For Faculty

First-Year Writing

On this page teachers will find resources for teaching first-year writing at MSU, though other teachers of writing and other disciplines are welcome to use these materials.  Comments on the contents of the page may be sent to the Director of First-Year Writing, Dr. Jessica Restaino.

MSU Public First-Year Writing Pages

First-Year Writing Home Page
MSU Catalog Course Descriptions
First-Year Writing for Students

Course Requirements

Guidelines to Teaching First-Year Writing Courses at MSU
Requirements for First-Year Writing Faculty 
ENWR100: Introduction to Writing
Full Course Proposal, Sample Syllabi, Assignments & Teaching Resources
ENWR105: College Writing I: Intellectual Prose
Full Course Proposal, Sample Syllabi, Assignments & Teaching Resources
ENWR106: College Writing II: Writing and Literary Study
Full Course Proposal, Sample Syllabi, Assignments & Teaching Resources

Guidelines

Requirements for First-Year Writing Faculty Employment Information, Work Expectations.
Requirements for Syllabi Briefly details requirements for all first-year writing course syllabi.
Sample Syllabi for ENWR 100, 105 and 106.
Text Selection Guidelines Includes links to publishers, lists of publisher representatives, notes on texts.
Grading Guidelines on final grades and explanation of IN (incomplete) and NC (no credit) grades.

First-Year Students at MSU: Who Are They? A quick summary of the incoming first-year class.
Handbook for New Faculty Prepared in 2010 by former Director Emily Isaacs.

Plagiarism

Policy
Dealing with Plagiarism
Academic Integrity and Plagiarism
Research and the Professional Conversation on Plagiarism

Program Assessment

The First-Year Writing Director and Assistant Directors are committed to critically reflecting on the First-Year Writing Program.  The program's faculty, curricula, pedagogical methods, and their effect upon students are consistently reviewed in order to maintain and continue the academic excellence of First-Year Writing at Montclair State University.  To this end, the First-Year Writing Director and Assistant Directors conduct the following regular activities to assess the First-Year Writing Program:

  • Review of student evaluations on First-Year Writing courses and faculty
  • Review of all semester grades for First-Year writing courses
  • In-class observation of First-Year writing faculty and courses as well as selected faculty-evaluated student papers

In addition, special surveys and reports are written to evaluate specific aspects of the program.  For example, in spring of 2009 a survey of students who completed ENWR 105 College Writing I was compiled to assess student perspectives on the course.

ENWR 106 Student Survey, Spring 2009

Finally, for a fuller view of program activities, the following annual reports are available:

First-Year Writing Annual Report, 2012-13
First-Year Writing Annual Report, 2011-12
First-Year Writing Annual Report, 2010-11
First-Year Writing Annual Report, 2009-10
First-Year Writing Annual Report, 2008-09