POLISHED WRITING

Students and scholars must write at least 3000 words of polished writing. This can be a single, extended piece of writing or a series of pieces of writing; it can also include polished writing done as part of the process of producing a final product. For example, if the student/scholar is creating a poster presentation that does not quite meet the 3000-word requirement, texts written as part of developing that project--e.g., a research design/plan; an annotated bibliography; a lab report; etc, --can be counted as part of the 3000-word minimum so long as they are turned in for assessment by a faculty mentor or are polished for a specific audience. The point of SWS instruction is to help students and scholars learn the conventions of writing for a specific discipline or profession, so the 3000-word count needs to involve writing for audiences in that discipline/profession, whether the faculty mentor or external readers/viewers.

SUBSTANTIVE FEEDBACK

Students and scholars should write initial drafts of major projects and not simply submit one final draft. Writing is a process, and those who do it effectively carry out that process of drafting, receiving feedback, and revising. SWS credit requires students to submit at least one initial draft of any major project, receive feedback on it, and revise it into a final draft. When describing how this will happen in the project, there should be at least some roughly established deadlines for drafts that allow for the time required for feedback to be received, understood, and implemented in revision before the final draft. Be clear about how many drafts are expected and when they will be submitted and revised. The minimum is two drafts for any major final product.

DIRECT WRITING INSTRUCTION

Students and scholars must receive at least 4 hours of direct instruction on writing for the discipline, field, or specific audience of the project. This requirement involves direct guidance on improving one’s writing abilities. This may take place throughout the semester in large, dedicated segments of time or may happen throughout the project as needed. To receive SWS instruction, the proposal must account for 4 full hours of explicit writing instruction or explaining an equivalency of 4 hours of writing instruction. Writing instruction can involve elements of writing such as grammar and syntax, but SWS instruction should commit at least an equal amount of time to helping students understand discipline specific writing conventions. For example, if the student/scholar is creating a poster presentation, they should be receiving instruction on what that looks like, what is expected in a poster presentation, and how to do what is expected. If the student/ scholar is writing a research paper documenting findings from a research project, the student/scholar should receive instruction on what the major conventions are of a research paper in the field or profession. This may also involve teaching specific elements of particular genres-- for instance, the student/scholar may need to receive instruction on the features, purpose, and process of composing a literature review for a research paper. The proposal should explain explicitly some of the writing instruction the student/scholar will receive in the project. Thus, support and input from the faculty mentor will be critical to identify and describe these.