Resources

In addition to offering one-on-one consultations, The Jill and Marvin Willis Center for Writing is also actively developing resources to support writing across campus. On this page, we feature resources designed to help writers shore up their fundamental composition skills (our Back to Basics series) and resources for writing instructors who are interested in learning more about instructional best practices through an anti-racist lens (our Anti-Racist Classroom series). 

Back to Basics

While The Jill and Marvin Willis Center for Writing offers aid to visitors with all aspects of the writing process, we receive many requests for help with grammar only. This series begins with a presentation helping graduate students see matters of grammar, mechanics, and punctuation less as a set of regimented rules to follow and more as a set of conscious choices to consider. Through each presentation, participants will gain confidence in their ability to effectively craft arguments, tell stories, and share perspectives. The following resources also provide tips for identifying and improving weak spots within their own writing. By the end of the series, participants will possess a better understanding of how to communicate their research effectively and efficiently.

 

Building Better Sentences

Building Better Sentences Presentation

 

Concision and Clarity 

Concision and Clarity I: Redundant Language

Concision and Clarity II: Passive Voice

Concision and Clarity III: Parallelism 

Concision and Clarity IV: Exercises to Test Your Understanding

 

The Anti-Racist Classroom

These resources are for instructors (in any discipline) who want to strengthen their teaching of writing by interpreting best practices through an anti-racist framework. The links below will direct you to documents containing sample lesson plans, course design ideas, and background reading on anti-racist pedagogy. At the University of Georgia's Writing Center, we believe that good writing instruction is inclusive and accessible writing instruction, and we are proud to provide support to all members of our writing community. 

The resources on this page were developed by Assistant Director Paula Rawlins and writing consultant Emma Catherine Perry between May and December, 2019. Each resource was published on the Writing Center's social media channels as part of a weekly series during the Fall 2019 semester.

 

Course Design and Preparation

Toward an anti-racist pedagogy

Pre-course surveys

Thinking about assessment: Contract grading

Preparing for and managing difficult classroom discussions

Doing the work: Tips for moving forward

 

Sample Lessons and Assignments

Teaching Peggy McIntosh's "The Invisible Knapsack"

Writing effective assignments with Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

Teaching close reading with Natasha Trethewey's Native Guard

Exploring linguistic diversity through literacy narratives

Scaffolding assignments

Writing about the racial politics of place

Exploring difference through ethnographic writing

 

Teaching Translingual

These three resources form a tripartite series that introduces the basic concepts of translingual writing instruction and offers a sequence of suggested lesson plans and minor assignments. These lessons and writing activities invite students and instructors to reflect on their preconceived notions of acceptable expression and encourage writers to identify and cultivate their own writerly voices. 

Teaching translingual I: What is translingual instruction?

Teaching translingual II: Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue"

Teaching translingual III: Stanley Fish's "What Should Colleges Teach?" and Vershawn Ashanti Young's "Should Writers Use They Own English?"