Offers 2 favorite writing activities for the computer lab: (1) students write about 100 words of the beginning and end of a favorite fiction book, while another student fills in the middle; and (2) students choose from 1 of 3 plot twists, write at least 5 sentences, and then write 3 more plot twists for the next student. (SR)

It does not take a computer expert to teach students how to use word processing software to prewrite, write, revise, and edit a professional-looking paper. Just a small amount of expertise allows students to work independently as long as they have access to a computer and the necessary software. The computer also facilitates interactive learning…

Offers seven brief descriptions of class projects and assignments used successfully in writing classes of all sorts, from first-year composition classes to business communication to computerized writing labs. (SR)

Argues that connecting classroom practice to writing center tutorials prepares students to generate dialogic and democratic tutorials. Describes a liberatory writing center (rather than a skill-and-drill site of remediation). Describes classroom practices that help students develop critical approaches to the power arrangements they encounter both…

Students are advised to enroll in WAC 101--a writing across the curriculum "Stretch" course--based upon SAT scores. Two types of "at risk" English composition students usually comprise a WAC 101 Stretch class. The first type are the familiar students who are underprepared for college writing courses, while the second are…

Describes a method of teaching geology and scientific writing to nonscience students that combines active integration of lecture, reading, and laboratory materials with field observations into a writing assignment on a real scientific problem. The writing assignment is completed in stages: a prospectus, a detailed report outline, a bibliography, a…

Describes an approach to introductory geology that requires students to go into the field to make observations, collect and analyze data, synthesize those data, and hypothesize about inferred geologic relationships. The product of these laboratories is a paper that requires students to test their hypothesis using specific examples from the data.…

Explains how students can learn basic petrographic techniques by using a thin-section collection prepared from the rock units in a geological area under study. Each student defines a particular problem to investigate and is responsible for collecting samples in the field, making additional thin sections, and preparing formal written and oral…