Natural Resources: Creating a Writing Practice

Graduate topics and material that may eventually develop into a regular course offering.

Instructor Permission Required

This course is reserved for students in the MLS and TLCS programs only. This workshop-style class will offer participants inspiration, encouragement, and, most importantly, connection--which are most often lacking when writing a sustained academic narrative. In this workshop-style class, you will be given: 1) Suggestions to facilitate your writing practice; 2) Prompts to encourage your productivity; 3) Wordcounts to facilitate your progress; and 4) Deadlines to facilitate your accountability. Connection and encouragement, as well as productivity, progress, and accountability, as they relate to your writing practice, will be our priority. You will share your writing for feedback in every biweekly session by working with partners and/or in small groups. Using faculty-designed guidelines, you will receive tips, suggestions, and prompts to move your work along. The goal will be to leave each class with ideas to further explore, as well as an evolving map of your progress and accountability. An additional goal will be to develop peer relationships that will offer you ongoing support—to sustain your academic-writing-life after this class comes to its close. Course Objectives: • To create and establish an ongoing writing schedule • To write, submit, and revise work towards your thesis/dissertation. • To offer feedback and support to your peers to overcome isolation.

This course will be offered online via synchronous meeting times that will serve as our writing workshops. During our meeting times, you will be given in-class writing prompts and there will be individual, partner, and group response exercises. Submissions of 750 -1000 words are due in Brightspace biweekly, as well as written responses to student submissions (350-500 words). It is expected that you spend at least 10 hours per week on assignments. The course will culminate in a final portfolio assignment, including 15-16 new pages towards your thesis/dissertation (4000 words), 8-10 revised pages towards thesis /dissertation (2500 words), and a Process Statement (500 to 750 words). Since this class will be offered as a practical hands-on workshop, the reading will be comprised of participant work. It is expected that the reading you do in addition to the student submissions for this class will come from your own research and will be organically folded into the pages that you produce.

Grades will be based on attendance and participation, weekly assignments, and a final portfolio.