In our courses, students and teachers focus on student writing—its struggles, possibilities, and accomplishments—that converses with audiences within and beyond the university.
As teachers, students, and writers, we are committed to:
Participating in Critical Inquiry
We write to examine and reflect on what others have written; to identify and address questions that require complex responses; to explore our uncertainty and discover what we think; to enter and advance a conversation in which we engage with the ideas of others.
Developing Rhetorical Agility
We write and read in a variety of rhetorical contexts, genres, and media to consider the relationships among audience, form, and context; we attend to structural and stylistic choices and to the clarity, rhythm, and tone of the prose we write and read; we examine and employ various writing technologies.
Engaging Diverse Communities
We write to understand our relationships with others; to make and cultivate connections both within and between communities; to represent other people and their ideas fairly and accurately; to recognize and potentially challenge existing hierarchies of power.
Attending to Writing as Process
We recognize writing as a process and ourselves as writers in process; we seek and give feedback on writing in progress and revise with that feedback in mind; we develop a vocabulary for discussing our own writing and that of others with insight and nuance; we consider how writing circulates and reflect on its reception among different readers.
Common Features of First-Year Writing Courses at UVA
Each section of first-year writing is unique; instructors choose their own subjects and the genres in which their students write, and they take different approaches to classroom activities. But students in all sections will:
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write at least three major assignments over the course of the semester,
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devote time each week to writing to explore and discover as well as to communicate,
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engage in drafting, feedback, and revision cycles with their instructor and peers,
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consider expectations created by genre and audience, and
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give feedback on other students’ writing and receive it on their own.