"Rewriting": Teaching Students to Do Things with Texts
Teaching students the process of active participation in scholarship comes with a unique set of challenges. To counter novice writers’ tendency to simply summarize, I ask my composition students to utilize a set of rhetorical “moves” that Joseph Harris (Professor of English, Duke, Pittsburgh, and the University of Delaware) outlines in his book, Rewriting: How to Do Things with Texts (2006). These “moves” often run counter to the writing strategies that many students coming out of high school are familiar with, as they require them to strategically employ an approach to critical thinking that emphasizes the active incorporation of a textual source, moving beyond informational descriptions of what they have read to a more critical engagement with the ideas of others.
This workshop will outline and explore in some detail Harris’s method to teaching students the nuanced art of source integration and utilization. Participants will be introduced to both low-stakes and high-stakes assignments designed to engage students in the different rhetorical “moves” that Harris defines. Participants will be asked to share their own experiences with teaching students how to make effective use of source materials.
Led by David Yockel, Senior Lecturer in the University Writing Program and Writing Across the Curriculum Coordinator, Academic Affairs
Event Snapshot
When and Where
Who
Open to the Public
| Cost | FREE |
Interpreter Requested?
No