News From the Writing Program
2024 - 2025
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In this edition...
- Information Literacy FYW Faculty Workshop
- Pedagogical Corner
- Meet the Writing Center Team
- New Writing Program Affiliated Faculty
- Faculty Resources
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Information Literacy FYW Faculty Workshop | |
Before the start of each semester, First Year Writing (FYW) faculty attend a workshop to share pedagogical ideas. Here are some highlights from the Fall 2024 workshop. | |
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Professor Burkhart spoke about ongoing efforts to equip students across USD with information literacy skills. See his full presentation here.
After presenting statistics on how many students the library reaches through their instructional sessions, Professor Burkhart discussed the impact of early access to formal library and information literacy training. Early and ongoing access improves the likelihood students will ask for support in the future and reduces “library anxiety," particularly for students who did not receive library instruction in high school.
For more information and resources, visit Copley Library's Information Literacy Guide.
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Professor Little led a working session to examine information literacy and the First Year Writing Learning Outcomes. See her full presentation here.
The traditional research paper is not the only way to teach information literacy. Smaller assignments, aligned with rhetorically specific writing tasks or challenges, repeated throughout the semester, can be another approach. For example: “find a good quote from an op-ed to use in a focusing incident introduction.”
Professor Little provided examples of smaller assignments and asked faculty to brainstorm ideas. The team is currently building a collection of informal lessons here: Resources for Teaching Research-Based Composition.
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Approaches to Teaching Popularization | |
One of the goals of Advanced Writing (CADW) is to teach specialized arguments in an area of study. In some disciplines (not all), this includes asking students to read and write about scholarly research. To students, it can feel like a bit of a jump.
One approach is to start with popular versions of scholarly research. Popularization, the act of transforming expert knowledge for more general audiences, is most often associated with science writing, but can be seen across the academic disciplines. Some common examples are journalism (ranging from trustworthy to more click-bait-ish), TED talks, academic blogs, and arguments informing public debates and policy.
But how could popular writing, with its obvious distinctions from “real” disciplinary writing, help students make progress toward the next step? Here are a few approaches to try:
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| Approach | Benefit | | Teach good examples → | Writing good popularization requires the rhetorical skill of recontextualizing knowledge. This means selecting, condensing, emphasizing, and transforming source content. What does this look like in your discipline? | | Analyze bad examples → | Showing examples of bad popularization can make it quite obvious to students why scholarly writing tends to include qualification, conditional language, hedging, and other traits. | | Challenge students to write their own → | Challenge students to transform specialized or technical research to accomplish a goal, for example, to inform, instruct, or advise an audience, or to engage a public debate.
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Meet the Writing Center Team | |
Meet the Writing Center Director | |
“It was a fine cry — loud and long — but it had no bottom and it had no top, just circles and circles of sorrow.”
- Toni Morrison
Excerpted from Sula
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Professor Sara Hasselbach is a Professor of Practice in the English Department and the Director of the USD Writing Center. Learn more about her and the Writing Center in this interview!
Q: Tell me a little bit about yourself.
A: If parallel universes exist, I believe that I’m a Park Ranger in at least one of them! I love being outdoors, especially in mountainous areas with crisp air and towering trees and forest creatures. I love exploring nature through the eyes of my 5-year-old son and my 10-year-old dog. Sometimes on nature walks, I pretend I’m traversing the countryside like a Jane Austen heroine.
My mother always had lots of books around the house, and that’s how I started to discover the worlds that open through literature. From high school through college, I always admired the curiosity and thoughtfulness of my English instructors and wanted to emulate them. It wasn’t until graduate school when I came into Writing Center work; I had no idea how much my own writing would improve through my work as a consultant or how much I would cherish my community of peer consultants.
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Q: What do you want faculty to know about the Writing Center?
A: We really appreciate it when you send students our way. The spirit of Writing Center sessions is to offer students the tools to better understand their writing projects, to make their writing clearer and more persuasive, and to develop their independent writing and critical thinking skills. To this end, consultants engage student writers actively in collaborative discussions about their work, from early brainstorming and outlining phases to final revisions. We work with any kind of writing from all different fields (including graduate work); the only restrictions are that we do not provide copy-editing or citation services or work with AI-generated writing.
Q: What do you want students to know about the Writing Center?
A: We are here for you! We know that it’s difficult and vulnerable to seek collaborative feedback on writing projects, but this resource is designed to support students where they are and help them grow into more confident writers. Please come and try out a session!
Q: What is your favorite thing about the Writing Center?
A: Hands down, the best thing about the Writing Center is the consultants, including those on staff. They are such a thoughtful, skilled, patient, compassionate, bright, fun group of people. I love overhearing their adept handling of sessions; I love witnessing their growth through the years as students and leaders; I love hearing them support one another; I love walking in on an especially heated game of Bananagrams. The consultants are the collective heart, soul, and brain of the Writing Center.
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Pictured: Professor Hasselbach with the Fall 2024 Writing Center consultants
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Meet the Writing Center's Student Leaders
The Writing Center's coordinating staff manages the center's appointment calendar, staffs the front desk, trains and mentors new consultants, and facilitates weekly workshops for all writing consultants.
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Brenna Derbish
Year: Senior
Position: Senior Tutor
Major: English, Creative Writing Emphasis
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Rachel Cepe
Year: Senior
Position: Coordinator
Major: Liberal Studies
Minor: English
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Diana Smith
Year: Senior
Position: Coordinator
Major: Political Science
Minor: English
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Paul Dolby
Year: Junior
Position:
Coordinator-in-Training
Majors: Philosophy and English, Creative
Writing Emphasis
Minor: Classical Studies
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Sophie Bolt
Year: Junior
Position: Coordinator-in-Training
Major: Accounting (BACC/MACC)
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The Writing Program's student assistants support the Writing Program and Writing Center. This team designs marketing materials, creates social media content, staffs the Writing Center front desk, and provides administrative assistance to the English Department. | |
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Emma Vertiz
Year: Junior
Position: Writing Program Student Assistant
Major: English, Creative Writing Emphasis
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Valeria Breton
Year: Senior
Position: Writing Program Student Assistant
Major: Marketing
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Jordene Garcia
Year: Junior
Position: Writing Program Student Assistant
Major: Communication
Minor: Management
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New Writing Program Affiliated Faculty | |
Welcome to the newest Writing Program Affiliated Faculty, who teach advanced writing in their disciplines and shared their expertise with us in recent Core Advanced Writing (CADW) workshops. | |
- Tawni Paradise, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Daniel Codd, Electrical Engineering
- Emily Cilli-Turner, Mathematics
- Martha Adkins, Copley Library
- Chris Girand, Finance
- Ginelle Menzies, Accounting
- Simon Croom, Supply Chain Management
- Nichole Wissman, Management
- Tito Zamalloa, Marketing
- Adam Haberman, Biology
- Juliana Maxim, Art History
- Emily Reimer-Barry, Theology & Religious Studies
- Martin Repinecz, Spanish
- Tom Reifer, Sociology
- Peter Bennett, Theology & Religious Studies
- Daniel Forster, Psychological Sciences
- Patricia Marquez, Management
- Jacqueline Hidalgo, Theology & Religious Studies
- Brian Sanchez Lopez, Sociology
- Jennifer Jin, Psychological Sciences
- Knight Campbell, Management
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FYW Resource Hub
This site provides prompts, assignments, readings, and sample syllabi for faculty teaching First Year Writing 110, 115, and 150.
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CADW Resource Hub
This site provides prompts, assignments, and resources for faculty teaching Advanced Writing courses in their discipline.
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