Faculty Resources

Below are several resources created by the CSU Writing Center that can be used as supplemental instruction in the classroom.

A Manifesto on Written Feedback

Check out this link to see what students want when it comes to instructor feedback.  This manifesto was created by CSU Writing Center tutors and students of ENGL 3157: Advanced Exposition with the assistance of Nancy Sommers, Director of Harvard University’s Expository Writing Program and Sosland Chair in Expository Writing.

Video Resources

You may want to show our entertaining thirty-five minute feature film, “A Tale of Two Writers,” to introduce students to the complexity of the research writing process.  We also have brief clips of CSU English professors discussing aspects of the writing process. Just follow the link to iTunes U where you can access our films. Stay tuned for podcasts in the Spring. 

Powerpoints

Do you sometimes need to give students a mini-lesson about the writing process?  Do you wish you had a Powerpoint to use?  With the oversight of the Director, these presentations were created by ENGL3256 students and Writing Center staff.  You’ll find topics ranging from APA format to avoiding plagiarism.

Resources for Writers

Here you will find various external links aimed to help writers in all disciplines tackle issues such as getting started on a paper, reading strategies, thesis statements, grammar, and documentation. 

Writing Fellows/ Class Visits

Writing center consultants can visit your class in a variety of ways. They can give brief five-minute chats about why students should go to the writing center, offer mini-lessons on a variety of writing-related topics, and help facilitate peer review.  Visit this link for more information.

A Manifesto on Written Feedback

by the CSU Writing Center Tutors

and Students of Advanced Exposition

In collaboration with Professor Nancy Sommers on her recent visit to CSU, the CSU Writing Center Tutors and the Students of Advanced Exposition thoughtfully and respectfully submit the following opinions and objectives to CSU faculty regarding the methods for offering feedback on writing assignments. 

1)     We would like your comments to be written to us – students, people -- not to the paper. We would like you to engage us through dialogue, not through commands. We ask that you not use your comments to reinforce the hierarchy between professors and students. Instead, use comments to create a relationship with us—reader to writer—and show us that you have read our papers and care about our development as writers and thinkers.

2)     We would like your comments to be specific and not generic. Point out what we’ve accomplished and provide specific strategies for how we can improve as writers. We ask that you assume that we want to become stronger writers and to learn from your comments.

3)     We would like your comments to bolster our agency as writers and to deepen our thinking. We feel censored when you cross out our sentences or shut down our arguments by writing “wrong” in the margin.

4)     We would like your comments to help us notice themes and patterns in our writing, rather than point out random or arbitrary mistakes. We learn how to become better writers when you take the time to see patterns within and across our drafts.

5)     We would like you to distribute rubrics with the assignment rather than at the end of the writing process.  You help us improve as writers when you discuss the rubric in class, for then the rubric informs our writing process, and we can learn from it. If your rubric is formulaic and covers too many elements, it does not help us as much, for it seems to exist for you to justify your grades.