Two of our articles this week focus on teaching writing. In different ways, the pieces advocate for more complex and challenging goals as a teacher — problematizing the role of a writing teacher and refusing to settle for simple solutions. We’ve also found a lighter read: The Atlantic’s roundup of new apps that hope to become the “Netflix of reading”. Enjoy!
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Q: Why did you choose to study WRD or NMS at DePaul?
Leave us an answer in the comments and you’ll find yourself featured in next Thursday’s answer post!
Continue readingCommunity Literacy Journal wins “Best Public Intellectual Issue” Award
We are pleased to announce the Community Literacy Journal was awarded the 2013 “Best Public Intellectual Issue” award by the Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ) at the recent Modern Language Association Conference, which was held in Chicago. The Community Literacy Journal is edited and produced in Writing, Rhetoric & Discourse at DePaul University — and two runner-ups. According to the CELJ, journal contestants in the “Best Public Intellectual Issue” Award category must reach out beyond academe, connect with a popular audience in terms of accessible language and attractive presentation, and seek to achieve the democratic mission of higher education.
Continue readingGood Things from Chicago Public Schools, The Worst in Professional Writing, and Obama’s Rhetoric of Education
This week’s roundup of articles collectively considers the question ‘How can we do well in writing, rhetoric, and discourse?’ The New York Times article shares a tutoring success story in Chicago, while Stephen Lurie’s piece in The Atlantic argues that Obama’s vision of education reform has proven to be empty rhetoric thus far. Each piece asks its readers to consider the efficacy of words, rhetoric, and discourse. On a lighter note, we found a list of the worst examples of professional writing in 2013 — read at your own risk!
Continue readingIntern Beat: Hilary Conlisk, MA in NMS
We spoke with Hilary Conlisk, MA in NMS 2014, about her recent experience as an intern at Neiger Design Inc. Conlisk interned for both work experience and course credit through WRD’s Professional Internship program. Take a look at why this internship was Hilary’s favorite to date!
Continue readingA: Which scholar or text has most influenced your WRD studies?
Earlier this week we asked you, “Which scholar or text has most influenced your WRD studies?” Here’s what you had to say: “The scholar who most influenced me while I was a student in NMS was Dr. Karl Stolley (now an Associate Professor at Illinois Institute of Technology). He was the first person to introduce me to CSS and the concept of web standards.
Continue readingThe Ivory Tower, WAC, the “Masses”, and Money
Welcome to a new feature of the WRD blog! Each week, we’ll highlight a few articles that piqued our interest — notes from the fields of Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse, if you will. Leave a comment to discuss or let us know what we’ve missed!
Continue readingQ: Which text or scholar has most influenced your WRD studies?
We’re starting a new feature that asks WRD students about their academic experiences. Check out our first prompt below and leave us an answer in the comments! Which text or scholar has most influenced your WRD studies?
Continue readingGrant Writing Class Aids Nonprofits
Students from the WQ2013 course WRD 560: Grant Writing wrote grant proposals that resulted in three local non-profit organizations receiving $33,500 in awards. WRD 560, taught by Antonio Ceraso, Assistant Professor in WRD and Director of the MA in New Media Studies, focuses on the genre of the grant proposal—both the written documents themselves, and the genre as a particular response to the emergence of broader social forms of giving or contribution. As part of their coursework, students partner with local organizations to apply their grant writing skills and, ideally, to help these organizations to secure grants.
Continue readingJeff Rice Brews “Craft Identity”
On Monday, October 21, WRD students and faculty gathered to hear University of Kentucky Associate Professor Jeff Rice present “Craft Identity,” a wide-ranging lecture in which Rice used his experiences with craft beer to explore questions about meaning-making in the age of social networks. In attendance at the lecture were MA in WRD and MA in NMS students, including those in Assistant Professor Sarah Read’s WRD 500: Proseminar class. Read’s students had read Rice’s previous book, Digital Detroit: Rhetoric and Space in the Age of the Network, in this quarter’s proseminar.
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