Professional literature reporting the use of the "cliff-hanger" as genre as a teaching tool in writing instruction is relatively quiet. College students may become better writers and readers when they write cliff-hangers and allow other students to read their writing. Sixty-five undergraduate reading students at a southeastern Arkansas…

Teaches an introductory course on issues of prejudice and discrimination. Assigns a two-essay autobiography and analysis of other student biographies. Encourages students to use their life experiences to articulate sociology's theoretical, conceptual, and substantive materials. Finds course effective in reducing ethnocentrism. (NL)

Incorporating newspapers into a science course encourages students to take control of their learning. Assignments related to newspapers facilitate active learning in a classroom environment focused on the learner. Several different types of assignments are described for three different general education science courses. (Contains 3 tables.)

Offering teaching assistants, new faculty members, and adjunct instructors "real-world" scenarios about the many facets of teaching introductory college composition, this book provides situations, sample syllabi, assignments, and journal entries from classrooms. The book's six chapters move from general considerations of assignment…

An advanced composition curriculum was designed for a class of 20 juniors and seniors, and because of the constraints of a university grant with which it was associated, the majority of assignments had to be collaborative. The subject of investigation was composition. That is, the students were challenged to do what composition researchers and…

Literature instructors become frustrated as they read poorly written student essays. The problem is partly the students' lack of experience: they have not read a lot or written a lot. Literature classes can be more interesting and effective if teachers coordinate two kinds of emphases: allowing for discovery and moving toward productivity. In…

This paper describes the rationale and purpose of a library assignment (suitable for 100- and 200-level communication courses) designed to expose students to concepts about communication research. The assignment encourages students to explore the library, enhances their understanding of the research process and scholarly journals, helps them…

This paper reviewed several sources of data on the University of California systemwide and the Berkeley campus concerning allocation of faculty contact hours and faculty teaching energies generally, by the level of student. By several different measures, faculty energy and effort devoted to undergraduate teaching appear to have declined…

This manual is the textbook for a two-unit course for upper division students at a middle-sized university academic research library, the University of California Santa Barbara Library. The book introduces search strategy for finding information for a term paper. After discussing factual information about library collections, classification, card…

Library Lab, used at Grinnel College (Iowa), is a one-on-one research tutorial that students use for specific assignments. Most sessions take from 1 to 4 hours for background research and 30 minutes to an hour for an interactive meeting. Library Lab gives the librarian time to prepare and provides students with uninterrupted service catered to…

Relates a teaching strategy whereby introductory sociology students wrote and analyzed their own stories to create a self-published book. Describes course goals as becoming familiar with sociological perspectives, concepts, strategies, and methods and to develop reading, analytical thinking, and writing skills. Includes discussion of the course…

Addresses the use of fiction to teach undergraduate students about sociological theories and concepts. Discusses how "A Thousand Acres" (Jane Smiley) was used in a sociology of families course. Includes descriptions of the plot and themes in the book and the group work and paper assigned in conjunction with Smiley's novel. (CMK)

A persistent question in undergraduate education is the question of getting students to prepare adequately prior to coming to class meetings. This article touches on some of the literature related to this "perennial issue" and then discusses the use of the Internet, via Course Management Software systems, as a solution to this problem. As opposed…

In response to curricular changes at Muhlenberg College (Pennsylvania), emphasizing interdisciplinary exploration and a focus on writing, students in an introductory psychology course were assigned a paper examining a "hero" of their own choosing from a psychological perspective, from an ethical perspective, and from a viewpoint…

Describes a course that resulted from the interest and need of the academic-advising office to serve undecided students more efficiently, preferably in a group-advising format. Finds that the resulting atmosphere seems to help students make significant progress in writing and in understanding their indecision. (MG)