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UWW Graduate Writing Project Final Report

Overview of Graduate Writing Project

Five faculty representing UWW graduate programs (i.e., Marketing – Dr. Dennis Kopf, Communication – Dr. Corey Davis, Counselor Education – Dr. Brenda O’Beirne, Management – Dr. Rimi Zakaria, and Psychology – Dr. Carolyn Morgan) participated in a work group focused on increasing our understanding of graduate students’ writing at UWW. The primary purposes of the project were to gain a better sense of the ways in which graduate students’ professional communication skills are currently developed in our programs and share recommendations for improvement. This work group examined syllabi and course assignments, and interviewed faculty teaching core courses within their programs, to gather information about the types of writing required of students, program goals for student writing, concerns about specific graduate student writing skill deficits, and the potential need for student and faculty development opportunities designed to enhance graduate students’ writing skills.

At an initial work group meeting, members defined the parameters of the project. Subsequently, each member obtained copies of current writing assignments from the courses in their graduate program and reviewed them using a rubric constructed by a member of the work group. Group members also constructed a set of six interview questions about graduate writing at UWW and interviewed their graduate faculty colleagues. These interviews were summarized, and response patterns noted, in a final written narrative from each program.

At the group’s final meeting, the individual program rubrics and written narratives were reviewed and a gaps analysis was performed. This document contains the reports from individual programs as well as a final project summary identifying issues and concerns and offering recommendations for improving graduate writing at UWW. This report will be presented to Dr. Meisel and the graduate council at a later date.

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Summary of Graduate Writing in COMMUNICATION

IntroductionThe Department of Communication offers a M.S. in communication with two

emphases, one in corporate communication and one in mass communication. Students in each emphasis take a common core of three courses: Intro to Communication Studies (COMM 701), Issues in Human Communication Theory (COMM 722) and Communication Research Methods (COMM 785). Additionally, students in the corporate communication emphasis take Seminar in Applied Public Communication (COMM 702) and Seminar in Corporate Communication (COMM 703). Mass communication students take Seminar in Mass Communication (JOURNLSM 704) and Mass Communication Effects (COMM 731). The remaining credits are rounded out with dual-listed courses, individual studies, practicum, and/or capstone credits. The following report summarizes graduate student writing in the seven core 700-level graduate seminar courses.

Common Strengths in Graduate WritingThe greatest strength of communication graduate students’ writing seems to be

their effort. Multiple faculty members commented that students are very open to learning how to be better writers and also how to write in a scholarly style. Other faculty members commented on students’ tendency to be thorough.

Common Weaknesses in Graduate WritingAlthough a minority of our students exhibit sound grammatical writing, many

students still fail to demonstrate a mastery of grammar, instead, making frequent errors in mechanics, structure (paragraph formation, etc.) and punctuation. Stylistic and formatting errors are also common. Most faculty members reported that students’ overall composition is competent, but some faculty reported “fuzzy” analytical skills and issues with coherency. Still, none of these shortcomings are universal among communication graduate students. One issue with graduate student writing in our program is the broad spectrum of writing ability, ranging from mastery for some students to substandard for other students (and many in between).

Desired End Goal for Graduate Student WritingMost faculty members agreed that graduate students should be able to write formal

abstracts of articles and/or original research. All faculty members agreed that students should be able to write a cohesive literature review on a focused topic area and that such a review should demonstrate proper structure (well-composed topic driven paragraphs), style (APA) and grammar.

Communicating Standards to StudentsFirst and foremost, these standards are communicated to students via clear and

specific assignment requirements. Some faculty members also reported using rubrics for some or all assignments. Most faculty members reported using examples to demonstrate

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to students what competent and superior examples of writing should look like. Graduate instructors also reported that required drafts and revisions and culminating assignments are all important forms of providing feedback to students and reinforcing the assigned standards.

Graduate Faculty Responsibility for Teaching Writing at Graduate LevelAlthough graduate instructors generally lamented that graduate students should not

require much instruction in basic writing elements of mechanics and punctuation, most accept that when a deficiency exists in these areas, we as graduate faculty member still bear responsibility for correcting these errors. More generally though, faculty members did agreed that we have a responsibility to teach scholarly writing and to train students to become more advanced analytical and critical writers. Rather than spending class time teaching writing specifically, most graduate faculty members said that graduate students learn by doing—that is through repetition, through revision, through feedback from instructors and peers, etc.

Graduate School Writing ResourcesAll graduate faculty members thought it would be a good idea for graduate students

to have access to some kind of tutoring, whether via access to the (traditionally undergraduate) University writing center, a unique graduate writing center or some other kind of one-on-one (e.g., in-person, cyber) tutoring. This could be a particularly helpful resource, given the aforementioned broad spectrum of writing ability.

Examination of Writing AssignmentsAs indicated in the table on the following two pages, most communication graduate

seminars require a full research paper, including a scholarly review of literature. Two courses require only a research proposal and one class only a literature review, but overall, every course in the core requires students to write a review of scholarly research literature. All courses require all writing assignments to be written using AP Style. Only one course syllabus specifically mentioned a rubric. However, each syllabus mentioned required elements of the writing assignment. It is possible that additional assignments are evaluated with a rubric but that the rubric is not mentioned in the syllabus. Similarly, only two course syllabi require that papers are turned in via D2L, using the TurnItIn plagiarism check. But again, it is possible these tools are required for other classes but that the requirement is not specifically stated in the syllabi.

Most of the courses require that either full drafts or culminating assignments be turned-in in advance of the due date for the final writing assignment. Of the two courses that did not have drafts or culminating assignments, one required a topic paper with preliminary reference list and the other required an outline to be turned in ahead of the final due date.

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Examination of Writing Assignments in Core COMMUNICATION Courses

Course Writing Assignment

APA Yes/No

Rubric Yes/No

Draft Yes/No

Turn It In/D2L Yes/No

Comments

COMM 701: Intro to Communication Studies

Literature Review

Yes No* Yes No* Writing a scholarly review of literature is the main skills focus for this course.

COMM 702: Seminar in Applied Public Communication

Research paper

Yes No* Yes Yes No full draft, but students submit preliminary stages of paper. Turn-It-In is used for the online version of the class but not for the face-to-face meeting.

COMM 703: Seminar in Corporate Communication

Research paper

Yes Yes No Yes There is no full draft, but students prepare a one-page paper topic summary with a preliminary bibliography.

JOUNRLSM 704: Seminar in Mass Communication

Research proposal

Yes No* Yes No No full draft, but students submit preliminary stages of paper.

COMM 722: Issues in Human Communication Theory

Theory Paper

Yes No* No No* Specific drafts do not have to be turned in, but students do turn in and receive feedback on an outline of the final theory paper.

COMM 731: Effects of Mass Communication

Research paper

Yes No* Yes No* No full draft, but students submit preliminary stages of paper.

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COMM 785: Communication Research Methods

Research proposal

Yes Yes Yes No* Students each have an individual conference with the instructor to go over their drafts of the research proposal.

***Items with an asterisk (*) are not specifically addressed in the syllabus.

ConclusionThe M.S. in communication program at UW-Whitewater is consistent in faculty

expectations for graduate writing in the following ways: First, graduate students should be able to write a coherent review of research literature, either as a stand alone work, or as part of a longer research essay. Second, graduate writing should demonstrate mastery of AP style. Third, all writing should demonstrate competency in elements of grammar and clarity.

Faculty members are in agreement that the best way for students to become better writers is through practice. To guide communication graduate students toward meeting these expectations, faculty members offer instructive feedback via comments on drafts and preliminary assignments such as proposals and outlines.

Faculty members all subscribe to the importance of clarity, both in terms of expectations and instructions before an assignment and in terms of constructive feedback during the evaluation process. However, despite agreement on these points, only two course syllabi mention employment of a rubric. It is possible that rubrics are used in other courses (but not mentioned in syllabi). Regardless, it seems wider application (or at least wider reporting of application) of rubrics is in order.

Finally, although Communication Department graduate faculty members are in agreement about the centrality of writing, there is little time dedicated specifically to fundamentals of writing as part of most course designs. This is in part because of time constraints compared to the volume of material to be covered in the course. But another reason is because our students are very different. Some students are in need of extensive formal instruction in coaching; others need little to no help at all in writing. A resource like a writing center or some other form of tutoring could be quite helpful in boosting the writing ability of those students who lag behind the writing competency of their peers.

Overall, writing is central to a graduate education, and communication graduate students all receive sustained practice in and feedback on writing.

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Summary of Graduate Writing in COUNSELOR EDUCATION

The six prompts listed below formed the structured discussion for faculty and staff of the Counselor Education Department at two different department meetings this fall. The questions had been distributed in advance of the first meeting, with the request to review the “grid information” (presented at our first meeting of this committee) and be prepared for substantive discussion. While I expected the results would be helpful to our “writing group” work, I did not anticipate the fringe benefits of those discussions for us as a department. Listed below (in bullet format) are the responses.

What common strengths AND weaknesses have you observed in graduate student writing?

o Difficult to generalize; tremendous range of writing skills and motivations across students in the Counseling program.

o Depends largely on the type of writing (students are required to do both reflective writing and technical writing – often they confuse the two without significant structure and direction).

o Generally students do well with summarizing content.o Most of our students try (seen as a strength!).o Some of our students use the feedback we provide (also seen as a strength!) –

and it became clear that we all dedicate a lot of time to feedback regarding writing style in addition to feedback on content/purpose.

o Some students take advantage of opportunities for draft feedback (strength); others maintain their commitment to procrastination and do not use that option (weakness).

o A weakness for many students is related to structure (organization, headings, transitions, basic flow).

o A number of our students struggle with basic grammar, run-on sentences, two-page paragraphs, etc.

o We see patterns regarding which of our students will struggle; not isolated in one class, and often connected to their undergrad curriculum and earlier educational experiences.

o APA style is a requirement for all research papers, and for some students, a struggle.

o What should the end goal (ability, function, type, etc.) be for graduate student

writing? E.g., describe an example of professional writing at which a master's degree recipient from "x program" should be proficient.

o All students must be proficient with the following:1. Email correspondence.2. Letters.3. Progress notes.4. Conference proposals.5. Grant proposals.6. Program evaluation reports.

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o Some students will need more advanced skills, including:1. Research proposals.2. Journal manuscripts.

What are the standards we want our students to meet in regard to their writing skills?

o We want our students to be able to communicate coherently and professionally (directly related to conceptualization skills – if their writing is not coherent, it is likely their thoughts are not either).

o Most faculty agreed that we need to be pragmatic in our expectations (helping students to understand why writing is important in a field where we usually think about the clinical interactions with people).

o We want them to know the basics of APA style (and how to find those resources), particularly related to organization and citations.

o We want them to be able to critically reflect and know if they have created a good product.

o Students need to be able to synthesize their thoughts and ideas with the research and present in an understandable way to a broader public.

How do we communicate our standards to our students?o Most of that communication happens in specific courses and throughout the

program (we are clearly being redundant and not necessarily effective).o All syllabi address writing expectations (at different levels of specificity).o Rubrics are used in many (not all) classes to communicate the writing

standards.o The research course (taken by all students in our program) has a special

focus on writing; regrettably not all students take this course early in their programs (our programs of studies are not flexible enough to “make” this happen with all students).

o The importance of writing is introduced at our program orientation; we also mention the plagiarism policy at this time (a reaction from significant issues several years ago).

o Graduate assistants have offered workshops in past semesters related to APA style (these have been variably successful).

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What responsibility do graduate faculty have for teaching writing skills at the graduate level?

o There were significant within-group differences here! Several faculty members believe that we should not be accepting students who do not have writing proficiency (this response perhaps comes primarily out of frustration with some current challenges).

o The general consensus was that we should critique writing, not teach writing.o Faculty members also see our responsibility in making referrals to places

where they do teach writing (providing resources). o It was agreed that it is our responsibility to help students understand the

importance of writing in the counseling profession (in multiple and diverse ways).

o We will continue to explore whether writing should be more of a focus in one of our early courses in the program (unfortunately, we do not have a cohort model nor do we have courses that easily accommodate much more content).

What resources could the Graduate School provide to improve graduate student writing in our program (e.g., dedicated grad writing tutors, online grad writing tutors, professional development in teaching writing for faculty)?

o We had significant discussion about whether writing should be addressed at the Graduate School level or within departments (anticipating very different needs across programs). Our conclusion is that we are dedicating a lot of faculty resources (time and energy) to something that could be more appropriately addressed early in a graduate student’s experience.

o Hoping for institutional support, there were a number of suggestions, including:

1. Develop needs assessment that all graduate students would complete (could be part of the admission process facilitated by the graduate school). The needs assessment would ideally be both general and specific (with specific program goals incorporated in the assessment).

2. Work with Dr. Staff in the Writing Lab to hire dedicated writing tutors for graduate students, and then having those tutors available at times (and in ways) that make them accessible to graduate students (perhaps satellite labs, and perhaps on-line availability).

3. Work with the Library staff (for us, that is Ellen L.), develop modules that could be required within programs (module completion could generate a certificate that would be a milestone required before graduation [this idea is not very well developed – and could have potential]).

4. Continue with current within-program efforts to reinforce the importance of writing.

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Other (not necessarily addressing questions above, and may be helpful):o Since we as a department have adopted the policy of using Turn-it-in for all

research papers, there has been improvement in overall quality (and less concerns with plagiarism.

o Since we have introduced the topic at department orientation programs, there has been some shift (hard to measure) in awareness/understanding about plagiarism.

o A review of our syllabi and course expectations suggest (not surprisingly!) that there are differences between and among faculty in how we emphasize writing. Sometimes that is a function of the particular course and sometimes it is connected to values of faculty members. This discussion helped to clarify many things for us as a department!

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Examination of Writing Assignments in COUNSELOR EDUCATION Courses


APA Yes/No

Rubric Yes/No

Draft Yes/No


Comments

COUNSED 715: Research in Counselor Education

Article Critiques (2)

No* Yes No No* One article chosen by instructor, one chosen by student.


Research Applications Reflection Paper

No* Yes No No* Further details provided in class not provided on syllabus.


Quantitative Research Paper

Yes Yes Yes No* A research question for the proposal is due prior to the draft.

COUNSED 722: Theories of Counseling

Reflective Essay

Yes No No D2L


Counseling Experience Paper

Yes No No D2L Optional extra credit.


Theory Paper

Yes No Yes D2L An optional outline can be turned in as a draft but no finished paper draft is listed as either required or optional.

COUNSED 728: Clinical Studies in Counseling

Diagnosis and Treatment Planning (3)

Yes No Yes D2L and Turn It In

Drafts for the first two are in the form of in class forms that are filled out.

COUNSED 728: Clinical Studies in Counseling

Team Case Study

Yes No No D2L and Turn It In

COUNSED 793 (ALL): Supervised Practicum

Goals Paper No* No No D2L Not graded.


APA Yes/No

Rubric Yes/No

Draft Yes/No


Comments

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Goals Paper No* No No D2L Not graded.


Change Paper

Yes Yes Yes D2L

COUNSED 795 (1/2): Counseling Internship

Personal Theory Paper

No* No* No* No* Information will be given about this in spring semester.


Goals Paper No* No No No*


Personal Theory Paper

No* No* No* No* Information will be given about this in spring semester.



COUNSED 751: Professional Orientation: Ethics and Consultation

Ethics Project

Yes No No D2L

COUNSED 751: Professional Orientation: Ethics and Consultation

Reflection Papers (2)

No* No No No

COUNSED 795 (DL): Counseling Internship



APA Yes/No

Rubric Yes/No

Draft Yes/No


Comments

COUNSED 795 (DL): Counseling Internship

Case Presentation Paper

No* No No No*

COUNSED 718 (BO): Principles of Counseling

Personal Goals Paper

No* No No No*

COUNSED 718 (BO): Principles of Counseling

Beliefs and Values Paper

No* No No No*

COUNSED 718 (JC): Principles of

Personal Goals Paper

No* No No No*

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CounselingCOUNSED 718 (JC): Principles of Counseling

Beliefs and Values Paper

No* No No No*




Case Presentation Paper

No* No No No*

COUNSED 728 (2): Clinical Studies in Counseling

Research Paper

Yes No No No* For class make up purposes.

COUNSED 728 (2): Clinical Studies in Counseling

Diagnosis and Treatment Planning Case Studies

No* No Yes D2L Draft is done in the form of providing a copy of a DTP form to take notes in class.

COUNSED 728 (2): Clinical Studies/Counseling

Team Case Study Write Up

No* No No D2L

***Items with an asterisk (*) are not specifically addressed in the syllabus.

***For these items, when under the “Turn It In/D2L” column, there is not a specific mention if this is required. However, this is mentioned under the “Plagiarism” section of the syllabus. This may or may not be considered sufficient to meet the requirement of having papers turned in online being mentioned in the syllabus.

***In all cases, reflection papers come before more technical academic work. In most cases these assignments are due within the first 2-3 weeks of class.

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Summary of Graduate Writing in MARKETING and MANAGEMENT

Marketing and Management are separate graduate programs or emphases in the College of Business. However, there is overlap between the programs in regard to courses students take.

Management currently has 26 faculty (including adjuncts and academic staff). Only 8-10 of them teach at the graduate level (which varies somewhat from semester to semester). For this project, a total of 6 faculty were interviewed.

All Marketing and Management graduate students take the capstone courseBusiness Policy & Strategy (MAN 787 – 3 credit hours), which is taught by Management professors.

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Summary of Graduate Writing in MARKETING

Writing skills vary considerably among the students who enter the MBA program. In most cases, students generally have strong writing skills. Organization is good, spelling and punctuation are fine. Using the UWW writing rubric, most would score either in the good enough category or the very good category upon entry into the MBA program.

A complaint across professors who teach core courses is that students aren’t able to adapt their writing style based on the assignment. From my own experience, about 15% of the students do not know when they should adopt a formal, professional, or scientific style of writing (For example, in a market research report, a brief, scientific style of writing is necessary). If the paper is asking for an opinion or their viewpoint such as in an ethics paper, they can express their opinion, but the major weakness of this kind of assignment (about 35% have this weakness) is not providing enough evidence to support their viewpoints with facts and research article citations.

The most common complaints seem to be that students either fail to write in a succinct style when required, or lack motivation in research papers to provide the supporting evidence with the use of facts or research citations. A major stylistic concern is that about 20% of students use idiomatic expressions, which are inappropriate for a number of reasons. For example, if they are sending a memo or letter internationally, the use of idioms will make little sense to the reader.

Finally, about 1-3% of MBA students have writing skills far below where they need to be in terms of the basics, including spelling, punctuation, and use of prepositions. These students tend to come from foreign countries and have barely passed their TOEFL. Or, in about 1 out of 10 cases within this 1-3%, it is a student who comes from a background (usually either in the inner city or from a very rural area) with poor school systems. These students make some very basic grammar mistakes. That does not mean the content of their writing is poor. Many of these students are fairly intelligent, but lack the skills to write a well-polished paper. There is some debate among the faculty regarding whether these students should be admitted, but most feel that once they are admitted, we have an obligation to mobilize the resources to help these students either improve their English or their grammar depending on the situation.

In terms of assignments, faculty provide detailed directions and a writing rubric and some also provide sample assignments that exhibit the style and format that would be most appropriate for the assignment. Almost all use Turn-it-in and have assignments submitted to D2L Dropbox. Some professors assign group-writing projects. Assignments are primarily case study analyses. The hallmark of the UWW MBA program is that it is a case-based curriculum. Other assignments are article summaries, an occasional research paper and sometimes a reflective assignment. It should also be noted that online MBA courses are heavily D2L-discussion-based. Students often write very lengthy posts once a week

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and respond to posts of other students. In these situations, writing style is more informal and grammar and spelling mistakes are not counted against them.

Goals of the MBA program are that students should be able to adapt their writing style to fit the situation. Situations vary from an informal email, business letter or memo, or research report. By the time the students graduate, they should be able to effectively give evidence to support their argument or viewpoint. We have no explicitly defined writings goals, but a good goal would be that 90% of students should score at the “exceeds expectations” on the UWW writing rubric. The other 10% who started at a lower level should move up through the course of the MBA curriculum (from not good enough to good enough) in their writing proficiency.

Finally, one professor in the MBA curriculum recommended a library of example papers to show students what a professional research report or business plan would look like. All of the other professors recommend adding writing tutors who are dedicated to MBA students. These writing tutors will need to be able to work remotely with students from all over the world who are taking our online MBA. One professor did doubt that the students would utilize this resource. On the other hand, another professor indicated that once a student who writes below expectations is identified, he requires them to consult with a writing tutor before turning in any other papers in that class. Finally, one professor asked for more training on grading writing. This professor noted that she spends too much time grading written assignments especially those that are poorly written.

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Examination of Writing Assignments in Core Graduate MARKETING Courses


APA Yes/No

Rubric Yes/No

Draft Yes/No


Comments

MKTG 766: Ethics in the Marketplace

Case Analysis

No Yes No Yes

MKTG 766: Ethics in the Marketplace

Part Research Paper – Part Reflective Essay

No Yes No YES

BEINDP 740: Persuasion and Negotiation Strategies

Case Analysis

No Yes No Yes

Marketing 744: Strategic Marketing Planning

Case Analysis

Yes Yes No Yes


Industry Analysis

Yes Yes No Yes


Article Summary

Yes Yes No Yes

Marketing 716: Principles of Marketing

Case Paper Yes Yes No Yes

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Summary of Graduate Writing in MANAGEMENT

The vast majority of management graduate students write well in a technical sense, i.e. grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. Where they fail is in writing concisely, getting to the point, and providing supporting arguments.Students’ strengths include enthusiasm to work when they have personal interest in a topic. Major weaknesses include lack of structure in their writing, failing to aggregate the input from different group members in a streamlined and coherent ways, insufficient attention to feedback, and not searching for recent and updated sources.

One major goal for management graduate students is that they should be able to convey a point and provide supporting arguments in one page.

Management students are expected to be able to write in a structured way. For example, in an international expansion report, they must first introduce the context and cultural values and institutional environment of the host country, then compare business practices in that country with those in the US, and finally provide recommendations.

MBA students need to receive VERY CLEAR structure early on; otherwise, they have a tendency to submit free-structure or poorly structured reports. At the graduate level, students should already understand the importance of structure, so that instructor time can be used giving them feedback the content, not structure. However, this is often not the case.

The one page memo is a useful standard for graduate student work. Use of a clear rubric, setting basic writing expectations, and coaching in the orientation period of the MBA program (or the beginning of the first semester) would be useful. Using templates for the expected writing structures of different assignments would be helpful as well.

Other than penalizing truly poor writing, spelling and grammar, teaching graduate students how to write should not be our responsibility. Instructors could do a far better job of making graduate students aware of our expectations and perhaps giving them examples of good, and perhaps bad, writing. However, if we get too carried away with this, a large number of foreign students will be eliminated from our programs. Faculty should be more in touch with each other and set some non-redundant writing expectations for each course.

The Graduate School could consider a first semester one-credit course in writing for business. However, not all graduate students need such support.

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Having students do discussions in D2L where they can express their ideas more spontaneously is helpful. With written reports, students can get help and have someone edit the text before they submit. This is good for the final product, but with written reports, we do not know if we are evaluating the writing skills of the student. In D2L discussions, instructors can see students’ writing difficulties and errors more readily because students usually don't get help for editing their discussions. If assessing students’ writing skills is what we are after, having in- class written assignments could be another good way of getting some sample writing.

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Examination of Writing Assignments in MANAGEMENT Core Courses


APA (Yes/No)

Rubric (Yes/No)

Draft before Final Submission(Yes/No)

Turn It In and/or D2L

Comments

BEINDP 740 – 22: Persuasion and Negotiation Strategies

Final Reflection Paper

Yes Yes No TurnitinD2L

Students are expected to write 5-7 double-spaced pages in which they reflect on a real-world negotiation that the student will conduct. The paper should contain a description of exactly what happened and what the outcome of the negotiation was. Exemplary papers will do more than simply recount the details of the negotiation. They will also discuss preparation and strategy, and will critically analyze what happened during the negotiation process and why.

MAN 777-22: International

International Expansion Report

Yes No Yes TurnitinD2L

Students prepare this International Expansion Report (8-10 page)

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Management

analyzing a (host) country’s external business environment. In addition, they outline the challenges and opportunities of conducting business in the country (country feasibility) and provide relevant strategic recommendations (global strategy) for conducting successful international business in the host country based on its research about the country as well as their company’s global business strategy.

MAN 787-01: Business Policy and Strategy

Strategy Implementation Report

Yes Yes No TurnitinD2L

Students prepare multiple strategy implementation reports (8-10 pages in total). The goal of this assignment is to help students gain in-depth knowledge of a particular industry. Students select any existing company (preferably a publicly held firm, since they are well reported in popular press). The reports provide details on

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the external environmental and internal organizational analysis of the focal company, and strategic recommendations to formulate and implement a new line of product/service (new/innovative product/service), and/or to implement corporate development activities (alliance, acquisition, etc.).

MANGEMNT 787-22

Case Questions

No, but citations and references required

Not for writing

No TurnitinD2L

Students prepare 7-8 two-page papers in response to two questions addressing a given case (7-8 cases). The first question typically requires applications of the modules vocabulary and concepts. The second question requires critical thinking, e.g. why, why not, what if, how to, etc.

Mgmt 787-01, Class # 2895,Fall 2015(Godiwalla)

Exam I questions are answered

Not applicable since it is an exam

Broad template, framework for guidelines

No I encourage the students to go beyond the text, beyond the surface. I encourage them to explain their views and to make

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specific recommendations (or, solutions to problems) and provide their reasoning and support. I encourage them also to explain HOW managers in such situations may implement these ideas and recommendations, given the circumstances.

MAN 753 Training Project Report

Yes Yes Yes (proposal)

D2L Students prepare a report describing their creation of a new training program module, from start to finish. Documentation must be provided of the needs assessment conducted beforehand, then the complete design steps and items needed to conduct the training, as well as how it will be evaluated. Rubric items for grading include:1. Framework:

Specific/clear objectives?

Training methods and materials?

Well-done

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outline/lesson plan?

Evaluation plan (both short- and long-term)?

2. Writing – organization, grammar, spelling3. Documentation – appendices, etc.4. Strengths/weaknesses of your technique? Possible or actual applications?


Final Reflection Paper

No (optional)

Yes No TurnitinD2L

Students are expected to write 3 double-spaced pages in which you reflect on a negotiation exercise (role-playing) that they conducted in the class. The can choose one of the last 3 exercises we completed in class – which are relatively complex negotiations. The paper should contain a description of what happened, what the outcome of the negotiation was, and a personal evaluation of how successful the student finds his/her performance. They will also discuss preparation and strategy, and will critically analyze what happened during the

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negotiation process and why. They should try to include all of the relevant strategic elements and outcomes of the negotiation in the paper.


Real-world Negotiation Analysis.

No (optional)

Yes Yes (2) TurnitinD2L

Students will work on a final paper on a real-world negotiation topic. The paper should be less than 8 pages of analysis. They are allowed to have 4 pages as an appendix to include figures and graphs. They may choose a format from below:

a. Analyze a real-world negotiation situation about which they have personal knowledge, or have access to participants.

b. Analyze a real-world negotiation situation in which they have interest, and will use publicly available documents.

After the paper topic is approved, a project progress reports will be due on Class 5 and a final paper draft will be due on Class 7. They must revise their

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paper based on the feedback I give you.

Papers usually take about 2-3 pages to set up and describe the situation. Tables with timelines and parties, positions, and interests help preserve space for analysis (and don’t count against the 8-page limit). After analyzing the situation, they should discuss what should have been done or could have been done. This project should develop students’ ability to analyze external negotiations using many of the concepts that we learn in class.

MANAGEMENT 757Leadership Development

Fireside Chat/Interview Assignment

Yes Yes Sometimes

D2L Students have to conduct a personal interview with a leader of their choice (I usually recommend their reaching out to a leader they don’t personally know, so that they can benefit from getting a new person in their social network), and then write a 3-5 page paper analyzing the

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contents and themes of their interview. They have to use course concepts and readings in their analysis


Diary Entries Assignment

Yes Yes No D2L Students have to choose 6 topics from 15 provided (6 single spaced pages in total), and respond to them in a way that utilizes course readings and concepts, as well as personal experience/insights.


Final Group Project Paper

Yes Yes No D2L This is a group paper, and they write a 8-10 page paper comparing two leaders of their choice (one effective and the other ineffective). They have to use course concepts/readings as well as external sources in this paper.

Examination of Writing Assignments in SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY Courses

The Department of Psychology offers the M.S. and the EdS in School Psychology. Our program uses a cohort model and our coursework is highly prescribed. Students complete the courses shown in table following this summary, typically in sequence. This report summarizes information gathered from interviews with four school psychology graduate faculty, a content analysis of writing assignments in twelve graduate courses in school psychology, and a review of the contents of writing assignment rubrics used in graduate courses.

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Common Strengths in Graduate Writing

The majority of graduate students (90 to 95%) are generally competent with regard to basic grammar, sentence structure, and organization.

Graduate students can summarize sources well. They tend to have a good sense of the basics of APA format. They are generally able to find research to support conclusions.

Common Weaknesses in Graduate Writing

Most graduate students have difficulties evaluating the research. They can summarize research, but they cannot effectively evaluate sources and use the research to support their conclusions.

They struggle with identifying which details of the research are relevant to report. This ranges from giving no detail (e.g., ‘significant findings’) to reporting z scores, p values, and examples of every measure used in the study. They tend to go beyond the data in making conclusions, implications, and recommendations.

They have difficulties identifying appropriate sources and adequately reviewing the literature prior to writing. Some students find one source they like and take it as “the answer” rather than reading around a problem and bringing together multiple perspectives.

Difficulties with organization are common (e.g., page-long paragraphs, “kitchen sink” paragraphs, each paragraph summarizes a study). They don’t seem to outline their thoughts before they start writing or think about the goal of each paragraph.

Students are often inconsistent in their use of APA style.

Students often lack of attention to detail, are inconsistent in following patterns or samples given, and have difficulties when writing scaffolding is removed.

Approximately 5-10% of students are weak writers (e.g., content problems, no proofing, typos, fragments, NOT seeing errors). These students often don’t realize they are poor writers. They need detailed, explicit feedback.

Desired End Goals for Graduate Student Writing

Graduates should be able to write for a variety of purposes and audiences:

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They should be able to write a psychoeducational/consultation/intervention report that is student-centered, accurately reflecting the strengths and weaknesses of the child in understandable language for parents/teachers and translates that information into useful recommendations for teachers/parents.

They should be able to write technical reports that provide information to support their conclusions and recommendations without going beyond the data.

They should be able to write an empirical manuscript describing the results of research (especially program evaluation results) which is useful to schools.

They should be able to write a comprehensive literature review that summarizes, evaluates, and synthesizes the research with useful conclusions for application.

They should consistently use a professional voice when communicating with professors, supervisors, school officials, parents, and colleagues.

Professional writing should be automatic for graduates, including the use of basic APA formatting, the ability to adapt existing templates to new writing tasks, flexibility in writing to different audiences, different types of written materials, the ability to condense and expand written materials when needed, and consistent conscientiousness/thoroughness in written products.

Communicating Standards to Students

Two-thirds of school psychology courses use rubrics to evaluate written assignments.

Over half of school psychology courses use writing samples as exemplars.

Almost half of school psychology courses use comprehensive sets of writing instructions and guidelines.

Repeated verbal instructions are used extensively.

Graduate Faculty Responsibility for Teaching Writing at Graduate Level

School psychology faculty agree that they are responsible for teaching professional writing, including writing for various professional purposes for which students do not have previous training.

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Several faculty articulated that, as professionals, they are gatekeepers of their field and that they are responsible for making sure that graduates are prepared to write in a professional manner.

Faculty agreed that they should not have to teach writing fundamentals, but recognize that student deficiencies must be corrected.

Ideas for Graduate School Writing Resources

Individuals in the writing center who would be able to address writing at the graduate level would be helpful.

Online tutorials might be helpful for APA and grammar/punctuation refreshers.

A dedicated student GA from the discipline or program who can provide writing support would be helpful.

A GA who is knowledgeable about the IRB process would be helpful.

More professional development/time to strategize would be helpful.

Opportunities to hear about strategies that are working with graduate students across campus would be useful.

Increase PDF to attend conferences that include graduate writing workshops would be useful.

Examination of Writing Assignments

As shown in the following table, school psychology graduate students are required to engage in a variety of writing tasks, including technical reports, literature reviews, research proposals, reflections, critical incident reports, and case analyses. These writing tasks vary by content, purpose, audience, and length.

A quarter of school psychology courses require the use of APA formatting. The remaining courses primarily focus on technical report writing that has its own formatting requirements.

As noted previously, two-thirds of school psychology graduate courses use rubrics to evaluate written assignments. Rubric content varies by course and by instructor. Over half of school psychology courses use writing samples as exemplars of standards. Almost half of school psychology courses use comprehensive sets of writing instructions and guidelines.

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Almost half of the school psychology courses require that drafts of written papers be submitted. The majority of school psychology courses are competence-based, and students must demonstrate competence on the assignments in order to pass. Therefore, multiple drafts may be required. Two of the courses that students take early in the program require pre-writing activities or submissions of drafts of parts of a larger paper. Courses focused on report writing include extensive instructions and use of example papers. This scaffolding was not apparent by the final year of the program.

School psychology graduate courses are not using the TurnItIn plagiarism check and faculty did not voice concerns about plagiarism among graduate students.

Conclusions

School psychology faculty agree that they are responsible for teaching professional writing, including writing for various professional purposes for which students do not have previous training.

Faculty members use various strategies for improving student writing, including feedback on drafts, evaluation rubrics, extensive guidelines and instructions, and multiple opportunities for practice.

There is evidence of scaffolding of writing in courses at different levels of the program.

Professional writing involves a developmental process for which some students need more support than others. More support for the development of weak writing skills, including organization and use of sources, would be helpful.

Note: The Analytic Writing portion of the GRE is required by the School Psychology and considered if an applicant’s score is particularly low.

Examination of Writing Assignments in SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY Courses


APAYes/No

RubricYes/No

DraftYes/No

TurnItIn/D2LYes/No

SamplesGiven

Comments

Psych 620 Advocacy Assignment (10-12 pp.)Book Critique(4-5 pp.)Domains of

Yes Yes, for all assignment

Yes, 2 pre-writing assignments; Problem Topic; Annotated Bib; Argument Summary

No* No* Online writing resources; instructions; Bean text info; info from UW-Madison Writing Center

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Practice Reflections; 2 Legal & Ethical Case Analyses; Shadowing Reflection

Psych 715 Research Proposal

Yes Yes for research proposal and literature review assignment

Yes, Method section assignment; Literature Review assignment; Gap Paper

No* No* Instructions for Method section assignment, Literature Review assignment, and Gap paper

Psych 724 1 essay exam, 1 Problem and Solution paper

Yes Yes, for paper

Yes, for paper plus peer review

No* No*

Psych 740 1 Essay Exam; 3 Test Batteries w/ 2 Mini-Reports; Critical Incident Reports

No* No* No* No* Yes, for all reports

Written instruction for comprehensive report

Psych 745 2 Mini-Reports; 1 Comprehens. Report; Theory Summary(4-5 pp.); Critical Incident Rep

No* No* No* No* Yes, for all reports

Written instructions for comprehensive report


APAYes/No

RubricYes/No

DraftYes/No

TurnItIn/D2LYes/No

SamplesGiven

Comments

Psych 746

4 Papers (4-5 pp. each)

Yes Yes, Position Development; Use of Evidence; Organization & Clarity

No* No* No*

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Psych 766

1 Individual Case Report w/ notes (3-4 pp.); 1 group Case Report w/ notes (3-4 pp.); Written Graph Interpretation

No* Yes Yes, for reports

No* Yes, for both reports

Psych 768

1 Essay Exam; Program Evaluation Assessment

No* No* No* No* Yes, for program assessment

Psych 769

Summative Report; Consultation & Prevention

No* Yes No* No* Yes

Psych 770

Psych Report (4-5 pp.); Mini-Reports

No* Yes No* No* Yes, for Psych Report

Psych 793

2 Complete Psych Reports; 6 Critical Incident Reports; Case Consultation Report

No* Yes, for complete Psych Reports

Yes No* Yes, for CI and CC Reports

Psych 795

Reflections; 4 Consultation Case Reports; 5 Written Psych Reports; 1 Individual Counsel; 1 Group Counsel

No* No* No* No* No* Instructions for Reflection Logs

***Items with an asterisk (*) are not specifically addressed in the syllabus

Summary of Graduate Writing Team Meeting and Gaps Analysis

After completing their individual program assessments, members of the Graduate Writing Study team met to discuss and compare their observations and impressions. The following is a summary of the team’s observations and conclusions.

Common Weaknesses in Graduate Students’ Writing

Two areas of relative weakness in students’ writing were identified:

1. Problems with coherence and organization

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2. Use of evidence and documentation

Additional concerns varied to some extent by program and included theneed for improvement in students’ writing conciseness, their use of feedback and evidence of using feedback, and their motivation to address concerns communicated by instructors.

Use of Common Guidelines for Student Writing

Instructors teaching different courses in programs vary in terms of their use of rubrics, writing samples, and templates. Explicit, written, programmatic guidelines don’t exist and may not be appropriate as different courses have different writing objectives.

Programs and faculty vary in the extent to which clear written expectations about writing are articulated consistently.

Increasing graduate faculty and student awareness of, and willingness to use, the UWW Writing Matters Rubric could be helpful as a common guideline and used for both formative and assessment purposes.

The UWW Writing Matters Rubric provides means of assessing the two main areas that group members indicated were major weaknesses with graduate student writing in their programs:

1. Problems with coherence and organization2. Use of evidence and documentation

The use of such a rubric would communicate clear and consistent expectations; however, there is concern about “cook book” writing.

Use of Scaffolding in the Development of Students’ Writing

Scaffolding refers to the process of helping students move toward greater understanding and skill development through the use of a variety of instructional techniques that require progressively greater independence.

The use of scaffolding of writing skills varies within individual courses and is more common in some programs than in others. In addition, scaffolding is more apparent in “core” courses within programs (e.g., research methods) than in other courses. Scaffolding is easier to achieve in programs that use a cohort model and that have a defined sequence

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of required courses. One common method of scaffolding within courses is requiring shorter assignments that build up to a larger finished written project.

Capstone experiences, as required by the graduate school, assume that students will demonstrate the professional independence they have achieved in their programs of study. However, programs vary in the degree to which their capstone experience requires the demonstration of acquired writing skills.

Programs may find it helpful to explicitly articulate the progression of writing development within their curricula:

Example:

Case analyses--------------More complex case analyses----------Capstone Case Analysis

Assessment of Program Writing Goals

The development of professional, discipline-specific writing skills is a clearly articulated goal within the four graduate programs. Moreover, writing assignments are directly related to this overarching goal of developing competent professionals within a given professional program.

Course-level analysis (i.e., grades) is the most common method used to assess students’ achievement of program writing goals. In addition, the Counselor Education program performs a review of progress after students have completed 12 credits. The Communication program assesses students’ writing skills through the use of a pass/fail capstone project evaluated by a three-member capstone committee. The School Psychology program utilizes a comprehensive review process, which includes the submission of a portfolio of written materials at the end of students’ first year of study. Students are required to successfully pass this review in order to continue in the program.

Implemented Strategies to Improve Student Writing

Programs and instructors vary in the extent to which they implement explicit strategies to improve student writing. All team members indicated that referrals to the UWW Writing Lab were given to students struggling with their writing. However, there was some indication that having more faculty refer students and having criteria for when referrals are appropriate would be helpful. Instructors in various programs indicated that they shared writing resources with their students. Counselor Education offers APA writing workshops every semester. Scaffolding of writing skills occurred to varying degree in all four programs.

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Additional Possible Ways to Improve Graduate Student Writing

One strategy would be to assess graduate student applicants’ writing prior to admission to a particular program as part of the graduate school application process. This assessment could be used in several different ways according to the goals of individual programs. Programs could choose to adopt a minimum writing score for admission to certain programs. Or, programs could choose to use students’ writing scores to identify students in need of additional writing support. The assessment of applicants’ writing raises the question of what to do with identified weak writers. Programs don’t necessarily want to remove applicants with relatively weaker writing skills from the applicant pool based only on their writing because many of these students have compelling qualities that otherwise make them potentially strong graduate students.

Specific programs could choose to require a writing sample on the day applicants interview for the program. At this point, applicants would already be admitted to the graduate school. The writing sample could be used either to identify potential students with weak writing skills or as part of the program admissions process.

There is a clear need to distinguish two groups of “weak writers” among graduate students. One group includes students who are relatively weak writers, but strong thinkers, whereas a second group includes students who have difficulties both with writing and thinking (“poor organizers of their thinking”). The first group generally includes international students who need ESL support and the second group includes many students from underrepresented American ethnic minority groups who often have weaker educational experiences.

An amelioration process needs to be developed for graduate students identified as needing writing support. Two ideas for such a process are to require identified students to take a 1-credit writing skills enhancement course during students’ first semester or complete a series of writing assessment and tutorial modules, perhaps designed by the library. Students should not have to pay for these additional requirements. In addition, extra requirements need to be fully integrated with students’ programmatic writing assignments in such a way that the writing “support” does not become an additional burden on students’ time and energy.

Possible Structural Supports for Students

1. Dedicated Writing Center that is available to graduate students with personnel who are aware of specific needs of graduate students in specific programs

2. Increased access to tutors for online students, including teleconferencing, instant messaging, skype, Go to Meeting, etc.

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3. Needs assessment for incoming graduate students or students in their first graduate assessment to evaluate writing skills that need to be improved (programs could opt in or out of this assessment)

4. Method for communicating results of needs assessment to students and a mechanism for insuring that identified students complete required writing tutorials or course. For example, the Registrar’s Office could place a Milestone Passed indicator on students’ transcripts that could be the pre-requisite for enrolling in a specific course or before 2nd year or within 90 days of acceptance to graduate school

5. Section of library resources related to graduate level and professional writing that would be easily available. For example, our library could “package” for graduate students a number of relevant tutorials that are already offered. Students identified through a needs assessment would be required to show evidence that they had completed the tutorials early in their graduate careers

Possible Structural Supports for Faculty

1. Opportunities for interested graduate faculty to discuss graduate writing (e.g., LEARN Center program)

2. Professional development opportunities for interested faculty to learn more about teaching writing and using the UWW Writing Rubric at the graduate level

3. Professional development opportunities for interested faculty to attend professional workshops and conferences relevant to writing in their discipline

4. Efficient method of receiving instruction on how to use writing-related software such as Turn-It-In

Content Analysis of Syllabi from Four UWW Graduate Programs

A content analysis of course syllabi from Communication (College of Arts & Communication), Safety (College of Business), School Psychology (College of Letters &

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Sciences), and Special Education (College of Education & Professional Studies) was conducted using syllabi that were made available by programs during summer 2015. The purpose of the content analysis was to assess the extent to which writing is explicitly addressed in syllabi. Course syllabi clearly vary in regard to their explicitness regarding assignments as well as in the number of supplemental course materials that are included (e.g., samples, templates, rubrics). Often instructors will note in the syllabus that further instruction on particular assignments will be given at later dates. Thus, the data contained in the following pages is highly tentative and is included for exploratory purposes only. The variables examined in this content analysis were chosen and defined by the primary researcher on this project (Dr. Carolyn Morgan, psychology).

Within each program, available syllabi were identified by course number, the types of writing assignments included, the number of pages of writing required when indicated, and, where given or possible to calculate, the percentage of final grades related to written work, and whether rubrics, samples, or a description of the evaluation process was included. A brief summary table of selected variables that were examined in the content analysis is shown below. This brief table is followed by tables displaying summary data from each program separately.

The analysis suggests that the vast majority of graduate courses involve writing and that writing assignments, on average, account for at least 50% of students’ final grades. The most common type of written assignment is the short essay (1-5 pages). Graduate writing assignments are varied in format; in addition to case studies, short essays, and literature reviews, assignments include graded D2L discussion posts, essay test questions, peer reviews, written homework, annotated references, lesson plans, book critiques, legal briefs, letters to editors, reports of statistical analyses, biographies, self-reflections, plans for interventions, interview summaries, and journal entries.

Consistent with the results from our study of graduate education at UWW, Communication has the most traditional writing requirements (100% of Communication courses require a formal literature review), whereas other programs focus on more applied types of writing in which the main purpose of the assignments seems to be the development of students’ skills in professional communication with a variety of constituents (teachers, parents, administrators, businesses, employers, etc.).

In regard to scaffolding, relatively few courses in any program include rubrics or samples in their syllabi. Interestingly, syllabi in Communication often include a statement that students’ final papers should be “conference or publication ready,” suggesting perhaps that graduate students should be competent writers when they enter the program or

develop needed writing skills early in their graduate education. At least one syllabus (from a research methods course) in Communication and Special Education has students complete different steps of the writing process (e.g., outline, abstract, first draft of Introduction) throughout the semester.

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At least a third of courses in School Psychology, Communication and Safety provide a description of the evaluation process for written assignments. In contrast, less than 10% of Special Education courses included a description of how written assignments would be evaluated.

There was no indication in syllabi that courses build on one another in regard to explicitly and intentionally developing students’ writing in a sequence of courses or experiences. This is more likely to occur naturally in programs that use a cohort approach, and thus is likely to be occurring even though it is not explicitly described in course syllabi. Sequencing of skill development would be much more difficult to achieve in more individualized programs, which could be one of the problems instructors encounter (i.e., students in courses in some programs are at very different levels of writing experience and skill).

There was also no mention of any common writing guidelines within programs in the syllabi. However, many syllabi do indicate that students should follow APA guidelines.

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Table of Selected Variables from Content Analysis of Course Syllabi

% of course syllabi

Safety

N= 6

Communications

N = 9

School Psychology

N = 16

Special Education

N=28specifically

involves writing

83% 100% 88% 96%

includes assignment

descriptions50% 44% 38% 43%

assigns case studies 17% 12% 14%

assigns lit reviews 50% 100% 12% 62%

assigns short essay 50% 89% 75% 71%

assigns PowerPt

presentations67% 56% 50%

uses rubrics 17% 12% 18%provides samples 17% 22% 4%

describes an evaluation process for

written assignments

33% 33% 44% 7%

Average % of final grade is

related to writing

51% 84% 50% 45%

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