Through our Education and Outreach Committee, the RWIT Writing Center offers in-class workshops focused on foundational concepts in academic writing. Workshops are delivered by undergraduate RWIT Writing Center Tutors, and feature a mix of participatory presentation and hands-on exercises. Faculty may request these workshops for any undergraduate course. They are designed with first-year writing audiences in mind, but can be adapted slightly for other curricular settings. Without modification, each workshop takes approximately 45 minutes.
Presentation Descriptions
Crafting a Thesis: Our "Crafting a Thesis" workshop teaches students how to unpack complex assignments that, for example, pose multiple questions or ask the writer to make connections between seemingly disparate ideas. Our workshop identifies three primary pillars of thesis-writing — scope, significance, and stance — and gives students strategies for handling each via interactive discussion of sample prompts and theses. These strategies will help your students prepare to navigate different writing scenarios. This term, we include an option for your students to review their own theses at the end of the workshop.
Writing with Style and Clarity: Based on Joseph William's Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, our "Writing with Style and Clarity" workshop covers concision, nominalization, quote integration, flow, and passive vs. active voice. We will help your students identify stumbling blocks in their own writing, understand the problems they cause, and develop strategies to deal with them. This interactive workshop includes hands-on exercises that help students grasp these important concepts by finding and revising stylistic inefficiencies together. Your students will leave the workshop better equipped to revise their writing for style and clarity.
Custom Workshops: If you would like to develop a specific workshop not listed here - for example, a workshop focused on understanding the genre conventions of a particular assignment for a larger course - please contact us at rwit@Dartmouth.edu.
Requesting a Workshop
Please Note: We ask that faculty are present in class during these presentations and that only one presentations be requested during a single class period. If you would like to have both presentations given in your class, you will need to submit the form more than once.
Request an in-class workshop via this form: RWIT Writing Center In-Class Workshop Request Form.
We will do our best to fulfill each request we receive, but staff availability may limit our capacity.