented in a disjointed manner. 

The goals of this inquiry were to:

• Provide students with a research theme, building shared knowledge in one area
  
• Create a discourse community in the classroom
• Introduce increasingly complex writing and documentation skills and tasks through a skills-scaffolding process

• Center each class's reading, writing, and research activities around a theme:

• ″Bioethics         


• ″Public Education         


• ″Technology

• Integrate summary and paraphrase in early assignments and in-class exercises

• Include documentation and source analysis in all assignments

• Provide sources and guide discussions to help students make connections and synthesize multiple sources

• Model methods of analyzing issues, problems, and sources to teach students to find, evaluate, and incorporate outside sources into their own writing

• Guide creation of research paper

• Use reflective writing so students can synthesize and express what they learn

• Students mastering paraphrase and summary will be more successful with essay writing
• More improved than "slid," especially at the extreme upper end of the grading scale

• Students' writing skills will improve as they progress through the course
• First study courses showed no significant skills improvement over the original course; later study courses showed moderate to significant skills improvement over the original and earlier study coursE

• Students in the study courses will earn higher grades than those in the original courses
• Students in study courses earned consistently higher grades on essays

• Fewer students in the study courses will withdraw or change to audit
• Fewer students withdrew from or audited study courses

• Study students' comments in IDEA and other sources will be more positive than comments from students in original courses
• Even with few IDEA surveys submitted, study students' reactions were significantly more positive for basic understanding of research process, citations, and referencing and for better class discussion base

• Spend more class time on paraphrase and summary writing
• Add more themes to engage more students
  
• Monitor teacher improvement of course and delivery and student progress in learning and skills application