Author: Tom Polk

Scientists Talk about Reading Research

Post author By Tom Polk
Post date October 31, 2018

person writing on white printer paper on beige wooden table — Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

Earlier in the semester, we shared a few resources to support the ways in which faculty teach reading in (writing-intensive) courses. While literacy scholars and reading teachers suggest a variety of useful strategies to help students engage with their reading more deeply, one of the most commonly offered recommendations urges faculty to talk and model productive reading practices. That is why today we are sharing an article that does just that: interviews scientists about their reading practices.

Events

Join Professor Gesa Kirsch and WAC Mason Tomorrow

Post author By Tom Polk
Post date October 17, 2018

Dr. Gesa Kirsch, Professor of English and Media Studies at Bentley University, will join WAC Mason for a discussion of “The Advocacy, Activism, and Rhetorical Savvy of Dr. Mary Bennet Ritter, MD, and her Contemporaries.” Dr. Kirsch will explore Dr. Ritter’s life and legacy, trace her cohort of women physicians, and examine the role of the Woman’s Medical Journal in creating and sustaining a large professional network of early (mostly white) women physicians.

The talk will be held at 2:00pm in Johnson Center Room F on Mason’s Fairfax Campus. It will be followed by a reception at 3:30 and a coffee hour for graduate students at 4:00pm.

Kirsch Colloquium - Advocacy, Activism, and Rhetorical Savy

Faculty Writing

Study: Peer Review Increases Impact of Published Scholarship

Post author By Tom Polk
Post date October 10, 2018

photo of four persons uniting hands — Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

Tomorrow afternoon, the WAC Program is sponsoring a talk at Fall for the Book on “The Future of Academic Writing and Publishing.” The talk will feature five panelists who will consider how academic publishing is currently evolving and how scholars and editors might respond to that continuing evolution. One facet of this evolution concerns the prevalence of metrics that quantify the “impact” of a given article or journal. While impact metrics have been critiqued for a number of reasons, their use has remained prevalent, perhaps increasingly so. And that prevalence lead researchers John Rigby, Deborah Cox, and Keith Julian to wonder what impact factor metrics might reveal about academic writing beyond the circulation of a particular text.

Events Faculty Writing

Join WAC at Fall for the Book

Post author By Tom Polk
Post date October 4, 2018

fallforthebooklogo-2014

Writing Across the Curriculum is proud to sponsor “The Future of Academic Writing and Publishing,” a special event at George Mason’s annual Fall for the Book festival. Panelists Adam Winsler, Emily Green, John Warren, Laura Poms, and Doug Eyman will consider how academic writing has changed to reflect digital landscapes, diverse audiences, and new publishing platforms. This multidisciplinary panel will also contemplate recent challenges to definitions of academic writing and how we might anticipate further changes in coming decades.

Please join us Thursday October 11, 2018 at 4:30pm on the 3^rd floor of the Johnson Center in Meeting Room G.

FftB Flyer - Academic Publishing

Reading Teaching Writing

Strategies to Support Mindful Reading

Post author By Tom Polk
Post date September 26, 2018

blur book book pages close up — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Since we are still feeling inspired by the Stearns Center’s fantastic conference and its theme of “Small Changes, Big Impact,” we thought that we’d share a few more ways to support reading in the writing classroom. This week, however, we are offering a more complete resource with a series of useful reading strategies that we can teach to our students.