A Collective Effort to Improve Sociology Students’ Writing Skills

Abstract

Nationwide, academic sociologists at all types of higher education institutions face the challenge of working to improve students’ writing skills. In this article, we describe a collective effort by a group of faculty members in one undergraduate sociology program to implement several effective writing-improvement strategies. We advocate aiming to improve students’ writing by working together on a united front rather than working in isolation. After explaining the origins of the collective emphasis on writing that emerged in our group and briefly outlining the writing-improvement strategies that we utilize, we use student survey data to reflect on major themes before concluding with a discussion of the merits of our collective approach.

Critical Pedagogy and assessment in higher education: The ideal of ‘authenticity’ in learning

“…In an increasingly results-focused system of higher education, self-directed learning strategies allow the process of learning to be valued, rather than the grade alone. That said, in terms of the final grading of students, it is also clear that students, on those modules, did perform very well; indeed, based on these testimonies, students often performed better overall than on more traditional modules, supporting the findings on this theme by Burgess-Proctor et al (2014). Intriguingly, this suggests that applications of Critical Pedagogy may even help to bridge the gap between authentic learning and authentic assessment.…”

“…The net effect is, as Gibbs (2006) points out, that ‘students are strategic as never before, and they allocate their time and focus their attention on what they believe will be assessed and what they believe will gain good grades’. This individualised model of learning prevails in a highly commoditised system of higher education, even where there is clear evidence that collective learning strategies based on mutual support and solidarity are more effective (Burgess-Proctor et al, 2014). However, it is because of this ontological ‘crisis’ in education that Freire’s insistence upon authenticity in learning assumes special importance (Giroux, 2010; Toscano, 2011).…”

Scientific Memes: Using the Language of Social Media to Improve Scientific Literacy and Communication in Lifespan Development

“…Higher education has worked to rectify what has been described as "the near epidemic" of poor scientific writing in students (Fallahi et al, 2006, p. 171). However, these efforts have been met with subpar results (e.g., Burgess-Proctor et al, 2014;Fields et al, 2014;Miner, 2018). The present study details an alternative psychology writing assignment intended to promote the skills of scientific literacy, writing, and application while incorporating social media as a way of engaging the community.…”

Fronts Matter: The Effectiveness of an “Edited Book” Project in Classical Theory

“…Hence, these tend to advocate for infusing various styles of written communication, low and high stakes or informal and formal, across college disciplines so that students benefit from writing in more than just composition classes. The review of curricula has confirmed that sociology instructors have heeded the call to compel greater engagement with the material through writing (Coker and Scarboro 1990) and that some departments have even adopted a more coordinated program-wide approach to introducing writing as an activity (Burgess-Proctor et al 2014; Ciabattari 2013). Despite enthusiasm about experimenting with various styles of writing, however, Kane and Otto (2018) noted that higher level critical thinking and sociological critical thinking are two different things and cautioned that a combination of nontraditional and discipline-specific forms of writing are still needed to accomplish both objectives.…”