College Writing Program

Support Services for Social Sciences Faculty

To help faculty in the social sciences across the College address their students’ writing needs, the College Writing Program offers several support services.

1. Workshops on writing in the social sciences

Working closely with instructors, experienced Writing Consultants design and lead hands-on workshops on writing in the social sciences. Workshops may be conducted during or outside class time. 

To schedule a writing workshop, please call 273-3577/273-3584, or email the Writing Center Coordinator, Stefanie Vischansky, at cwc@mail.rochester.edu.

2. Writing-Fellows support for Upper-Level Writing courses in the social  sciences

Instructors teaching writing-intensive social sciences courses (typically ULW courses or courses that fulfill the ULW requirement) may request workshops or semester-long support from Writing Fellows. Writing Fellows work closely with students on their writing projects, offering individual or group tutoring.

To schedule Writing-Fellows support for your course, please call 273-3577/273-3584, or email the Assistant Director of the College Writing Program, Tanya Bakhmetyeva, at bakh@mail.rochester.edu.

3. Individual consultations for students in social sciences courses

Individual consultations provide opportunities for students to enter into a dialogue about their work with constructively critical readers. Many of our tutors have particular experience in writing in the social sciences, while others regularly work with issues that are relevant to writing in all disciplines.

Individual consultations are offered in several formats:

• Consultations by appointment: Writing Consultants (trained graduate students with extensive teaching or tutoring experience) work with students, as well as faculty and staff, at any point in the writing process and on any type of writing.
• Standing appointments: a specific Writing Consultant works with a student on a regular basis, typically once a week. We recommend that students work with several consultants before requesting a standing appointment with a particular consultant.
• Walk-in consultations: Writing Fellows(trained undergraduate peer tutors) provide critical feedback on writing at any stage of the writing process.
• Online feedback (Write-On): Writing Fellows (trained undergraduate peer tutors) offer written responses to online inquiries from students, faculty, and staff within 24 hours.

Faculty may request a class visit from the College Writing Center (CWC) during which one of our Writing Consultants will introduce the Center’s tutoring services. To schedule a visit, please call 273-3577/273-3584, or email the Writing Center Coordinator, Stefanie Vischansky, at cwc@mail.rochester.edu.

Faculty members can contact the Director of the College Writing Program, Deborah Rossen-Knill, at 273-3577/273-3584 or knil@mail.rochester.edu, or the Assistant Director, Tanya Bakhmetyeva, at 273-2577/273-3584 or bakh@mail.rochester.edu, to discuss how these services can be incorporated into their courses and how they can receive feedback about their students’ use of Writing Center services. 

We also help instructors in social sciences courses develop ways to integrate writing into their courses for learning and evaluation purposes:

1. Individual faculty consultations for social sciences faculty

We help instructors in social sciences courses develop and revise:

• writing assignments that support a course’s learning goals,
• grading criteria for writing assignments, and
• strategies for responding to students’ written work.

2. Workshops for social sciences faculty

We are available for faculty workshops on teaching, evaluating, and assessing writing in the social sciences.

To schedule a meeting or a workshop, please call 273-3577/ 273-3584, or email the Director of the College Writing Program, Deborah Rossen-Knill, at knil@mail.rochester.edu, or the Assistant Director, Tanya Bakhmetyeva, at bakh@mail.rochester.edu. 

If there are additional services that you would like us to develop for your courses, we would be happy to discuss them with you.

We would also be glad to introduce the Writing Center’s services to faculty during departmental meetings.

Last Modified: Wednesday, 26-Sep-2007 14:17:29 EDT