Writing Support for Your Course

Writing faculty can support you in using writing assignments effectively and teaching your students key writing skills. Interested? Please contact us.

Here are some strategies we frequently use to support writing in UTSC courses:

	Description	Most commonly used to…	Contact a writing instructor	We ask course instructors to…	In-class time required
Course Design	Collaborate with you to embed writing into your course, whether writing to learn activities, formal writing assignments or presentations.	Develop a new course or revise an existing one	Previous term or earlier	Meet with us to discuss the course—depending on your needs this may involve one or more meetings, and we may put you in touch with other specialists Provide us with relevant materials (for existing courses) and learning goals	N/A
Assignment Design	Collaborate with you to design and troubleshoot a new writing assignment or revise an existing one	Develop a new assignment or revise an existing one	Previous term or earlier	Meet with us to discuss the assignment Provide us with existing materials and learning goals for your assignment, as well as course syllabus and relevant context	N/A
In-class workshops	We partner with you to develop an in-class writing workshop customized to your course/assignments	Introduce a new genre of writing Teach a skill relevant to your course/assignments Intervene at a particularly challenging stage in the writing process Motivate students	Previous term or early in the term	Provide us with your syllabus, writing assignment, and concerns about student writing Meet with us to discuss the writing workshop Attend the class and participate actively in the writing workshop	20 to 90 minutes (determined in consultation with you)
Train TAs	Train your TAs to provide students with appropriate support and feedback around writing	Help TAs (particularly new ones) develop skills and confidence supporting writing May include grading strategies, giving useful formative feedback, using reading and writing in tutorials	Previous term	Meet with us to discuss goals and develop a plan for TA training.	Customized to course
Writing Rooms	Arrange a time for students to work independently on your writing assignment and consult with a writing instructor. If you or a course TA can attend, that is also helpful.	Provide students with time to work on their writing with available support	Previous term or early in the term	Provide your syllabus, writing assignment(s), and your concerns about students’ writing Motivate students to attend the clinic by offering a small bonus mark or attending the clinic yourself	5 to 10 minutes in class to promote clinic Clinics are held outside of class time, ideally right after class. (Generally 1 to 2 hours long.)
Post writing guides in Quercus	Post writing advice files and links in your Quercus course	Provide students with general reference	N/A	Select advice files and links from the Writing website to post or contact us for recommendations	N/A

Please note: Like you, we have limited time and resources. Support we’re able to provide may be limited by factors such as when you contact us in the term and other courses we’re already supporting. However, we will provide the best support we can within our limits, and may be able to work towards fuller support in future terms.