Different ways of writing about issues

Hi folks,


During the coming academic year, we want to keep exploring different genres of writing that help students engage with content and that are alternatives to the standard academic essay.


As part of this ongoing exploration, we have put online some new examples of different genres of writing by Chuo Law students. There are now six examples of research narratives and seven examples of issues overviews on the Different Ways of Writing about Issues webpage. (This used to be called Research and Writing by Chuo Law Students).


For the research narratives, students write weekly research diaries and then rework these into a reflexive narrative of the development of their understanding about an issue. See Andy's earlier post for a bit more on this.


In the issues overviews students combine text with visuals to give a multi-modal introduction to an issue. My earlier post has a bit more about these.


The Different Ways of Writing about Issues webpage is open access so you can send students to it to find examples of the different genres to help them with their own writing, or to read a composition as a starting point for their own research. The site can be searched by type of writing (research narrative or issue overview) and by topics and issues.


If you have examples of different kinds of writing on issues that your students have done, it would be great if you added some to the website. Contact Mike for an invite to be a contributor and details of how to upload to it.


And feel free to use this blog to share ideas about how students in your writing classes are engaging with content and, more generally, about how you are approaching the Common Areas of Focus in your classes.


In the first cycle of my Improving Research and Writing class, I'm going have students do research narratives and focus on developing note-taking, writing research diaries, and asking questions about research (their own and others) in order to build knowledge and a more critical understanding of an issue. 


I look forward to hearing about what other people are working on in their writing classes this year.


Cheers,


Mike

Moshi moshi?

Hi everyone. Is anyone still using this blog? Can we start up something for the new year, perhaps?

Looking forward to collaborating with other teachers, on this blog or elsewhere.

Hope you're all having a good vacation.

Ellen