Montclair State University

First-Year Writing Program - for Faculty

Welcome to Teaching Writing at MSU

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

MSU Public First-Year Writing Pages
First-Year Writing Home Page
MSU Catalog Course Descriptions
MSU Standards for Formal Written Work

Course Requirements
Guidelines to Teaching First-Year Writing Courses at MSU
Requirements for First-year Writing Faculty
ENWR100: Introduction to Writing -- Sample Syllabi, Other Materials

ENWR105: College Writing 1: Intellectual Prose -- Full Course Proposal, Sample Syllabi, Other Materials
ENWR106: College Writing II: Writing and Literary Study -- Full Course Proposal, Sample Syllabi, Other Materials

Guidelines for Faculty
Requirements for Faculty – Employment Information, Work Expectations.
Handbook for New Faculty -- Introduction to the Program at MSU, including requirements and guidance on both pedagogical and administrative issues.
Requirements for Syllabi Briefly details requirements for all first-year writing course syllabi.
Text Selection Guidelines (Updated April, 2009) Includes links to publishers, lists of publisher representatives, notes on texts.
Grading Guidelines on grades and explanation of IN (incomplete) and NC (no credit) grades.
        Benchmark Grades for ENWR105 and ENWR106
        Grading Criteria -- Description of A, B, C, D and F papers
       Sample End Comments for One ENWR100 Student Exemplifies rubric, use of criteria, and grading.
        Revision Symbols: from U. of Maryland, Capital Community College, and Virginia Commonwealth U.
Efficient Evaluation – References to articles that help teachers evaluate efficiently
First-Year Students at MSU: Who Are They? -- A quick summary of the incoming first-year class.

Hand-outs for Students – a collection of handouts for students on: peer review, editing, revision, self-assessment, and general writing development heuristics.

Writing Assignments Guidelines and Samples

Plagiarism
First-Year Writing Policy on Responding to Plagiarism

Strategies for Dealing with Plagiarism (for teachers)
Plagiarism - Strategies to Avoid Plagiarism (for teachers)
Dartmouth College's Source Guide -- APA, MLA and Science
Guidelines on Avoiding Plagiarism for Students
Center for Academic Integrity -- a research and advocacy institute on academic integrity.

For online support for online writing and research resources, go to the Bedford/StMartin (free) portal. It has a lot of good resources.

Research Support to Share with Students
Evaluating Web Sites -- Guidance from Northwest Missouri State University
Guidelines on Citing Web Resources (Wendy Nielsen)

Information for Teachers
Academic Calendar
Documentation for Using Blackboard

Teaching Writing Support Materials and Research from Other Institutions and Associations
Dartmouth College Writing Program -- This extensive website of hand-outs for students and guidelines for faculty is really impressive. Here are just a few of the highlights:
        For Faculty:
            Teaching Argument In our courses our primary aim is to teach students how to write argumentative essays.
            Teaching Grammar and Style. Some effective methods for teaching grammar and style.
            Responding to Student Texts.
        For Students:
            What is an Academic Paper? Defines college academic writing against high school and non-academic writing.
            Revision: Cultivating a Critical Eye. General guidelines and specific questions for revising.
            Attending to Style. Guidelines for clarifying and streamlining prose.

The Harvard Study of Undergraduate Writing -- Nancy Sommers and her colleagues at Harvard have conducted a large scale longitudinal study of what the writing experience is like for undergraduate students. From this research they provide support and guidance for teacher feedback on writing, amongst other things. Of particular interest is the short film on teacher feedback, what Sommers describes as the "hero and anti-hero" of her study.

Bedford/StMartins' Teaching Writing Resources. Bedford/St. Martin is actually one of the smaller publishers, but since a main focus for the company is composition, they support the field well. This free portal has a lot of useful information.   Some highlights:
           On Plagiarism
           Teaching Peer Review Using Technology
           Updated List of Lunsford's Top 20 Errors (2005-06)
           Diana Hacker's Grammar Exercises These should be used selectively, of course, for individual students, by need.


Teaching Workshops -- Materials to Support Teaching Writing
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Making Connections --Jessica Restaino's worksheet and resource list for teachers wishing to support their curriculum with outside speakers and contact with a variety of agencies and non-profit organizations.