II.1

AN OVERVIEW OF THE COURSES

The Core Writing Program aims to initiate students into the world of college literacy. We hope in our courses to demonstrate that reading and writing are connected activities, that literate people shape and create meaning in the acts of reading and writing, and that the act of making meaning through reading and writing gives people power over their own learning.  All three courses--English 1, 101, and 102 --focus on the essay with a good deal of attention to how writers write and what constitutes good writing. Each course emphasizes the importance of a worthwhile topic, a supportable claim, strong evidence, clear structure, and mechanics, usage and spelling. Students practice the processes of writing: prewriting and drafting, revision with attention to global concerns (e.g., development), and copyediting with focus on local concerns (e.g., punctuation). We use informal writing as a means of exploration and discovery; we value self-analysis, reflection, and critical response from readers. We teach formal and informal strategies for inquiry--the gathering of information and ideas--and we introduce approaches to academic research. In addition, all three courses concern themselves with critical reading, and instructors ask students to summarize, analyze, and evaluate what they read.

Portfolios. We urge portfolio evaluation in the Core Writing Program. Our instructors generally work with two kinds of portfolios--the process portfolio and the showcase or final portfolio. The process portfolio reflects all the writer's activities: informal writing, prewriting, drafts, revision, and teacher and peer response. The final portfolio emphasizes the product, with students selecting their best writing to display for evaluation. Most instructors also ask students to write cover letters for their portfolios; these letters provide an opportunity for students to reflect on their writing processes. Over the past several years, the CWP has conducted program assessments through examining the portfolios of randomly selected students completing English 102. These have provided us useful information about our student writers' strengths and weaknesses, thus suggesting ways for us to strengthen our own program of instruction. Thus, portfolios have been valuable assessment tools for us at all levels.

II.2

ENGLISH 1

English 1, Developmental English, is not part of the Core Curriculum, but it aims to bring students' writing abilities to a level that will allow successful completion of English 101, 102, and other college courses. Unlike many "developmental" writing classes, English 1 is not a repeat of material students were to have learned in high school, nor is it a series of exercises and drills that are disconnected from writing. Like English 101, English 1 is a course in essay writing, drawing ideas and topics from everyday experience, class discussions, and readings. But unlike English 101, it places more emphasis on discussing effective writerly behavior and devotes more class time to teaching, observing, and modifying writing habits. The course aims to help students gain writing experience and confidence. English 1 instructors are all experienced writing teachers, and many English 1 students will have an opportunity to take 101 from these same instructors.

English 1 emphasizes techniques of prewriting, writing, and revising. Students build fluency and focus through practicing paragraph development, revision techniques, and critical reading of both professional and student writings. They write four or five essays over the semester. A mandatory University Writing Center component is included, to introduce students to the facility and to ensure individual attention to writing projects. English 1 is graded "S" (A, B, C) or "U" (D, F). Although students are registered for three credits while taking the course, English I credits do not transfer, nor do they apply to any baccalaureate degree. Students who show marked improvement in the course may be invited to submit a portfolio for Credit by Examination in English 101. The English 1 Teaching Coordinator will provide details and deadlines for this process.

The most common writing problems of English 1 students fall into two broad categories: development and syntax.  Often these students are unable to write more than a few short paragraphs. Perhaps as a result of limited writing and reading experience, they write vaguely and superficially, quickly running out of things to say. In English 1, they gain confidence and develop voice and authority through techniques that encourage prewriting and idea development-clustering, brainstorming, mapping, freewriting-and by writing for and with a community that includes their peers, instructor, and Writing Center tutors. The second problem, often due to lack of sustained practice with writing the English language, is that syntactical and mechanical errors mar the writing. English 1's extra semester of writing practice aims at fluency and attention to the conventions of written language. In class, students work on drafting techniques, peer editing, and revising. In the Writing Center, students receive additional one-on-one assistance with their writing.

English 1 teachers meet monthly to discuss teaching techniques, classroom issues, and student writing. The English 1 Teaching Coordinator chairs these meetings and also provides guidance and resources to individual instructors.

II.3

ENGLISH 101

English 101 is an introduction to rhetorical processes, emphasizing students' reflection on audience, purpose, and occasion of writing. Students receive extensive background in ways of planning, drafting, and revising. The course emphasizes the development of voice and authority in communicating the writer's own ideas and experiences to a specific audience. Students write essays based on their perceptions, observations, and judgments of their world, gaining practice with a variety of strategies (e.g., narration) and genres (e.g., editorials). Students' reading in English 101 provides new perspectives, new ways of looking at how writers view and talk about the world. We want students to analyze their readings and observations as a means of situating themselves in a world where ideas are important. We believe that such a reflective approach to everyday life helps students as they move into the somewhat more academic activity of text analysis. We then introduce research-or inquiry- as a way for students to extend their own understanding through the use of outside resources.

For a further discussion of the course activities and objectives, we will use these four categories:

Rhetorical knowledge: the kinds of things students need to know about the writing situation, such as who the readers are and what kind of information they may be expecting from the text.

General reading, writing, and thinking skills: what students should know about how writing works with reading and thinking, and how they can improve in all three of these areas through revision and practice.

Composing processes: increasing student familiarity with the processes that will enable them to produce successful texts.

Conventions: specific conventions, such as spelling and punctuation, that readers will expect college students to control.

[these categories based on the work of the WPA Outcomes Committee, 1998]

Rhetorical Knowledge

* The course

·         Introduces students to the relationships among writer, reader and subject-­relationships that affect writing;

·         Introduces students to the importance of purpose in writing-with attention to

      expressive, informative, and argumentative purposes.

*  By the end of English 101, students should

·         Be able to focus on a specific purpose;

·         Be able to anticipate the needs of different kinds of readers;

·         Recognize the differences among kinds of writing situations and be able to use the conventions of format, organization, and language appropriate to specific writing situations;

·         Understand what makes writing types or genres (like a book review, project proposal, or research report) different;

·         Know and practice strategies for purposeful, concrete coherent development of topics.

II.4

Reading, Writing, and Thinking

*The course

• Practices and models the process of careful, active, and critical reading;

• Uses reading, discussion, and informal writing to help students learn to practice revision and reflection not just as editing and fixing, but as "re-seeing";
• Practices informal writing as a means of discovery; emphasizes the ways writing and thinking enhance one another.

* By the end of English 101, students should

• Be able to use writing to record, explore, organize, and communicate;
• Be able to interpret, analyze, discuss, and evaluate a variety of readings
• Be able to develop standards of "good writing" by which they can evaluate their own and classmates' essays;
• Know how they "make knowledge" through reflecting on their experience and expertise, investigating a variety of sources for information and insight, and composing (not just assembling) what they know
• Be able to reflect (in writing or speaking) on their own writing and thinking processes. (What do I know? How do I know? How do I write? What are my strengths as a writer?)

Composing Process

* The course

• Emphasizes techniques of prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing that are necessary to composition;
• Introduces peer response and other group work as ways of collaborating in literate activities.

* By the end of English 101, students should

• Know how to "find," think about, and develop topics that engage their interest and energy;
• Know how to use multiple drafts to improve their texts;
• Be able to use "discovery" strategies like brainstorming, outlining, and focused freewriting in all stages of the writing process;
• Know how to use generating, organizing, revising, and editing strategies that are appropriate to the specific writing situation;
• Practice effective collaborative strategies for investigating, revising, and editing.

Conventions

*The course

• Teaches "grammar" in context; that is, students learn editing skills not through drills and exercises but through working with their own and others' writing.

* By the end of English 101, students should

• Control general conventions of spelling, usage, grammar, and punctuation expected in standard written English;
• Know how to write understandable, efficient sentences;
• Know how to check for conventions about which they are uncertain
• Understand that different conventions are appropriate for different kinds of writing situations;
• Be able to use an effective "voice" or register for their readers.

II. 5

Reading Assignments in English 101. The essays in readers are not models to be rigidly imitated. We prefer to use them as sources of ideas and as examples of ways to approach and develop topics. Students and teacher together should be reading as writers. Encourage your students to read for ideas, respond to these ideas, enjoy and critique the language, and describe and evaluate the way the ideas are presented.

Seeing & Writing 2, edited by Donald McQuade and Christine McQuade, has been chosen by the Core Writing Committee as the English 101 reader for this year. Not only does this book provide a wide variety of readings in many different genres and formats, but it also contains 100 images and an appendix on "Reading Visual and Verbal Texts."  The "chapters" gather the readings and images under topics that are quite familiar in our English 101 classes: observation, place, memory, identity, and cultural critique.  The Introduction, "Writing in the Age of the Image," provides some good questions for critical reading and seven pages describing "how the book works": I advise you to study these pages carefully so that you can use the reader's unusual format to best advantage in your course.

The accompanying instructor's manual contains suggestions for generating class discussion and in-class writing, suggested writing topics, connections with other texts in the reader, and "suggestions for further reading" that include many relevant websites. 

The reader's editors have also provided a website with additional resources for teaching Seeing and Writing 2:

www.seeingandwriting.com.

Our pre-semester orientation and various workshops during the semester will provide suggestions for using Seeing and Writing 2 to achieve the English 101 objectives discussed on pages 11.3-11.5.

II.6

Collaboration and Peer Response (Writing) Groups: Helping students develop critical judgment is an important goal in first-year composition. This is why students should work in response groups, reading one another's prose and critiquing their ideas and presentations. Experience and discussion of the rhetorical nature of language use also occurs in these peer groups (as well as in teacher-student conferences and class discussions). Classes can be organized as workshops--papers photocopied, read as homework assignments, then critiqued in class. Collaborative writing assignments can be given, encouraging students to work together on some or all stages of the writing process.

Research in English 101: The methods and conventions of "academic" research are taken up in English 102, but, as any writer knows, research (or inquiry) is likely to be necessary in any good writing project. In the 101 class, research is generally introduced informally as a way for students-individually or in a group-to extend their own understanding through interviews, formal observation, print sources, or forays into the Internet or other media. Our aim at this point is not to teach formal "research techniques" and MLA forms but rather to introduce constructive attitudes and approaches toward inquiry. We do research when we want or need to know more about something: it's as simple as that.

Once students recognize that their interests and experience are relevant to college writing and that other points of view are relevant to their writing, they are ready to learn how to approach research. English 101 can be a good place for the class together or in small groups to look at texts and talk about ways of using them in building good essays. For beginning college students, academic research can seem a pointless, disembodied process. Instead, we want our students to experience and practice a sense of engagement in their thinking and writing processes that they will carry into all sorts of writing-including the academic research papers that they will do in other classes.

Our Students and their Background as Writers: English 101 students at UNR can often write a five-paragraph essay (or other "boilerplate" essay) with few serious mechanical errors other than an occasional fragment and comma splice. Many recent graduates of Washoe County high schools have been taught to write through the Schaffer method, a primarily form-based pedagogy. Therefore, while we do not minimize the importance of correctness or form, we find that most of our English 101 students need work in techniques of invention, drafting and developing ideas, and shaping and structuring their ideas into an interesting whole. They also need to become aware of audience and purpose and to recognize the necessity of revision during all stages of composing. As students participate in whole-class and small group discussions of one another's writing, attention can be given to developing an authoritative voice, a style appropriate to audience and purpose, specific language, sentence variety, and correctness.

II.8

ENGLISH 102

English 102 is a text-based writing course organized around specific themes or topics. In addition to using their own ideas and experiences, students explore other sources and forms of knowledge. Students analyze what they read, look for relationships among various texts, articulate various points of view represented in texts, synthesize those differing viewpoints, and learn to attribute and cite sources. Students also learn effective methods of argument, critique, and inquiry. In addition to helping students to learn about library and Internet resources for their research, most instructors also require students to use community and university resources for information.

Some important characteristics of UNR's second-semester writing course:

·         An emphasis on investigation and inquiry that encourages students to use printed and electronic texts, people, performance, presentation, and community experiences as sources of information. (Interviews, film and TV, speeches and artistic performances, volunteer work, service learning, etc.)

·         A theme for study and discussion that provides students with the basis for engagement with texts and each other

·         Writing activities involving summary, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (or critique)

·         Some experience with the construction and analysis of arguments

·         Opportunity for students to interact with texts and with one another, interpreting and comparing interpretations. Critical reading as well as critical writing.

English 102 student objectives:

·         to continue and improve the writing practices learned in 101: prewriting activities, composing and forming, revision, response, editing, writing with purpose and audience in mind, attending to language and style

·         to engage in critical reading and interpretation of a wide range of texts, including nonfiction and "imaginative" writing

·         to be able to summarize, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and apply what one reads, both orally and in writing

·         to use writing as a means of understanding, organizing, and communicating what one reads

II.9

·         to be able to produce a coherent, well-supported argument that gives evidence of critical thinking and careful consideration of alternative viewpoints

·         to recognize, evaluate, and use a variety of information sources: expert people, publications of information agencies, popular and specialized periodicals, professional journals, books, and electronic sources

·         to conduct research that shows evidence of the ability to synthesize, evaluate, use, and credit the ideas of others

·         to write coherently, drawing from diverse sources, assimilating information and ideas, and producing work that demonstrates the writer's mind (or "take" on the material) as well as the sources.

What English 102 is not:

·         English 102 is not a course in The Research Paper. That is, the course is not aimed solely at the creation of that venerable product. Instead, the goal is to help students understand and evaluate what they read and to be able to synthesize diverse sources into a coherent piece (or pieces) of writing that communicates their own understanding of the material. We are not looking for a research paper that is a conglomeration of undigested, unevaluated snippets of other people's ideas. The thinking processes emphasized in earlier writing assignments should be the ones that students employ as they begin the more extensive research projects.

·         English 102 is not a literary criticism course. Although reading, analyzing, and evaluating literature (fiction, poetry, drama, literary essay) may be justified as one possible intellectual activity in 102, it should not be the sole focus. As part of the Core Curriculum, English 102 should reflect the wider academic community and the role that language plays in thinking both in and out of the academy.

·         English 102 is not a content course in the subject matter of the theme. That is, it must be a writing class that happens to center on the theme of environmental issues (or popular culture or multicultural issues), and NOT a course in environmental issues that happens to use writing.

Kinds of reading and writing that occur in English 102

·         Informal or "everyday" writing. Done frequently, perhaps as a series of exercises, journal writings, or ongoing assignments, everyday writing gives students opportunities to use writing to think. Rather than emphasizing organization or style, it features writing as a way of figuring something out, perhaps as a way of encountering another text. Teachers can use students' everyday writing as a way to clarify misreadings and encourage further interpretation.

II.10

·         Before reading: informal writing can set up expectations; uncover previous knowledge; discover biases or preconceived notions; raise initial questions of the text

·         During reading: raise questions; argue; respond; agree; add personal experience, knowledge, and examples; take notes on readings, interviews, performances, and displays

·         After reading: summarize; analyze, question; respond; extend

Formal or "public" writing. These are short or long assignments, perhaps workshopped and revised, submitted for teacher response and evaluation.

·         Analysis of class readings or of the material students are reading outside class

      Writer's voice or style

      Writer's argument--use of logic, evidence, validity, emotional appeals

      Writer's aims

      Their own stance in relation to the writer: points of agreement and disagreement

·         Synthesis involves looking at two or more sources and seeing them in:

        Two or more writers' definitions of a problem

      Several solutions to a problem

      Two or more evaluations of an event, performance, text

·         Evaluation, Critique, and Argument. The theme of the course, along with the course readings, provides both a community and a knowledge base on which to build critical writing. The research project(s) may be approached as an extended analysis, argument, or exploration. Review a movie, book, poem, play, or story Critically examine an issue or activity Suggest the best solution to a well-defined problem Argue in favor of a particular course of action Write a proposal Urge a reconsideration of the value of an idea, person, or event.  (Persuasive techniques may be discussed in connection with this.)

Course readings should be planned with this principle in mind: although it has a strong text­based component, English 102 continues to focus on students' writing. Reading assignments should not be so heavy or so "coverage "-based that this emphasis is lost. We are looking for writing courses that revolve around a theme rather than content courses with a writing component. (Students will experience the latter in the rest of their core curriculum courses.)

--Theme-based readers provide convenient collections of short works and excerpts --Supplementary reading on analysis, argument, etc., is sometimes available within the readers; or you may use separately published rhetorical material --"Outside" readings and other materials may be located and gathered by students as background for their writing

--Some people like to use "research paper" guides or "web research" guides.  I find that the Everyday Writer handbook has sufficient material for students in these areas.  Those who want more specialized advice or differently organized research guides should consult the library reference collection and the variety of writing websites now available.

                                                                                                                                                                                                   II.11

Possible assignment sequence I (Other sequences may be found on the sample syllabi.)

Paper 1: Summary/analysis. Based on class readings, discussions, and everyday writing

Paper 2: Analysis/synthesis. Based on reading and discussions; small group selection and presentation of an idea, issue, or problem

Paper 3: Synthesis. A mini-research project. Based on selected readings in the class book and 3-4 outside resources: current periodicals, historical documents, interviews

Paper 4: Critical review. Based on reading of a novel or nonfiction work or viewing of TV program or series, film, play, recording, concert, art exhibit, museum installation, speech

Paper 5: Informative Research. Based on independent research that uses current or historical sources, periodicals and books, electronic sources, people

Paper 6: Application of Research. Based on research; the writer develops and argues for his/her own theory, evaluation, solution, or agenda

Possible assignment sequence 2

1: Short analysis papers. Based on class readings and discussions. Then, early in the semester, students choose the topics that they will research for the rest of the term (papers 2-6)

2: Annotated bibliography. Each entry is followed by the student reader's commentary.

3: Interview paper. Based on an interview with a person with expertise in the topic.

4: Observation paper. Based on a "field" observation relevant to the topic.

5: Synthesis of papers 2-4.

6: Multigenre research project/presentation.

Informal writing that might accompany the sequences: a) write beliefs about the topic; b) summarize different perspectives represented by readings; c) respond to persona in an article; d) summarize class response to an article or series of articles; e) analyze voice of a writer; f) compare group members' responses to an article or argument; g) which article do you like best and why? h) list possible topics and contents for a critical review; i) write on expectations/biases before critical review or argument; j) notes on reactions for critical review; k) annotated list of sources for research, including experts to interview; 1) draft interview questions for research; m) write expectations for interview; summarize interview; n) create a list of questions to be answered in research; o) write what you already know about the research topic; p) write research proposal; q) distinguish various interpretations of an event or problem being researched; r) argue opposing viewpoints in developing argument or research proposal.

II.12

DEVELOPING A THEORY

FOR THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF WRITING

A crucial part of our growth as teachers of writing (or for that matter of any subject) is developing a theory of what we are doing and why we are doing it. The following lists of assumptions reflect the theoretical basis for our practice in the Core Writing Program. We hope that these ideas will help you reflect on your own beliefs regarding writing, learning, and teaching.

Writing and Thinking

·         Writing is a mode of thinking, an act of discovery and clarification.

·         "Composing" involves forming, arranging, and transforming words and ideas. So writing acquires structure as people work with their ideas.

·         Experimenting with language is experimenting with knowing. People's language grows to accommodate their experience and needs.

·         Writers write best about what they know and care about. (This does not mean that writing needs to be limited to a rehash of the already-known, but that it should have some connection to what the writer already knows and values.)

Writing and Audience

·         Most writing is done for an audience. Writing involves transaction as well as expression.

·         Audience and purpose influence form, style, and usage.

·         The sense of an audience can be generative as well as limiting.

·         Notions of good writing vary from context to context, reader to reader.

·         Reading and writing are intimately related; a better reader can become a better writer.

·         Writers need to engage in the process of evaluating writing--their own and others'--and to develop definitions of good writing.

Writing and Revision

·         Language is elastic, varied, and nuanced; writing involves infinite choices.

·         By learning to make these choices, making them consciously and knowledgeably, writers develop a sense of authorship and authority.

·         To revise is to re-see.

                                                                                                                                                   II.13

·         Finished writing doesn't often spring full-blown from writers' heads onto the page. Structuring of writing takes place as people grapple with their ideas. Writers need time to experiment, draft, redraft, and polish.

Some Assumptions about Learning and Teaching Writing

·         People learn to write by writing.

·         People's language grows to accommodate their experience, needs, and aims.

·         People learn best when they perceive the activity as meaningful and worthwhile.

·         People need to have room to make mistakes, to learn from what doesn't work; writers also must know how to correct mistakes at the appropriate point in their writing process.

·         Learning to write proceeds from the whole to the part.

·         In responding to and teaching about writing, teachers should develop a hierarchy of concerns, from large "global" issues to smaller "local" issues.

·         Learning to write involves critical self-awareness on the part of the writer. Writers also develop self-awareness through sharing their writing and receiving critical response.

·         Teachers should develop assignments that engage students' creative and critical thinking. Opportunities should east for students to explore and experiment.

·         Teachers should help students develop a sense of authorship by encouraging them to find their own perspectives on topics, locate meaningful approaches to assignments, and in general "make the writing their own."

·         Teachers should share authority in the classroom to help students learn from one another. Students should be encouraged to solve their own writing problems.

·         Teachers should engage students in the process of evaluating writing--their own and others-­and in developing their own definitions of good writing.

·         Teachers need to help students develop a consciousness of the varieties of writing contexts and the varied demands within those contexts.

·         Teachers ought to engage in reflective practice to see how their assumptions about students, teaching, and learning affect their practice--and vice versa.

A good writing class provides ample opportunity for

PRACTICE, RESPONSE, REFLECTION, and REVISION

II.14

SOME TERMS YOU MAY ENCOUNTER IN WRITING INSTRUCTION

Attributing:  The introduction of a quoted or summarized source, often explaining its relevance to the argument. Attribution is usually preferable to retroactive explanations and always better than dropping a quotation or summary into a paragraph with no explanation.

Audience: Writers should be aware of the audience for whom they are writing: the teacher? fellow students? the general public? Is the style and the type of evidence appropriate for this audience?

Citation: A reference, either parenthetical or footnoted, indicating the page or line number where the reader can find source material that has been quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.

Copyediting: A final review/rewrite to correct spelling, grammatical usage, mechanics.

Diction: Word choice. Students should become conscious of these choices, generally using precise, appropriate words. Most college writing avoids slang, and instructors generally expect SAE (Standard American English). Our students should be aware of this even though they may choose to use slang in some kinds of papers.

Direct quotation: Reproduction of the exact language of a source, used sparingly. Direct quotation is appropriate if the wording is particularly apt, ambiguous, or difficult to summarize accurately. Quotations should be used to support the thesis and other claims of a paper, not to present them. Long quotations should be kept to a minimum.

Documentation: Citations, bibliography, list of work s cited: all the information a writer gives on the sources of summaries, paraphrases, and quotations within the paper.

Draft: An exploratory writing on a subject to test out ideas, sort out evidence, discover main ideas, play with order or structure, and so on.

Grammar: Grammatical usage refers to such areas as pronoun case (me or l?), pronoun agreement and reference (Each brought his/their), sub-ject/verb agreement (Each is/are), etc.

Mechanics: Mechanics include use of capital letters, spacing, punctuation (periods, commas, semi-colons, colons, quotation marks, apostrophes), etc. Comma splices (two independent clauses connected with a comma) and fragments (incomplete sentences) are frequent mechanical problems. Spelling may also be included in this category.

II.15

Organization: The structure of a successful piece is generally coherent (the ideas hang together according to some principle or plan). Transitions help the reader move from idea to idea, as the writer establishes the relationships among ideas. Paragraphs should advance the ideas/arguments of the paper. The controlling idea of most Paragraphs is often stated in a topic sentence or claim somewhere in the paragraph. But sometimes the claims are implied rather than explicit, and often several paragraphs deal with a single claim.

Paraphrase: Presenting source material in the writer's own words.

Revision: Rewriting all or parts of a paper to strengthen structure, try a different perspective, add detail or new evidence, reorder for logic or style, target a different audience, tighten sentences, replace weak words, approach a topic from a new direction, and so forth.

Style: Influenced by many of the categories mentioned above, like syntax, diction, audience relationship and purpose. Writers who are mindful of these aspects of writing are more likely to maintain a consistent style throughout a paper.

Summarizing: Accurately condensing source material into the writer's own words.

Support or Evidence: Examples, illustrations, information, and direct quotations are used to provide support for the thesis and the supporting claims in the paper. Most audiences expect evidence to be thorough, convincing, appropriate, logical.

Syntax: Structure of phrases, clauses, sentences. Use of word order to express or communicate an idea. The structure of sentences in most formal class writing should be conventional English. Students should be working for variety in form, complexity and length.

Thesis: The classic thesis is precise, well-focused, and engaging; it establishes an argument or a point of view that is developed in the paper. The thesis states or points to the idea that motivates an essay. We sometimes speak of "thesis-driven" essays, which state the main idea "up-front" in the introduction, and then develop it throughout the rest of the essay. But many successful pieces of writing are more tentative and exploratory, establishing a "center of gravity" or arriving at some sort of "thesis" only at the end. Students should become aware of all these options.

Voice: A term used. to describe a style that reflects some sense of the writer's authority and engagement in the material or process of writing.

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