Best Practices

Many pedagogical practices have proven themselves highly effective for teaching writing. We briefly describe some below.

In-Class Writing. Short low-stakes writing exercises done and discussed in class give students frequent chances to practice writing.

Revising. Professional writers write well because they revise, not because their words are born perfect. Explicitly asking students to reconsider and improve something they have previously written introduces students to this process and helps them understand its importance. Revisions can be guided by recommendations from instructors or peers, but authors also need to understand that "revision" is not solely about fixing problems someone else has identified. Also see "Peer Editing" below. See the "Revision" section of the INTD 105 curated links page for tips on how to teach revising.

Peer Editing. Letting students critique and edit each others' work helps both the authors and the reviewers find better ways to express themselves. This can be particularly effective if the work being edited is a draft of a paper that students will turn in. Students may find it easiest to critique surface features of each others' work, but giving them guidelines for other things to look for can help avoid this problem. Also see "Revising" above. See some of the items under the "Revision" section of the INTD 105 curated links page for tips on how to conduct peer editing sessions in class.