Researching FYC Programs: Investigating Student Readiness, Program Relevance, and Relationships between Writing Programs Presenters: University of Tennessee.

Researching FYC Programs: Investigating Student Readiness,

Program Relevance, and Relationships between Writing Programs

Presenters: University of TennesseeBill DoyleMary Jo Reiff

Presenters: University of WashingtonAnis BawarshiSergio Casillas Rachel GoldbergMegan KellyAngela Rounsaville

URL for UT/UW Prior Genre Study

For a copy of today’s PowerPoint presentation, in addition to copies of survey questions, interview questions, and preliminary results, please visit:

http://utuwpriorgenre.blogspot.com

Overall Research Questions

• What genres (written, oral, digital) do students already know when they arrive in first-year composition courses?

• How do students use their prior genre knowledge when writing new genres for first-year composition courses?

• What factors contribute to how and why students transform prior genre knowledge into new genre knowledge?

• To what extent does this prior knowledge help or hinder students’ ability to gain access to academic discourse?

Research Questions for Presentation

• What genres do study students write most frequently?

• What genres do students write most in different domains (school, work, other)?

• What genres overlap domains the most?

Research Questions for Presentation

• What kinds of writing do students most enjoy and why?

• What kinds of writing do students least enjoy and why?

• What do students consider their most successful writing and why?

• What do student consider their least successful writing and why?

• What prior writing experiences do students think will most help them succeed in FYC?

Data Model for Research on Genre Learning

“Students have created or developed a ‘sense’ of new genres at levels below the conscious and are using shaping or creative powers that were neither verbal nor rational. The data on which such creative shaping operate include the following”:

1. Students’ past and current reading2. Students’ own previous essays3. Teachers’ assignments4. Talk elicited about writing

--Aviva Freedman, “Learning to Write Again: Discipline-Specific Writing at University.” Carleton Papers in Applied Language Studies 4 (1987): 95-116.

Research Methods

• Survey of Composition I students re: past literacy experiences (reading, writing, digital literacy), both in school and out of school;

• Discourse-based interviews asking student to reflect on how they called on previous discursive resources in order to write their first paper in FYC;

• Collection and analysis of writing produced in FYC as well as syllabi and writing assignments.

Survey

• Part I: Demographic Information (gender, race, class, major, educational background)

• Part II: Access to Technology at Home and School

• Part III: Identification of types of communication in school, outside of school, and on the job

Survey

Part IV: Open-ended Questions• What is your favorite/least favorite kind of writing?

Why?• What kinds of writing have you had the most success

performing?• What do you consider your most/least successful

piece of writing (in school or out) and why?• What do you do when you encounter new writing

tasks? What resources, skills, or habits do you draw on?

• What high school writing experiences (if any) do you think will help you most to succeed in your college writing course?

UT Student Sample

• Surveys distributed to 10% of all English 101: Composition I courses (Fall 2006) or 15 randomly selected sections of 101 (N=345)

• Number of students responding to the survey: 52

• Follow-up interviews with 9 students

Profile of UT Students Surveyed

Gender Race LanguagesSpoken

38%

62%

Male Female

2%2%8%

88%

American Indian/Alaskan NativeAsianAfrican-AmericanCaucasion

96%

2%

2%

English Spanish Arabic


Economic Class

10%

46%

34%

6% 4%

UpperUpper MiddleMiddleLower MiddleLower


Parent/Guardian Educational Background

2%12%

17%

69%

Some highschoolHigh schooldiplomaSome college

College degree


Type of School Attended Class Rank

79%

21%

0%0%0%

Public PrivateCharter Home SchooledOther

33%

38%

27%

2%

Top 10% Top 25%

25-50% Below 50%


Majors:• Business (10)• Nursing (7)• Undecided (6)• Engineering (4)• Education (3)• Pharmacy (3)• Psychology (2)• Pre-Med (2)• Sciences (2)• Law, Advertising, Optometry, Economics, Theater, Interior

Design, Sports Management, Exercise Science, Architecture, Music, Computer Science, Spanish, Anthropology (1)

UW Student Sample

• Surveys distributed to all students enrolled in 33 sections English 131: Expository Writing (Fall 2006) (N=748)

• Number of students responding to the survey: 64

• Follow-up interviews with 18 students

Profile of UW Students Surveyed

Gender

50%50%female

male


Race

65%

19%

2%

2%

2%

2%

2%

3%

3%

Caucasian

Asian

Am. Indian / AlaskaNativeIndian

Mexican

Middle Eastern

Northern European

unspecified other

no response


Languages Spoken Fluently

72%

25%

3%

1

2

3+


First Language/Dialect

4%3%

3%

2%

2%

2%

2%

3%

2%77%

English

Korean

English/Mandarin

Cantonese

Farsi

Hindi

Indonesian

Khmer

Vietnamese

no response


Economic Class

8%

27%

8%16%

11%

9%

3%9%

9%$250,000+

$150,000-249,999

$100,000-149,999

$80,000-99,999

$60,000-79,999

$40,000-59,999

$20,000-39,999

$10,000-19,999

no response


Parent/Guardian Educational Background

46%

31%

5%

8%

8% 2%Advanced/professional degree

Bachelor’s degree

Associate's degree

some college

high school diploma

some high school


Type of School Attended

78%

20%

2%

public high school

private high school

high school inconjunction w/college


Class Rank

57%

19%

19%

5%

top 10%

top 25%

top 25-50%

no response


Major

16%

15%

11%

11%

11%

8%

6%

2%

2%

2%14%

2%

Natural Sciences

Engineering

Business

Humanities

Medical / Dental

Social Sciences

Architecture & Urban Planning

Aquatic & Fishery Sciences

Arts

Information Science

undecided

no response

UT Survey: What genres do students write most frequently?

Text Messaging 1

Email

Spoken Word 3

Analytic Essays 4

Creative Writing 5

Research Paper 6

Classroom Discussion 7

Personal Essay

Summary

Chat

Student Self-Report

Email 1

Reports 2

Research Papers 3

Text Messaging 4

Instant Messaging 5

Summary 6

Personal Essay 7

Notes on Reading 8

Letters 9

Chat 10

Genre List

Tie in ranking

UT Survey: What genres do students write most in school?

5045 45 44 43

118 7 7 7

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Research Papers

Summary Report

Personal EssayNotes on Reading

Analytic EssaysResearch Paper

Classroom Discussion

Personal Essay

Summary

Genre List

Student Self-Report

UT Survey: What genres do students write most out of school?

47 47 45

3028

21

16

7 6 6

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Text Messaging

Email

Instant Messaging

Letters to Friends/Family

Chat

Text Messaging

Email

Spoken Word

Instant Messaging

Journal

Genre List

Student Self-Report

UT Survey: What genres do students write most on the job?

14

11 1110

8 8

5

2 2 2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Spoken Word/Oral Comm

Email

Business Letter

Report

Description

Spoken Word/Oral Comm

Email Chat

Description

Oral Presentation

Genre List

Student Self-Report

UT Survey: What genres overlap in these domains (in school, out of school, at

work)?

4547

30

11 10 11

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Email Reports Letters

School

Outside of School

Work

Genre List

UT Survey: What genres overlap in these domains (in school, out of school, at

work)?

Student Self-Report

11

7

16

5

7

5

6

5

8

2 2

1

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Email CreativeWriting

SpokenWord

Summary Chat InstantMessaging

School

Outside of School

Work

Genres UW Students Write most Frequently

61

60

59 59

58

57 57 57

54 54

50

52

54

56

58

60

62

Five-Paragraph Essay

E-Mail

Lab Write-Up/Report

Lecture Notes

Compare and Contrast Paper

Argumentative EssayInformal PresentationFormal PresentionInstant Messaging

Literary Analysis

Genre Type

# of Responses

Genres UW Students Write most in School

61

59 59

58 58

57

56

54 54

53

48

50

52

54

56

58

60

62

Five-Paragraph EssayLab Write-Up/Report

Lecture Notes

Compare and Contrast Paper

Powerpoint Presentation

Argumentative EssayFormal Presention

Literary Analysis

Informal Presentation

Research Paper

Genre Type

# of Responses

Genres UW Students Write most at Work

19

17

15

10

8

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

E-Mail

Business Letter

Resume

Powerpoint Presentation

Text Messaging

Genre Type

# of Responses

Genres UW Students Write most in Other Domains

59

54

44 4339

33

26 25 2523

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

E-Mail

Instant Messaging

Social Networking Profile

Text Messaging Personal Letter

Blog or Online Journal Commenting

Journal Writing

Freewriting Storytelling

Blog or Online Journal

Genre Type

# of Responses

Genre Use Overlap: School and Work

3.1 3.1 3.1

1.6 1.6

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

Personal LettersSpoken Word

Evaluation PaperLab Write-up Report

Summary

Genre Type

Percentage of Genre Overlap

Genre Use Overlap: School and Outside

51.6

31.3

21.9

17.2

14.1

10.9 10.99.4

7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8

4.7 4.7 4.73.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1

1.6 1.6

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Email Personal

Letter

Personal

Narrative

Summary Blog Text

Messeging

5 Paragraph

Essay

Evaluation

Paper

Genre Type


Genre Use Overlap: Work and Outside

4.7 4.7

1.6

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Instant Messaging

Online Discussion Board

Text Messaging

Genre Type


Genre Use Overlap: School, Work, and Outside

25

7.8

4.7 4.73.1

1.6 1.6 1.6

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Email

Personal Letters Text MessegingSpoken Word

Instant Messeging

Online Discussion Board

Personal Narrative

Summary

Genre Type


UT Survey: What is your favorite kind of writing? Why?

Creative Writing: 16 Total (8 no specified genre, 4 poetry, 2 short stories, 1 creative nonfiction, 1 fantasy)

Emotive/Expressive: “It's what you're feeling.” “I can express myself.” “It is about what I'm thinking and feeling.” “It allows me to set my own rules and express myself.” “I use it to express emotions, convey ideologies, and to reflect my growth.” “Because it allows me to express my feelings and thoughts and I can never be wrong about how I feel.” You can really write about something you’re passionate about.” “I love rhyming and expressing my feelings in ways that don’t always have to be perfect in grammar and composition.”

Other Reasons: “I can structure the paper how I want and infuse the information I deem worth writing about.” “No right or wrong way to do it. I like to come up with different ideas.”

UT Survey: What is your favorite kind of writing? Why?

Personal Writing, Personal Essays, Personal Letter: 6• “I can just write how I feel and analyze myself rather than analyzing something I

haven't seen before.”Freewriting: 5• “You can write whatever comes to mind.”Journaling: 5• “There’s no particular form.” “It is just your opinions and thoughts.” “A way for me

to express my emotions and what’s going on in my life daily.”Persuasive: 4• “I have used it the most and feel most comfortable with it.” “It is what was most

heavily taught to us in school.”Research: 4• “It is what I have done the most of.” “I know all the information that has to go into

the paper and I know it’s not the wrong answer.” “Enjoy the research and the preparation.”

UT Survey: What is your least favorite kind of writing? Why?

Research Papers: 14• “I have a hard time determining reliable sources.” “Don't enjoy having to

hunt down sources and compile them, or twist them to fit an argument.” “All of the citations.” “Structured and tedious.” “Have to follow many guidelines.” “They are on the research of other people that we combine all together in one paper.” “Boring and require no imagination.” “Topic is something I generally don't care about.” “Difficult to write without sounding like a report.”

Creative: 12 Total (Poetry 9, No Specified Genre 3)• “It is never interpreted how it is supposed to be interpreted.” “I think it is

hard to understand.” “I just don’t get it.” “I suck at it.” “Does not come easily to me and I have to work at it.” “I find it difficult to write.” “Despise it.”

UT Survey: What is your least favorite kind of writing? Why?

Analytical: 6• “Poetry is already written words, and I just don't like having to analyze someone

else's thoughts or feelings.” “Usually the topic we have to analyze I either don't know much about or care about.” “I do not always get the main point and therefore do badly.” “Structured.” “It's hard for me to dig really deep into the meaning of something.” “I have a hard time ‘analyzing’ someone else's work that is on paper when I can't talk to them in person.”

Reports: 6• “You usually have to interpret what someone else is trying to say when you don't

even know them.” “It’s simply summarizing another's thoughts.” “They are often assigned on a topic, rather than on something students wants to learn about.” “All the guidelines involved and because of the lack of my own opinion.” “Following a set format, and that usually is boring.” “Not interested/forced to write on those topics.”

From UT Survey: What kinds of writing have you had the most success performing?

Genres identified by form/mode:

15

9

5 5

2 21

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

EssaysPapersNarrativesPoetryReportsSpeechesSongs

From UT Survey: What kinds of writing have you had the most success

performing?

Genres identified primarily by rhetorical purpose or aim:

1413

76

5

1

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

CreativeResearchArgumentPersonalAnalyticalOpinionSummary

From UT Survey: What do you consider your most successful piece of writing (in school or out)?

*45 respondents total (could be more than one response)

19

65

43 3

2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Research PaperAnalysisCreativeEssaysSpeechesDon't KnowPaper-General

From UT Survey: What do you consider your most successful piece of writing (in school or out)? Why?

• Interest in subject; self-investment/enjoyment: 14“My first paper I turned in for my Freshman college comp. class. It was a rhetorical analysis of an artifact that was meaningful to us. I chose some thing I really loved and you could feel it in my writing.”

• Time investment; work and effort put in: 11“A big research paper for my sophomore English class because we worked on them for over a month. We had to turn in research cards, outlines, several rough drafts. This paper was probably the best I have written because I spent a lot more time on it than I have spent on any other paper.”


• Rhetorical Effectiveness: 9“My senior speech I wrote for graduation. I wrote my speech and tweaked it for months before my audition. When I heard that I got picked, I was really excited. Everyone has always told me that I am a good public speaker but I'd never really put any stock in it. When gave my speech it was received very well. Giving my speech was received really well and that experienced has changed my life.”

• New information learned: 5“My Senior Project research paper because it focused on my major in college and provided me with great new knowledge.”


• Grade earned: 5“My research paper senior year on the author of the Harry Potter series. I got one of the highest grades in the class on it.”

• Knew expectations and met requirements: 3“My most successful piece of writing was senior year of high school. This was a research paper. It was successful because I knew exactly what the teacher wanted and it was not opinionated or analyzed at all. I researched the topic in depth and wrote about the information I found.”

From UT Survey: What do you consider your least successful piece of writing? Why?

*46 respondents (could be more than one response)

11

8 8

6

4 43

2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

PoetryResearch PaperNot sureTimed/in-classPapers-GeneralAnalysisReportsFreewrite


• Lack of enjoyment/interest: 12“A research paper I did in high school because I didn’t care about the subject.”

• Lack of Quality: 8“Any type of poetry because I suck at it.”

• Lack of preparation/effort: 5“A paper that I had to write at the beginning of junior year, because I wrote it in one night and spent little to no time on it.”


• Rhetorical ineffectiveness: 3“Any poetry I did because I was never able to

accomplish what the teacher had intended.”

• Time restrictions: 4“Something in-class--I probably put it together too

quickly and it probably seemed sophomoric.”

• Too many rules/restrictions: 3“The writing assessment paper in my junior year of

highschool where you are given a topic and a time limit and you have to write a five point essay.”

UW Survey: Reflective Questions #1-4

1. What types of writing do you most enjoy? Why?

2. What types of writing do you least enjoy? Why?

3. What do you consider to be your most successful piece of writing? Why?

4. What do you consider to be your least successful piece of writing? Why?

UW Survey: What types of writing do you most enjoy? What types of writing do you least enjoy?

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Creative Writing Personal Writing Literary/AnalysisResearch PaperArgument PaperTechnical Writing

Freewriting Opinion Paper

Emerging Technology

Personal LetterPublic Writing5 paragraph essay

“Essay”

Compare/contrast

Exam-Based

MostEnjoyableLeastEnjoyable

UW Survey: What do you consider to be your most successful piece of writing? What do you

consider to be your least successful piece of writing?

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Creative WritingResearch PaperExam-Based

Literary/AnalysisArgument paperPersonal Writing

Report

PresentationTechnical WritingBusiness Writing

Public writing

"Essay"

5 paragraph essay

MostSuccessful

LeastSuccessful

Comparison of all reported genre types

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Creative WritingResearch PaperExam-Based

Literary/AnalysisArgument paperPersonal Writing

Report

Presentation

Technical WritingBusiness WritingPublic writing

"Essay"

5 paragraph essay

Freewriting

Emerging Technology

Personal LetterCompare/contrast

Opinion Paper

Most Successful

Least Successful

Most Enjoyable

Least Enjoyable

UW Survey: Reasons for Most Enjoyable Writing

024

68

101214

161820

Personally enjoys writing genre (18)Freedom from strict convention (12)

Theraputic (12)

Easy (10)

Freedom for creative thinking (6)

Communicative (6)

Writing leads to learning (5)

Not graded (5)

Most Enjoyable Writing

“I enjoy journal writing because it allows me to express myself and my emotions and serves almost as a purging of emotions. Scholastically, I most enjoy research papers since they are, frankly, the easiest.”

“Generally I enjoy writing persuasive essays because I can find my own evidence and I don’t have to rely on a text that I am given. I find it easier to find my own texts and understand those better than the texts given to me by teachers/professors.”

UW Survey: Reasons for Least Enjoyable Writing

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Doesn't see purpose (16)Difficulty with genre (10)

Student lacks interest in topic (9)Restricted by Conventions (8)

Student lacks creativity (7)

Doesn't know genre conventions (1)

Least Enjoyable Writing

“Literary analysis - never found the ‘most correct’ meaning without Cliff/Spark notes. Formal presentations - I feel like a lobster being judged on its ability to jump through a hoop.”

“I least enjoy essays because I have to make sense to the reader and I’m not good at that. Also because I’m absolutely terrible at making a point or a thesis statement of some kind.”

UW Survey: Reasons for Least Successful Writing

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Lack of interest in assignment (14)Didn't know genre conventions (9)

Lack of effort (8)

Restricted by conventions (4)

Only did for grade (4)

Student lacks creativity (4)Difficulty with genre (3)Doesn't see purpose (3)

Least Successful Writing

“Any piece of writing that I do for a class where I do not learn anything and is never read again after the initial grading.”

“…My first essay I wrote for my freshman English class. Coming out of a private school that stressed English grammar, I entered a public school setting that expected some sort of writing ability. Having never learned how to properly write an essay, I struggled tremendously with my first essay.”

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Rhetorical Effectiveness (17)Genre conventions met (9)Received good grade (9)

Interested in topic (7)Writing led to learning (4)

Freedom from strict genre convention (4)

Personally meaningful (3)

High effort (2)

Student confidence in writing (1)

UW Survey: Reasons for Most Successful Writing

Most Successful Writing

“A personal narrative essay that addressed the most important lessons I have learned in the past thirteen years. It was submitted for the senior profiles section of my school’s yearbook. I wrote about my struggle with my disability and how I overcome much adversity, learning important life lessons while inspiring many people. I used this essay for college applications and scholarships. I also shared it with family and friends who wanted to know more about me.”

Most Successful Writing“I haven’t really measured my writing in success, but I guess it would have to be a poem I wrote in eight grade that was published as part of a student collection.”

“that would have to be a literary analysis I wrote for my ap english class. I made my point and supported it with quotes, plus I got a good grade on it.”

“I wrote a sequel of sorts to Shakespeare’s “ All the worlds a stage” piece. I compared life to advances in computing; I through it came out well, and my teacher loved it to the point of keeping a copy for herself and giving me extra points. It stands out in my mind because it made me realize that my writing could entertain (and do a good job of it).”

Preliminary Findings•Findings do not indicate correlation between enjoyment/success and genre type

•Students tend to associate enjoyment with personal fulfillment

•Students tend to express lack of enjoyment, lack of success, and success in social terms

•Genre type does not predict success; success may be dependent on uptake and social action

From UT Survey: What do you do when you encounter new writing tasks? What resources, skills, or habits do you draw on?

• Knowledge of Writing Process: 24 [Prewriting (freewriting/brainstorming)-14; outlining-4, drafting-3, revising-3]

--“When I encounter new writing tasks I often think about the task in depth for a couple of hours and then do some free writing. When I have most of my thoughts gathered and somehow down on paper, I try to organize them. I let many others read and correct mistakes on every paper I write.”

--“I find that brainstorming before I start writing helps me greatly.”


• Outside feedback: 16 [teachers-6, peers-3, experienced writers-5, family-2]

--“I talk to other people, teachers or experienced writers in my class, and see how they would go about writing it.”

--“The best resource I have found is having someone proof read my papers. I think having someone else read it, they will find mistakes that you didn't notice, or maybe just clarify something that didn't make much sense.”

--“Ask Teacher or my mother which is a professor for assistance or more explanation, Read other peoples writings that are similar.”


• Online research: 11

--“I generally google it to find out more information.”

--“Look up examples on the internet or library.”

--“Mostly I like to turn to information on the internet when I do not know what I am doing. It, for me, is simply the easiest thing to work with.”


• Reference to past educational experiences, skills, and resources: 10

--“Think about what my past teaches have showed me and I use those experiences to help me.”

--“Past experiences and resources I found back in high school.”

• Reference to past writing/samples: 7--“I try to pull from my successful papers and past writing

directions.”

What previous writing experience do you think will help you most to succeed in this course or in writing at the University of Tennessee?

• High school writing/Genres: 16 (papers-3, research-2, persuasion-2, critique-2, essay-

2, report-2, TCAP, fantasy, senior portfolio)

--“My research and persuasion papers I had to write for Contemporary Issues.”

--“My experience in writing in high school: critiques, essays, reports, etc.”

--“Persuasive essays are probably the most helpful that I have completed before for this course.”


• High school writing courses: 9--“My entire senior English class in high school in which we

covered a little of everything.”--“My senior English class from high school will probably be the

most helpful because of the way my teacher exposed me to the different writing styles and helped us cover many different areas of writing.”

--“I think that writing several papers in high school english classes as well as other subjects in "writing across the curriculum" programs, i am less stressed out by the idea of having to write.”

• AP courses: 8

--“I did write alot of AP essays last year and that experience will probably help this year.”

--“My AP writing course will help me the most to succeed in my writing at UT.”


• Writing frequency in past: 7--“Just writing lots of papers in high school.”--“Me writing a essay every week for my English class in

high school will help me a lot in college.”--My English teacher made us write every week.

Without her I would be dropping English.”

• Influential writing teachers:5--“My senior year teacher was a great teacher because

she really got to know us individually and taught us how to write an appealing paper.”

--“I had a great teacher for my senior year English IV. I have been reading some advice that he gave us.”

Genre as Tool for Learning

“Genre is a tool for getting at the resources the students bring with them, the genres they carry from their educations and their experiences in society, and it is a tool for framing challenges that bring students into new domains that are as yet for them unexplored, but not so different from what they know as to be unintelligible.”

--Charles Bazerman, “The Life of Genre, The Life in the Classroom,” Genre and Writing, 1997

Considering the syllabus you have received for English 131, your first week preliminary essay, and your work toward the first major paper, what high school writing experiences (if any) do you think will help you to succeed

in the course?

• Experiences writing different genres: 22– Academic (Research Papers, Term Papers, Analysis Papers,

Opinion Papers, Persuasive Essays)

“I think that the literary analyses, the ones that weren’t ‘answer this prompt’ or ‘explain this symbol’, but the questions that were more along the lines of, ‘What did YOU get out of X Book?’ What we’ve done so far is pretty structured, but I get the feeling that these structures will give way to a space that we’ll be expected to fill with our own ideas, and so I think that the guideless free-writing and/or open-ended questions about what we as individuals understood will be the most helpful.”

“I feel that the practice of writing free response papers in my AP English class last year will be very helpful in helping me formulate cohesive arguments in my English papers this year.”

“I hate the five-paragraph essay format, but I am thankful I had to adhere to it for a time because it provides a good starting point for writing about a complex or confusing subject.”

– 2 Non-Academic (Journals, Creative Writing)

“English II Honors was a course that my teacher mistakingly (sic) focused on creative writing. Now it aids me because my approach to essay prompts are much more appealing to my audience.”

• Skills, strategies, and conventions: 11

“My high school writing experience with arguments and using blended quotes and analysis will help me in this course becasue (sic) it helped me to see where arguments were developed from, backed and fromed (sic); while also providing me with the analysis tools to examine an argument and use parts to express what I thought the author was trying to convey in the piece.”

“I think the writing structures that I developed in highschool (sic) will really help me. The organizational skills that I have aquired (sic) need to be tweaked a little bit to allow for more complext (sic) topics and ideas.”

“Emphasis on how to construct a thesis was helpeful (sic), even as we break away from that basic construct into producing more complex claims.”

• Experiences in AP classes and other college prep classes: 10

“I think I am MUCH more prepared to write in college because of my AP classes, not only English but also European and American History and government and economics. By taking AP courses I feel I have GREATLY increased my chances to succeed as a college student. They got me out of the mindset that a five paragraph paper is the only way to write and got me to start thinking abstractly about my writing style.”

“AP English!!! I’ve seen all of those ‘course goals’ written in the same scary vocabulary-wording, and had to adhere to them.”

• The “whole experience” of high school writing: 6

“Nothing specifically comes to mind, just the general experience collected after four years of essays.”

• Influence of teachers: 5

“Being taught by two english professors in high school was ultimately the most helpful resource, simply because I know MLA format, what professors are looking for, etc.”

• Experience with the writing process: 2

“well we had to edit our papers so that will help but I think its good that we actually go though the whole process step by step”

• Frequency of writing in high school: 2

“I think that all the writing I had to do for honors english (about 1 essay a week) will help me for english 131.”

“Just writing a lot.”

UW Course Outcomes

• To demonstrate an awareness of the strategies that writers use in different writing contexts.

• To read, analyze, and synthesize complex texts and incorporate multiple kinds of evidence purposefully in order to generate and support writing.

• To produce complex, analytic, persuasive arguments that matter in academic contexts.

• To develop flexible strategies for revising, editing, and proofreading writing.

Researching FYC Programs: Investigating Student Readiness, Program Relevance, and Relationships between Writing Programs Presenters: University of Tennessee.

Documents

profile of uw students

profile of ut students

study students

number of students

students past

race slide

gender slide

major slide