What is Writing Seminar?
The first-entry seminar experience at 91ÊÓƵ is designed as a welcoming 2 course, 8 credit sequence (WR 121z, WR 122z) that anchors 91ÊÓƵ’s innovative and streamlined General Education curriculum and introduces university studies. The mission of the course sequence format is to help learners build strong connections with professors, peers, and campus resources, meaningfully engage in a community-centric learning dialogue, and introduce and develop the essential capacities that are part of our larger General Education program and lifelong learning. Seminars strengthen the skills that help students thrive at 91ÊÓƵ and in their careers.
Want to thrive at 91ÊÓƵ? Writing Seminars mean success!
91ÊÓƵ faculty have chosen to offer a unique learning experience because the data supports this choice. Research has repeatedly demonstrated that the seminar sequence learning model greatly contributes to students’ learning satisfaction and academic success.
Research shows that learners who participate in a first-entry seminar…
- Are more likely to graduate in four years,
- Stay enrolled and engaged because they feel they belong in a community,
- Communicate more frequently and meaningfully with faculty and peers,
- Are more involved in co-curricular activities,
- Feel increased satisfaction with their college experience
- Have more positive perceptions of themselves as learners, and
- Achieve higher grades and experience feelings of accomplishment.
Writing Seminar Topics
Writing Seminars are offered as a two course sequence that is writing intensive. For this reason, the Writing Seminar sequence (WR 121z, WR 122z) has the disciplinary Writing prefix and matches the amounts and kinds of writing required by the Oregon State Higher Education Coordinating Commission’s (HECC) learning outcomes for the same course prefixes and course numbers.
However, Seminars offer interesting choices and are much more than *just* a course where writing happens! While all seminars focus on strengthening fundamental communication, writing, reading, thinking, and research skills, instructors customize seminar topics and design interdisciplinary courses based on their own passions, interests, and expertise. The General Education Writing Seminar is a pervasive course component that helps students explore educational and career possibilities, define their life goals, and match learning choices to those objectives.
Check Out a Sampling of Available Topics!
Unsolved Mysteries: Monsters in Popular Culture
Instructor: Danielle Hammer
Face your fears and explore the unknown! We delve into the terrifying monsters and wondrous mysteries that permeate popular music, film, and literature, seeking to unravel the core of our most cherished creature tales. Horrifying creatures and fantastical legends have the power to thrill us, but they also hold deeper significance. By critically examining these cultural phenomena, we uncover important clues that shed light on underlying issues embedded deep within our societies. Through our exploration, we will confront these haunts of the human psyche. By examining their origins, symbolism, and societal impact, we gain a greater understanding of the complex relationship between folklore, storytelling, and human experience. Sharpen your analytical skills, broaden your cultural awareness, and uncover the hidden meanings as we explore our unsolved mysteries.
The Good Life
Instructor: Laura Jessup
What makes a good life? Certainly, this important question has many answers! Research shows that compassion is key to life satisfaction, purpose, and meaning—or, what makes a good life. Compassion is rooted in empathy and recognizes and connects with the emotions and experiences of others, demonstrating kindness, understanding, and a willingness to act in ways that promote others’ welfare and our own well-being. Compassion holds emotional and behavioral aspects, both feeling compassion and actively demonstrating compassion through acts of kindness, support, and understanding. It is a fundamental aspect of human connection and a powerful force for creating positive change and promoting a more caring and empathetic society. By examining the ripple effects of compassion on personal, social, and global levels, we may be inspired to new practices in our own lives. Prepare to be challenged and inspired by contemplating the good life.
The Soap Box
Instructor: Matt Moreali
Explore customs and laws that govern free speech. Analyze groundbreaking court cases,
infamous poetry, media, and art. Compose case briefs, argue something is a witch hunt, and
seek to resolve complex issues. Engage classmates through poetry, mock mediation, satire, and
other activities. Identify how culture, politics, and law impact your expression in various
situations.
Composing Self
Instructor: Anne-Marie Pedersen
How do I want the world to see me? What does it mean to be authentic? From BeReal to online
profiles, Snapchat to LinkedIn, we represent ourselves to the world through words, images, and
sound. In class, we’ll explore the connections among our writing, ourselves, our
audiences—and why these connections matter. We’ll engage critically with a range of materials,
from personal essays to podcasts to academic studies. In response to these texts and class
discussion, you will compose on topics relevant to you, your goals, and the communities with
which you identify, gaining both practical skills in writing effectively for multiple contexts as well
as a deeper understanding of who you are as a writer and as a person.
Popular Culture and You
Instructor: Warren Hedges
Topics include fandom, anime, video games, professional sports, and speculative genres such as fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Students choose most examples we will discuss. In addition to coaching students on writing, Warren provides background readings on general topics like consumer culture, video games, and fandom.
Community Engagement
Instructor: Moneeka Settles
What puzzles are communities struggling to solve? What does it mean to participate in a
community and help find solutions? This course combines college academic skills with
community engagement to provide students with a dynamic and practical learning experience.
Students will have the opportunity to observe and participate in local initiatives, such as
attending city council meetings or engaging with environmental or student advocacy
organizations. Through these experiences, students will hone their observation, persuasion and
problem-solving skills, learning to craft compelling arguments and consider effective solutions to
real-world issues. By the end of the course, students will be equipped to use their writing as a
tool for change, both within the academic setting and beyond.
Purposeful Learning Seminar
Oregon State Writing Outcomes
Course Descriptions
WR 121Z
WR 121Z engages students in the study and practice of critical thinking, reading, and writing. The course focuses on analyzing and composing across varied rhetorical situations and in multiple genres. Students will apply key rhetorical concepts flexibly and collaboratively throughout their writing and inquiry processes.
Learning Outcomes
1. Apply rhetorical concepts through analyzing and composing a variety of texts.
2. Engage texts critically, ethically, and strategically to support writing goals.
3. Develop flexible composing, revising, and editing strategies for a variety of purposes, audiences, writing situations, and genres.
4. Reflect on knowledge and skills developed in this course and their potential applications in other writing contexts.
WR 122Z
WR 122Z builds on concepts and processes emphasized in WR 121Z, engaging with inquiry, research, and argumentation in support of students’ development as writers. The course focuses on composing and revising in research-based genres through the intentional use of rhetorical strategies. Students will find, evaluate, and interpret complex material, including lived experience; use this to frame and pursue their own research questions; and integrate material purposefully into their own compositions.
Learning Outcomes
1. Apply rhetorical concepts to achieve writing goals within a given discourse community.
2. Locate, critically evaluate, synthesize, and integrate multiple perspectives from a variety of sources.
3. Engage in research and writing as recursive and inquiry-based processes, participating in the communal and conversational nature of academic discourses.
4. Develop strategies for generating, drafting, revising, and editing texts based on feedback and reflection.
5. Reflect on knowledge and skills developed in this and other courses and potential transfer to future
contexts.