You'll often see in my assignment sheets that I tell students to follow the SQEES method in their papers. This is an approach to implementing and analyzing quotes from critical sources that I teach in every research-centric writing course. In fact, my AP Literature high school teacher taught me SQEES. It worked great for me then, and I find it works just as well for students now. You can access the presentation by clicking on the slide deck to the left.

I often ask students to conduct their own primary research in my courses via an interview. Students follow Christine Woodcock's "The Listening Guide" to listen to, code, and analyze their interview data. I ask students to use this guide because I believe it is important that we honor the voice of our research participants, as evident in my own research practices. The lecture where I overview the guide and lead students in an activity to apply the concept can be found in the slide deck to the left.

Whenever I teach students rhetorical and genre analysis, I ask them to follow a Matrix Categories Handout to help guide their thinking and analysis. This worksheet also overviews the common rhetoical appeals: pathos, logos, ethos, and kairos. You can access the worksheet by clicking on the document to the left.

The title of a research paper is perhaps one of the most important parts of the paper. In real-world critical writing and publishing, the title may be the only part of a paper people will ever read. For this reason, I teach students how to carefully craft a title that grabs the attention of the reader and communicates the paper's purpose. The worksheet and activity I use to do that is linked to the left.

This introductory course to writing composition teaches students to read critically and analyze a text's content as well as its rhetorical strategies. In addition, students are immersed in research writing practices, learning how to integrate source material into their papers, evaluate sources, and position their ideas in relation to published research. The course aims to develop confident writers who know how to pursue a relevant, consequential line of inquiry. 

Major Assignments:

1. Rhetorical Analysis

2.  Problem/Solution Research Essay

3. Multimodal Recast Project and Essay

This is the introductory course for students pursuing a degree in our Rhetoric and Professional Writing track or a Copyediting certificate. Students learn basic copyediting skills and complete several research assignments to investigate a job/internship they may apply to and the general publishing industry they may want to work in.

I organized several guests to visit my course across the term to give students a better idea of what copyediting looks like in the real world. Some visitors of note included copyeditors for The Cincinnati Review and the head editor for The Cincinnati Enquirer

Major Assignments:

1. Editing 4 Ways

2.  Author Perspective

3. Job/Internship Search

4. Professional Development Review

5. Publishing Industry Analysis

This the second course in our composition sequence. It is built around writing one 12-15-page Discourse Community Autoethnography paper across the term. Below is how I scaffold assignments for this course and the assignment sheet for that final paper.

A brainstorming activity that students love to do is this Gingerbread Person Activity. I do this hands-on activity in class prior to the Proposal assignment to help guide thinking about the project.

Major Assignments:

1. Proposal

2. Interview and Listening Analysis

3. Exploratory Narrative and Annotated Bibliography

4. Discourse Community Autoethnography

This course is built around students exploring different style choices and how they can leverage those choices in their creative and/or critical writing. This class was scaffolded by asking students to reflect on their learning across the term, which they put into action in their final style project.

Major Assignments:

1. Unit 1 Reflection

   • This assignment asks students to reflect on course concepts related to grammar, word choice, and paragraph structure. They then rhetorically analyze a sample of their own writing.

2. Unit 2 Reflection

   • This assignment asks students to reflect on course concepts related to using AI as a writing partner and how other writing materials, tools, or software can impact their writing (for better or for worse). 

3. Original Style Project and Analysis

This course, designed for English secondary education majors, prepares students to teach writing in secondary education settings.

Major Assignments:

1. Teaching Philosophy Statement, Part 1

2. Compose a Mini Article

3. Build a Writing Assignment (+presentation)

4. Teaching Philosophy Statement, Part 2

This course, designed for students in a variety of professional degree tracks, prepares students to effectively, professionally, and politely write in the below six genres--that of which might just be the most common genres for any professional field.

1. Informative Email Message

2. Negative Message

3. Oral Report

4. Proposal/Persuasive Message

5. Short Recommendation Report

6. Resume or CV, Cover Letter and Thank You Note

This course is designed for students in our B.S. Engineering programs and prepares students for the professional writing they will do in their technology, science, and engineering fields. The assignments ask students to write detail and researched-backed prose that anyone is able to understand.

Major Assignments:

1. Instructions

2.  Summary and Abstract

3. Informal Proposal

4. Recommendation Report