Using Published Student Writing to Enrich Pedagogy

Abstract

An undergraduate course which required a long paper analyzing a Supreme Court opinion structured that writing assignment as a series of smaller writing tasks in order to teach students how to do rhetorical analysis and allow them to produce the complex paper over the course of the semester. When one student had her essay accepted for publication in Young Scholars in Writing, both she and the instructor had the opportunity for additional learning. This essay traces the impact of the student publication on subsequent versions of the course, on the instructor’s effort to provide more opportunities for students to learn rhetorical analysis and engage in original research, and on the instructor’s work with disciplinary faculty. The essay argues that YSW has an impact on students, faculty, and courses even where research about writing is not the focus.