Intellectual Creativity in First-Year Composition Classes

Building a Case for the Multigenre Research Project

By (author) Heidi Wall Burns, Michael MacBride

Publication date:

18 October 2016

Length of book:

156 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

238x159mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781475824926

Today’s first year composition classrooms are largely reflective of the writing pedagogy that has been used for the last 200 years. Unfortunately, this methodology does not meet the research or writing needs of today’s college and university students. Burns and MacBride were determined to make their first year composition courses more relevant to their students and sought a way to revolutionize their syllabus to do so. Building on the work of Tom Romono, Nancy Mack, Camille Allen, Sirpa Grierson, Melinda Putz (and others), Burns and MacBride set out to determine if a multigenre research project could better teach their students research, writing, and critical thinking skills than a traditional research-based essay. The findings of their semester-long study indicated that not only does a MGRP teach these skills, but it far surpasses a traditional essay in teaching engagement, intellectual creativity, and transferable writing skills. Burns and MacBride demonstrate two different ways to integrate a multigenre research project into the college composition classroom.

Foreword—Sarah Brown Wessling
Chapter 1: Justification of the MGRP in the Freshman Composition Classroom
Chapter 2: Self-contained MGRP
Chapter 3: Whole semester adaptation of the MGRP
Chapter 4: Plug-in Activities
Introduction
Plug-in Activity 1: Analyzing Genre Using Newspapers
Plug-in Activity 2: Audience Awareness Activity
Plug-in Activity 3: Evaluating Websites using CRAAP
Plug-in Activity 4: Teaching Students About Genre: Writing About the Weather
Plug-in Activity 5: How to Write a Process
Plug-in Activity 6: Infographic-Making
Plug-in Activity 7: Library scavenger hunt
Plug-in Activity 8: Practicing Research Skills: APA Library Research
Plug-in Activity 9: Summarizing Using Stories
Chapter 5: Evaluation and Assessment
Appendices
Appendix A: Assignment Sheet for MGRP Self-Contained Unit
Appendix B: MGRP Topic Proposal handout for self-contained unit
Appendix C: Assignment sheet for whole-semester adaptation
Appendix D: Assignment sheet for Assignment #1: Overview/Summary/Background
Appendix E: Workshop for assignment #1 MGRP self-contained unit
Appendix F: Checklist for Workshop day
Appendix G: Assignment sheet for Assignment #2: Annotated Bibliography
Appendix H: Assignment sheet for Assignment. #3: Self Reflection
Appendix I: Final Workshop for MGRP self-contained unit
Appendix J: List of former student topics
Appendix K: Formal Submission Expectations for MGRP self-contained unit
Appendix L: MGRP Grading Rubric for Whole Semester Assignment
Appendix M: MGRP Grading Rubric for self-contained unit
Appendix N: List of Potential Genres
Bibliography
About the Authors
Acknowledgments
Index

This book has helped me reconnect with what it means to go beyond the multigenre project and into a mindset where growing writers out of authentic experiences helps them find their best writing selves. It is a testament to what happens when we practice what we know is true: extending choice, authenticity, and purpose is extending a promise to our students that we care.