by Ritwika Bose, Writing Consultant
Writing Program Overview:
The University of Chicago provides a well known core curriculum integrated with faculty training and writing center services. The use of the "Little Red Schoolhouse" model for faculty training has become well known and respected by writing professionals; it also moved with founder Greg Colomb to UVA, where it continues to be employed after Colomb's death. The center itself is part of a Learning Center in the campus library (notes by Joe Essid, May 2018).
The first section details the various courses taken by undergraduates at University of Chicago to strengthen their writing abilities and the resources (mainly, the writing consultants) that are available to help them to do so. The second section talks about the help available for graduate students and the courses they are encouraged to take to enhance their skills as writers or as teachers. The final section mostly includes courses available to the non-degree seeking students who want to develop their writing abilities for their workplace or for recreation.
Resources are also available for high school students looking for help in their daily schoolwork and for long term projects like college applications.
1. Undergraduate writing programs:
1.1. Staff The University of Chicago writing department employs three sets of consultants: College Core Tutors, Writing Interns, and Lectors in Academic and Professional Writing, all of which consist of graduate students exclusively.
For the College core tutor position, applicants are required to be expert writers in the humanities since the core courses demand it (See next section) and after the application process, are required to take a humanities course, HUMA 5000: “Pedagogies of Writing” in preparation. Core Writing Tutors work with first-year undergraduate students through the process of brainstorming/questioning the assignment, drafting an outline and writing a final draft. They are available all seven days a week, and even maintain a special ESL tutor at least twice every week as per the website and their Facebook page, which notes any schedule changes. (I was unable to find specifics of the ESL core tutor training program.) Website: https://writing-program.uchicago.edu/undergrads/tutors
Writing interns are also affiliated with the Core courses but are more involved in actively teaching advanced college level writing along with argumentation, techniques of structuring information and the significance of both. Unlike Core tutors who are resources as per appointment, Writing interns attend the core classes they are responsible for and participate in the discussions in class as well as outside class with the students in one-on-one meetings or small groups. UChicago requires every student to take a seminar like course where they meet with their interns at least thrice in small groups. Here, the students are expected to benefit from group feedback as well as individualized instruction. The course is mandatory, taken for credit and consists of pre-writing (interns introduce techniques for analysis), draft (drafts are exchanged and techniques to improve structure is introduced) and post-writing (exchange complete papers and get feedback from readers) components, all driven by the intern. Website: https://writing-program.uchicago.edu/undergrads/interns
The lectors perform a similar role as the writing interns by holding weekly sessions with a small group of students who read each other’s papers and discuss them per week. The lectors attend the same lectures as the students do, and give extensive critiques on them. To prepare for the role, the lectors have to take English 50300: “Principles of Teaching Writing” and they are reserved for the “The Little Red Schoolhouse” (LRS) program (See section 1.2). Website: https://writing-program.uchicago.edu/jobs/lectors
1.2. Writing courses Chicago encourages upper-level undergraduates to take courses as part of “The Little Red Schoolhouse” program, which aims at helping students better their academic and professional writing. Held twice a week in a seminar-like fashion, the course attempts to see writing as a “study of readers” and trains the writers on writing in a clear and concise manner, allowing them to predict when they may have trouble holding a reader’s attention. The assignments are short papers pertaining to the student’s major field and they are graded and discussed in sessions held by the Lectors (See section 1.1) Website: http://writing-program.uchicago.edu/courses/undergradLRS
The core curriculum, which has general education requirements like the University of Richmond, claims to be rich in writing intensive courses for which they specifically get the tutors. While most of the course requirements were in the area of history, art, literature and social sciences, every student is required to take HUMA 19100: “Humanities Writing Seminars”, which eases the students into college level analysis and introduces ideas on essay organization and clear writing. This class is mandatory for graduation and students are automatically registered for it when they take any of the core curriculum requirements. Website: http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/humanities/
Other than the LRS, I was unable to locate any specific writing courses, but the writing program website has a helpful series of webpages to help with the transition to college writing. Titled “Writing in College”, the series walks freshmen through beginning of analysis, drafting an outline, writing an initial draft as well as when to see an intern or tutor. It essentially covers the information that we did, in English 383, through the books by Graff and Birkenstein and Hjortshoj. However, I do not have any information as to how the students use this site or how they are led to it during their first year. Website: https://writing-program.uchicago.edu/undergrads/wic0intro
1.3. Administration- Events, workshops, special programs
The university has specific “English Language Institute” dedicated to ESL students. A plethora of courses are offered as part of this program, ranging form intensive summer courses to non-credit academic year courses, all aimed at improving oral efficiency in English as well as easing international students into the American culture. They also provide a customized one-on-one curriculum for students who may choose it and the ESL trained core-tutor is also part of the package. Website: https://esl.uchicago.edu/page/our-offerings-overview
I was unable to find any major events or workshops planned by the writing center/program. However, the only events listed were conferences on how to use an online program called “Canvas”, which seems like a “BlackBoard” equivalent service. The writing program itself maintains the LRS (section 1.2.) as a special course as it is not a requirement, but rather taken by a student to enhance their own skills.
1.4. Location
The writing center and the core tutors are located in the Harold Leonard Stuart Hall, next to the North Reading Room of the Cathey Learning Center. The only entrance is through the third floor of the Harper Memorial Library, so the location can be considered a subsection of the library. The website and map indicated the presence of a café on the way to the area, but not particularly close by.
Link to the map: https://writing-program.uchicago.edu/sites/writing-program.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/WPmap.pdf
2. Graduate writing programs
2.1. Staff Lectors in Academic and Professional Writing are also available for graduate students when they enroll in the LRS program (section 1.2). Additionally, graduate writing consultations (GWCs) are available by appointment and are strictly to help format, analyze and control the rhetoric of the written piece, irrespective of the field. As a result, these consultants are not considered experts in the fields and will rely on the student seeking help when it comes to content. In a partnership with ChicagoGRAD, the GWCs are trained to work through drafts, complete papers, as well as analysis after a paper has been published, but they indicate that a strong hold on the English language is a necessity. For ESL students, the university suggests visiting the English Language Institute (http://esl.uchicago.edu) which functions as a special instruction center for all UChicago students (Undergraduate and post-doctoral).
2.2. Writing Courses
Most of the writing courses for graduate studies are aimed at pedagogy as mentioned in section 1.1. In addition to those, “English 32705: Composing Composition” is offered for those seeking to pursue careers as teachers or any role in the academic job market which specializes in discussing teaching and preparing students for fellowships and interviews.
The LRS is also available for graduate students and it follows a similar style to that of the undergraduate version (Section 1.2.).
Website: https://writing-program.uchicago.edu/page/writing-program-courses
2.3. Administration- Events, workshops, special programs
Graduate students are given an ability to improve their methods of teaching writing by attending a series of workshop under the banner “Professional Development Workshop Series”. It derives from the past experiences of the graduate students to extract effective techniques of teaching as well as build on what the courses have already taught them. A sample schedule can be seen on the website (https://writing-program.uchicago.edu/grads/professional_development). I was unable to find any description of the workshops mentioned.
3. Community
A special course “Effective Writing in Business and The Professions” is offered to those seeking to improve their writing skills in their workplace. The course is a similar, non-credit version of the Writing Program's "Little Red Schoolhouse" course, and is offered to graduate and professional school students. “Effective Writing” is offered at the University of Chicago's Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies, located in the Gleacher Center at the heart of Chicago's Magnificent Mile. I found no evidence for tutors or lectors, so professors predominantly teach the course. Website: http://writing-program.uchicago.edu/courses/downtown
Additionally, the “writer’s studio” offers a multitude of writing courses as part of the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies. Most of the classes are workshop based and range from beginner levels to advanced prose workshops. The array of workshops includes fields from business to publishing and also includes special events like a free writing session to invite the community.
Website: https://grahamschool.uchicago.edu/academic-programs/liberal-arts/writers-studio
Chicago maintains a writer’s center as a valuable resource for those in high school, or transitioning into high school as part of the UChicago laboratory schools program. The center is available to not only assist with the analysis, drafting and revision of papers, but to also guide students through the college application process. It is staffed by an UChicago alumni and a national board certified English teacher who hold summer writing workshops to specifically aid with the college application process.
Website: https://www.ucls.uchicago.edu/program/high-school/writers-center