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by Claire Moane, School of English and Liberal Studies
in the December 2019 issue
This brief introduction explains how we work with students to develop writing skills in COM 101/111 and how you can support the ongoing development of student writing in your courses.
What we do in COM 101/111Instead of focusing on one type of writing, COM 101/111 introduces students to writing in three areas: academic, workplace, and public communication. Typically, students in COM 101/111 will practice professional correspondence (emails/letters), academic essays, and writing for public and digital media (e.g., blog posts, op-eds). Skills include critical reading, summarizing, research and APA citation, creating informed arguments, and adapting style and tone to suit audience and purpose. Students in COM111 have an extra three periods a week for language and grammar development.
Since we cannot teach all the categories of writing our students will encounter in their other courses and professional lives, we give them practice in identifying the questions they need to ask when faced with a new writing task:
How you can support student writing in your coursesLearning to write well is an ongoing process. Just as a first-semester course in accounting or physics does not produce accountants or physicists, COM 101/111 will not produce professional writers in 14 weeks. Below are some ways to help students build on their skills and apply them in your program or discipline:
Creating a strong link between COM 101/111 and your course will reinforce the importance of good communication skills and strengthen students’ writing in their work here at Seneca and beyond.
To our program faculty colleagues: write a brief summary for the next Academic Newsletter to demonstrate how you are connecting the COM101/111 course approach to your own your assignments and/or teaching! Laurel will provide a fabulous prize. Challenge accepted?
Image credit: "Megaphone" by Creative Stall from the Noun Project
View the December 2019 issue of the Academic Newsletter.
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