The value of generative AI tools in higher education has received considerable attention. Although there are many proponents of its value as a learning tool, many are concerned with the issues regarding academic integrity and its use by students to compose written assessments. This study evaluates and compares the output of three commonly used…

This article addresses writing in higher education with the primary aim of conceptualizing writing as a mediational tool. The conceptual framework consists of three concepts: "learning trajectories," "mediation," and "recontextualization." The article describes how writing can work as a mediational tool and suggests…

Although written communication is a foundational skill, especially for careers in management, faculty can be reluctant to utilize writing assignments for a number of reasons including the subjective nature of and time involved in grading. In this article, we present the IDEAL framework--an andragogical tool developed in an effort to address these…

Integrating writing instruction into the content-area classroom poses a variety of challenges for instructors at all levels. Beyond the need to embrace a new skill set involving writing instruction, there is the resistance of students (and faculty) who find a disconnection between content-area and literacy learning. Developing a method for…

Describes a writing intensive seminar for college freshman. Includes goals, reading assignments, writing assignments, and group projects. Provides web-based resources on tuberculosis along with an evaluation sheet for web site reviews. Concludes that students exhibited great interest in the topic and course feedback was positive. (DLH)

Discusses a process to guide students at various levels of writing ability to inquire into unfamiliar and often intimidating subject areas. Notes the process is based on a Piagetian learning cycle that asks students to identify areas of cognitive dissonance, and to engage in a conversation about ways of resolving their uncertainty. (RS)

Describes an assignment in which students write a short memo report analyzing and comparing both what a company says in its annual report and what its balance sheet shows. Describes four simple mathematical formulas students can use to quickly diagnose a company's financial health. Appends a sample of the short report format. (RS)

Writing needs to be given adequate emphasis in the area of social studies. Teachers should attempt to be creative and to assign different kinds of writing in their classes. This paper discusses possible activities for students in a unit on the Middle East to illustrate diverse purposes in writing. An initial assignment could be to ask students to…

Mathematics faculty around the United States are using writing assignments in a variety of ways. A mathematics teacher at Alma College, Michigan, has students write mathematical autobiographies, keep a reading logbook, and write letters to other students about the course, letters to instructors about the topics, or about what they do not…

Surveys faculty of the College of Business at Illinois State University concerning writing assignments given in the functional areas. Finds an average of one research paper per class required in each of the five departments of the college, while the type and format of research varied. Discusses implementing the results. (RS)

After an introduction by James L. Marra explaining the Intellectual Heritage Program at the College of Art and Sciences at Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), this paper presents four brief faculty essays describing various techniques that the writers use in their classes in the program. The techniques discussed in the paper are…

A study explored academic writing from the students' side of the desk, examining how different tasks and writing situations influenced students' approaches. The study used interviews and process logs to examine how 13 college freshmen interpreted writing assignments in a variety of courses (sociology, engineering, and literature) and how these…

An atypical and challenging writing assignment for courses in general or abnormal psychology is to ask the students to write a poem about the experience of mental illness. The format, length, and topic are left entirely up to the student. While shocked at first, students rose to the challenge after being told they would be judged on content and…

A study investigated the effect of writing in statistics classes on students' interpretation skills (translating the results of data analysis into verbal interpretations that are accessible to non-statisticians). One hundred twenty-two students in three statistics classes received either low, moderate, or high instructional emphasis in…

When students study the discipline of statistics, a domain that can be remote and abstract for them, it is critical that they understand what the numbers mean and how those numbers help people arrive at decisions. This paper presents different approaches that help students learn how researchers actually work with statistics and shows how students…