Resources for Instructors
UWP
Instructor's Guide
Selecting Books
In selecting books, UWP instructors are guided by a list of recommended
readers and handbooks, which is created in consultation with a
committee of UWP faculty members and reviewed periodically. Suggestions
are solicited from the entire faculty and any faculty member may sit on
textbook committees. Most recently, the argument reader and rhetoric
called Dynamic Argument was
added to the list by such a committee.
Textbooks in composition tend to organize themselves into these
categories:
- grammar and documentation guides, sometimes called handbooks
- styles, including topics such as clarity, concision, and coherence
- rhetorics, including argumentation and persuasion
- readers
Many texts these days try to cover several, if not all, of these
functions. Few, if any, cover them all well. Thus, the UWP
requires that students of ENC 1101 and ENC 1102 use a rhetoric/reader
and a handbook.
The most important factor in selecting a textbook for your class is
whether the book helps to fulfill the goals of the course.
ENC 1101 seeks to teach students to write in argumentative modes.
This first course also
teaches the basics of academic style (clarity, concision, and
coherence), topics that are not typically covered in argument
texts. Because in very few cases can a single book fulfill all
the goals
of a writing course, we have sought to recommend an effective handbook
that deals with grammar, documentation, and style, and an argument text
that covers the rhetoric of argument and includes useful readings.
ENC 1102 requires that students write an argumentative research
paper focusing on a topic in a particular academic discipline.
Three goals form this complex requirement:
1. The use of argumentation
2. Writing a research paper
3. Understanding the language or rhetoric of
specific academic disciplines
Only a couple of books on the market attempt to bring those topics
together in a text appropriate for first-year students.
During their first semester in the UWP, instructors use the books
recommended by the course coordinator, which helps to facilitate
training, encourages a coherent discussion in the teaching circles, and
coordinates the teaching practica. If after your first semester you
would like to use a book not
on the recommended list , you will be asked to
provide a detailed detailed rationale. Your rationale should include a
description of 1) how the books are related to the course goals and 2)
how they achieve your purposes better than the recommended books.
Desk Copies
The UWP makes desk copies of the recommended books available to
instructors. For desk copies of off-list books, instructors should
contact publishers or book reps. directly.
