Grace Hernandez, WRI 210, Fall 2023
[Full Guide, Letter and Slides, Linked Here]
"For my writing guide, I chose to write about a topic that is dear to my heart, but also one that challenges me each day. "How to Write an Argumentative Paper Like a Religious Studies Student" is a letter that shows perspective religious studies majors how to write, but more importantly, how to write like an interdisciplinary and inclusive individual. Writing in the religious studies field is challenging. We have to assert our positionality and hope it jives and respects others interpretations. When deciding on what I wanted to write and how I was going to structure it, I put myself back into the shoes of my freshman self in REL 110 (Intro to Islamic Studies)."
By Turner Hilliard, WRI 210, Fall 2019
"The purpose of a guide for writing within the music genre is to illustrate how people can take the feelings and observations they’ve made of music in their own lives, and turn those perceptions towards a wider audience. When writing about music, it is important to note the cultural impact that music has, therefore a guide is necessary to be able to show writers how they can write about music in a way that is relatable and transferrable to the broader discussion of culture. However, the guide I have created takes a much lighter approach to the music genre than I have described, as at first, it seems to be a game more than a guide. The purpose of this light approach comes as it appeals to an audience of more experienced writers, who may not know what subgenre of music they would like to write about. The guide itself is a quiz, not one that evaluates your knowledge, but one that assesses parts of your writing style (as well as some personal questions) and then evaluates which subgenre would fit you best. The subgenre that fits the writer best may surprise them, though it is characterized specifically for them through the questions asked. The purpose beyond narrowing genres is to also provide writing tips for the writer, specific to the subgenre they are given. These tips come from other examples of writers within the genre, as well as some general tips for interpreting musical style, rhythm, and lyrics. Each subgenre has a link to a page where the writer can view other subgenre tips, and links to the works cited that helped make the guide."
By Declan Sander, WRI 210, Fall 2019
"German Studies encapsulates the cultural, social, historical, and literary aspects of Germany, across the entirety of German history. Yes, German Studies is broad in medium, subject, and time.
It is perhaps an easier question to ask, what isn’t German Studies?
It’s big. It’s intimidating. But you, yes you, can write your paper pertaining to anything listed above! And on that word, “paper.” A paper here could include any kind of article of analysis. Essentially, anything that seeks to understand a piece of German Studies, such as a German book, poem, movie, speech, article of clothing, or even farming tool. This guide is meant to help you grasp the conventions of the discourse community, so you can better fit your genre and subject. Be it a literary essay or research article, this guide acts applicably."
"How to Write a Philosophy Paper Like an Undergraduate Philosophy Major"
By Uma Bernardo, WRI 210, Fall 2019
"To better understand how to approach a philosophy paper, I briefly created a general poster on how to write a philosophy paper by laying out the basic a formula found in all types of philosophical papers: logical structures in the form of modus ponens and modus tollens...My guide is for undergraduate students who are writing philosophy papers for a beginner to intermediate-level philosophy class. Most professors lay out the objectives of a writing assignment. Although the objectives lay out a guide on what to include in the paper, it does not provide an explanation or format of how to write a philosophy paper."
By Madison Cerami, WRI 210, Fall 2019
When people hear I’m a history major, they typically ask “Why would you ever do that to yourself?” I imagine I receive this reaction because many people imagine historical research as reading hundreds of pages of dusty old books and writing never-ending research papers about old dead guys. Before entering the historical discourse community, this is the idea I had as well...I have learned that there are three fundamental qualities to historical writing: the three main genres are historical narratives, social histories, and intellectual/cultural history, research is essential, and you need to consider the audience your piece will attract and what this implicates. In this guide, I will fully explain each of these necessary qualities and outline why they are important to the historical discourse community. By the end, whether you’re an aspiring history major or not, hopefully, you will gain insight on how to write like a historian."
by Will Jarvis, WRI 210 Student, Fall 2019
"The purpose of this guide is to empower undergraduate students who are newcomers to historiography by showing them how advanced academics in the field of cultural history conduct research and build their research papers. Hopefully, by knowing this, it will give undergraduates advice about how they can craft their own research paper for their history class in the future...During my research, I discovered that historical research papers vary significantly from type (a cultural historian’s writing will look very different from an economic historian) as well as intent and audience. However, there are many different patterns this type of writing follows as well as helpful advice about the difficulties one could face when writing this type of essay. I organized this essay to represent how one can take to understand how to write their essay as well as focus on the more challenging aspects of writing this type of academic writing."