In Class Workshops

One of the services that we provide to faculty across campus is in-class workshops:

• Well-trained, knowledgeable writing assistants will come to your class to discuss various writing issues or documentation styles.
• Because writing skills are best learned in context, we ask that instructors schedule workshops when their students are in the midst of a project so we can help students work with their own writing and research materials.
• The writing assistant will direct your students to useful handouts for future reference.
• Workshops can be modified to fit your class length depending on the topic, the involvement of the students, and the professor's wishes.
• Workshops need to be requested at least two weeks in advance, and instructors must be present during the workshops.

The workshops that we currently offer are:

Like Staples ^® for Your Essay Organization. This workshop is designed to present an overview of how to organize a thesis-driven essay. Focus is on thesis statements, topic sentences, elements of a paragraph, transitions, and conclusions. The activities allow students to practice paragraph organization and transition writing.

MLA or APA Documentation. These workshops will help the students grasp that these styles are not boring and dry, but reflective of a larger schema in which any discourse places its writers. Also, these workshops show students how to avoid plagiarism by introducing them to either the MLA or APA Documentation style. Tutors will discuss parenthetical documentation and punctuation, citing sources, and incorporating research (through quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing). The activities in these workshops will acquaint students with techniques for incorporating research and creating a Works Cited or Reference page in the appropriate style.

Phone a Friend: Peer Review. In this workshop, WAs will discuss the difference between revising and editing, global and local concerns, and writer and reader roles in peer revision. WAs will also present steps for reviewing peers' essays. For the remainder of the class period, WAs will circulate among the peer groups to answer questions and/or help facilitate discussion. NOTE: Ideally, this workshop will be conducted using student drafts, but if the class does not come prepared with drafts, the peer review sample essay (included in the workshop materials) should be used.

Writing About Literature. The focus of this workshop is to provide students with an understanding of Literature through a question-and-answer format which will encourage students to expand their own views of what constitutes the literary form. WAs will also discuss the difference between primary and secondary sources to help students grasp how writing about Literature is persuasive and analytical. Through the activities, students will practice writing thesis statements and finding evidence in a text to support a claim.

The Last Straw: Editing Workshop. This workshop is designed to be conducted interactively, either with student drafts or using the editing sample essay (included in the workshop materials). WA 's will address identifying when to edit and common editing issues, including wordiness, vague language, active and passive voice, jargon, clichés , and common grammar and punctuation errors. The Editing Checklist Worksheet provides a guide for students to use while editing.

Technical Writing. This workshop addresses organization and appropriate language for technical writing. WAs will discuss patterns for organizing paragraphs and strategies for determining which pattern would be most appropriate for a given context. WAs will also discuss writing style, diction, and jargon.

Conducting Research. WAs will discuss different types of sources, provide a method for evaluating those sources, and give a brief introduction to searching for sources using the James E. Walker Library. The activities will allow students to evaluate print and online sources, and introduce students to the library website. NOTE: This workshop is designed for a computer or master classroom; however, we do have a version for classrooms with limited technology. Please let us know what type of classroom you will be using when scheduling this workshop.

To schedule one of these workshops or to discuss a specialized version of a current workshop, please contact Caty Chapman at cbchapma@mtsu.edu or 494-8930.