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Encourage Your Students to Visit the Center for Writing Excellence

The Center for Writing Excellence (CWE) is a free resource for all writers at UWEC. A staff of more than 30 skilled writers from all disciplines are on hand to provide individual writing support at any stage of any writing project. From brainstorming and idea mapping to thesis development and improving clarity, we have your back. Writing Interns focus on systemic issues like organization and argumentation, so it's best to visit early in the writing process.

Preparing your students for a visit to the CWE:

  • Have them bring a written copy of the assignment
  • Highlight your expectations for their writing within your discipline
  • Make clear the citation style they should use within your discipline
  • Have them bring any previous feedback they have received
  • Have them think about what they want to address in the session, as this will focus their writing efforts and get the process of self-reflection started, which is an instrumental part of the writing process

 

Request a Workshop or Class Visit

The CWE offers a variety of workshops to assist your students within your courses. 

Note: We ask that you please schedule our regularly offered workshops and class visits one week in advance. Once you have filled out the form in the link below, our administrative team will send you an email to confirm we can accommodate your request. 

Request a Workshop or Class Visit

 

Types of Workshops We Offer

 

Introduction to the Center for Writing Excellence (CWE) 

Duration: 15-20 minutes 

Have you considered inviting CWE Writing Assistant Interns into your course to provide a brief overview of our services? In this presentation, we introduce your students to the non-remedial nature of the CWE, demonstrating how we can assist at all stages of the writing process through. We describe how our conversational sessions work, as well as the types of questions students can ask to get the most out of a session.  

 

Taking a Conversational Approach to Peer Review 

Duration: 45 minutes 

Did you know—the writing center is peer review. Let us come talk with your students about our process. In this 50-minute workshop, we provide an overview of what peer review is and why it matters. We address strategies for garnering more helpful feedback—e.g., by asking more specific questions and through active listening. Following this overview, students break into groups, with the opportunity to ask questions of our interns as they listen and share feedback. 

 

Edit for Style: Cut the Fluff! 

Duration: 30 minutes 

What does it mean to edit and polish? In this workshop, we offer a method for polishing our writing to foster an active voice and more concise writing. We ask that students come prepared with drafts. 

 

MLA Citation 

Duration: 30 minutes 

Would you like an overview of MLA Citation? This workshop explains the nature of MLA format, complete with visual examples and helpful resources. 

 

APA Citation 

Duration: 30 minutes 

Would you like an overview of APA Citation? This workshop explains the nature of APA format, complete with visual examples and helpful resources. 

 

Request a Custom Workshop

In addition to our regularly available workshops, we do offer custom built workshops to complement specific assignments and/or disciplinary expectations. As part of this offering, we are happy to collaborate with you on the following for your course:

  • Brainstorming and scaffolding writing assignments
  • Building a lesson plan and/or workshop
  • Strategizing ways to increase student success, engagement, and belonging

Note: We cannot accomodate any requests made less than four weeks in advance. These offerings are first come, first serve and may be dependent upon our capacity any given semester.

Request a Custom Workshop

Writing Enriched Curriculum Board

Learn more about the teaching model

A Writing-Enriched Curriculum (WEC) model takes a grass-roots approach to fostering the teaching and mentoring of writing within programs and across academic divisions. A WEC approach supports departmental autonomy and builds from an understanding that faculty within disciplines are experts in writing in their fields—therefore, we should listen to them and what they and their students perceive as meaningful writing. Importantly, our WEC model is supported by our Faculty Fellows Program, which offers one faculty member (per year) the opportunity to work closely with the CWE. Currently, we are working with Professor Cedar Marie in Art & Design, who is designing a writing intensive course for Art & Design Majors. She is also using the program to think about her own writing more creatively and how it might inform her teaching. 

Writing Enriched Curriculum Advisory Board Members

  • Kaia Simon, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Blugold Writing Seminar 
  • Norah Margaret Maureen Airth-Kindree, Associate Professor of Nursing 
  • Paula Lentz, Department Chair and Professor of Business Communications and Information Systems 
  • Rae Langes, Assistant Professor of Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
  • Brayan Brown, Assistant Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders
  • Avonlea L. Hanson, Associate Director of Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Writing Enriched Curriculum Institute

Dates: August 14, 15, and 16, 2024 

Compensation: All faculty and staff will receive a $750 stipend for participating. 

Description: The goal of our WEC Institute is to offer you guidance on developing and teaching writing within your discipline. Over the course of three days, you will have the opportunity to: 

  • revise a syllabus, writing assignment, or Canvas course site. 

  • reflect on your identity as a writer within your field and how this may influence your teaching.  

  • explore how CWE Writing Assistant Interns are educated and mentored, and how you as an instructor might draw on the Center to foster student success and belonging. 

  • learn about how campus partners can support your writing pedagogy—namely, the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) and McIntyre Library. 

If you are interested in applying, please complete the following application form by Friday, March 8. 

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