Read more about how faculty across the disciplines are using
writing to engage students.
Strengthening Reading Analyses in
Upper Level History Courses
Susie J. Pak
Assistant Professor
History, St. John’s College
In Fall 2008, I taught two upper-level history classes; one was on
the Gilded Age and the second was on Race Relations and American
Foreign Policy. Despite the differences in content, both classes
had the same emphasis: the development of historical writing
skills. Students were required to read approximately 80-100 pages
and write a two-page reading analysis per week. The goal was for
the students to be able to identify the authors’ main arguments and
write a concise thesis supported by relevant evidence. The reading
analyses served as the stepping-stones to two longer papers, the
midterm and final. [
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130 Undergraduates Write about
ScienceDebate2008
Gina Florio
Assistant Professor
Chemistry and Physics, St. John’s College
floriog@stjohns.edu
The students in the Science Learning Community were invited to
participate in an informal debate and discussion of the most
significant Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
issues facing our country as we were poised to elect the 44th
President of the United States of America. The event was a
collaborative effort involving the Learning Community office, the
Departments of Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Toxicology, the
Institute for Writing Studies, and The New York Times, which
consisted of three parts. First, the students were asked to
go to the ScienceDebate2008
website, and read each candidate’s platform and opinions
regarding the 14 most important STEM issues. Next, the
students were asked to choose one issue and to answer, in writing,
three questions: (1) what is Senator McCain’s stance and policy on
the issue, (2) what is Senator Obama’s stance and policy on the
issue, and (3) what is your stance on the issue and why?
Finally, the students were invited to bring their answers to an
informal discussion and dinner [
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