Instructor Resources

About "W" courses

• W course FAQs(pdf)
  Answers to the most frequently asked questions from faculty about "W" courses.
  
• W courses at UConn(pdf)
  Guidelines for faculty teaching "W" courses

Exercises and Assignments

• Poor writing exercise (doc)
  This exercise highlights some common student writing errors in Psychology focusing mainly on style, not citations.
• Write to learn exercises (doc)
  This handout provides suggestions for and samples of write-to-learn (brief writing to reinforce course content) exercises for Psychology classes.
• APA exercise-Bias in language (doc)
  This exercise deals with helping student identify and correct bias their in writing.
• APA exercise-ref list (doc)
  This exercise deals with helping students understand how to format APA-style reference lists.
• Scrambled sentence exercise (doc)
  This exercise deals with the logical introduction of information in a paper. In two tasks, students are asked to unscramble sentences from one paragraph of an introduction section. A great discussion starter.

Grading writing

• Responding to student writing(pdf)
  This handout from Writing Center Director Tom Deans gives practical strategies to respond effectively to student writing, without taking up too much time.
• Poster scoring guide (doc)
  This is a sample grading rubric for scoring a poster/oral presentation.
• Peer review (pdf)
  This handout can be used to guide your class in the process of peer review.

Teaching writing in Psychology

• The Unwritten Rules of Psychological Writing (pdf)
  These "rules" come from a presentation by Harvard Psychology professor Dan Wegner.
• Scientific style of writing in Psychology (pdf)
  This handout highlights commons errors in student writing focusing on appropriate tone and word choice for scientific writing in Psychology.
• Using writing to teach course content (pdf)
  This handout from the University of Hawaii outlines ways to use writing to teach course content with sample exercises.