Resources on Teaching Writing

UCLA Teaching and Learning Center

The primary source of support for UCLA graduate student TAs is the Teaching and Learning Center. TLC runs the TA Training Program and runs various programs as well as a TA Conference at the beginning of Fall quarter. TLC also provides teaching resources on its website. There is a short section on student writing (pp. 39-43) in this Teacher's Guide.

Writing Pedagogy Training from UCLA Writing Programs

The UCLA Writing Programs Department offers courses and a graduate certificate in Writing Pedagogy. Email wpgradcert@ucla.edu for more information about the program or subscribe to the listserv (wpgradcert@googlegroups.com).

Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)

Resources from the WAC Clearinghouse

“ An Introduction to Writing across the Curriculum,” the Writing across the Curriculum (WAC) Clearinghouse
Answers to frequently asked questions such as “Why include writing in my courses?”, “Do I have to be an expert in grammar?”, and “How can I avoid getting lousy student papers?” that contain short articles, links to other resources, and commentary from instructors in various disciplines.

Kiefer, K. (2000). Integrating writing into any course: Starting points. Academic Writing, 1. Retrieved from http://wac.colostate.edu/aw/teaching/kiefer2000.htm

Young, A. (2002.) Teaching writing across the curriculum (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Based on the authors’ workshops for faculty in a variety of disciplines, this 69-page booklet covers writing-to-learn (e.g., one-minute essays, journals, poetry, notes, letters) and writing-to-communicate (i.e., more formal writing assignments).

Writing to Learn

What is Writing to Learn? This overview comes from the WAC Clearinghouse. There is also a link to a list of activities. Writing to Learn is one of the sub-components of Writing Across the Curriculum pedagogy. (The other components are Writing in the Disciplines and Writing to Engage.) For an introduction to Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC), go here.

Writing to Learn assignment examples from the Center for Teaching Writing at the University of Oregon.

Writing to Learn and other resources for instructors from the University of Montana. This website has useful information, including a handout on writing to learn and on writing assignments more generally.

University Websites

Most of these websites function as one-stop shops for the TA or faculty member. You can find information on nearly every aspect of teaching writing in your discipline, and many of them provide handouts that you can download.

Resources for Working with Student Writing from UC Berkeley's website for graduate student instructors, which links to another page with Additional Resources on writing-related issues.

“ WAC Resources for Instructors,” University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Writing Across the Curriculum Program
Information and many handouts on designing and sequencing writing assignments, as well as other aspects of teaching and working with students. You can also find example assignments from various disciplines.

" LabWrite," North Carolina State University
This site, devoted to writing better lab reports, contains separate sections for students, lab instructors, and faculty, and offers downloadable, printable template forms and online interactive resources for improving lab reports. This site is especially useful for TAs teaching in lab courses.

“ Teaching with Writing,” University of Minnesota’s Center for Writing
Handouts and articles on designing courses and assignments, responding to and grading student writing, addressing grammar and mechanics, working with non-native speakers, and preventing plagiarism.

“ WAC Resource Binder,” University of Richmond Writing across the Curriculum Program
Contains chapters on developing writing-to-learn assignments and formal writing assignments. Resources include example assignments from a wide range of fields.

Other References and Resources

Gottschalk, K., & Hjortshoj, K. (2004). The elements of teaching writing: A resource for instructors in all disciplines. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Covers such topics as developing writing assignments and assignment sequences, assigning and responding to revision, informal writing, teaching writing at the sentence level, orchestrating a research paper, making connections to discussion and oral presentations, and integrating writing into large courses.

Hedengren, B. F. (2004). A TA’s guide to teaching writing in all disciplines. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
A comprehensive handbook for TAs that covers how to teach the writing process (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, publishing), ways to teach writing (office hours, in-class sessions, written comments), and ways to evaluate writing, develop assignments, deal with plagiarism, maintain professionalism, and manage time.

MERLOT Collection. A collection of curated online educational materials. Membership is free, and anyone with a membership may search the collection.

Faculty Guides from Purdue University. On this web page, you may access a faculty guides for working with graduate student writers and multilingual writers.