Expository Writing

In "The Blank Syllabus" activity, the instructor leaves assigned readings blank for some of the class sessions. The second writing assignment requires students to choose a reading from the course anthology--a reading that is then assigned to the class...

Students experience what it is like to be an expert in a field by focusing their research and writing on a single fairy tale and its adaptations throughout the course of a semester. Goals: To show students how to choose an area of expertise and join in an...

Students present an “elevator pitch” of their paper idea to their peers, and then receive feedback about their idea. Goals: articulate thesis statement more clearly, ensuring students are making an argument about the evidence rather than summarizing...

When students are in the revision stage of their paper, Jerusha Achterberg uses fruits to teach students how to structure their papers so that the organization coordinates with the thesis. The idea behind this activity is to break the 5 paragraph mold...

In her Expos section, Jerusha Achterberg teaches how to clearly describe the methods that will be used in a subsequent paper. This activity was motivated by the fact that students were having trouble writing the methods section in their final paper...

For the third paper of the semester, Jerusha Achterberg has her students do small-group workshops where they read and provide feedback for each other in groups of 2-3. Students submit cover letters along with their drafts which indicate what elements in...

In Jerusha Achterberg's first and second Expos workshops of the semester, she chooses two paper drafts from the section and all the other students read and comment on those two papers. The authors also serve as the moderators for each other's discussion...

In this activity, Jerusha Achterberg has her students work in groups to develop persuasive arguments. First, she gives them a claim. In this particular exercise, she gave them information about the cholera outbreak in North America in 1832, when people...

In this activity, Jerusha Acterberg has students respond to a scenario where somebody is making a scientific assertion and then use the information from the readings to evaluate that assertion. Jerusha provides the students with a handout ahead of time...

Throughout the semester, Jerusha Acterberg gradually shifts the responsibility for coming up with reading questions from herself to her Expos students. In the beginning of the course, students are given discussion questions to think about as they do the...