WR 121 is designed to help you develop and strengthen your academic writing skills and prepare you for other writing you will do at Oregon State. Our emphasis in WR 121 is on the process of writing which includes reading and research, critical thinking, prewriting, drafting, and multiple revisions. Because the final product is important, much of our class time will be spent on this multi-step process. Attendance and participation are vital and are required for success in this class. Instructor conferences and peer review as well as consultation with the Writing Center will guide your various drafts. An Information Literacy Portfolio will boost skills in finding, evaluating, integrating, and using a wide variety of sources ethically and powerfully, especially with regard to changing technologies.
Sara Jameson
Senior Instructor/Assistant Director of Writing
Oregon State University
Moreland 360
2550 SW Jefferson Way
Corvallis,
OR
97331 USA
Tel:
541-737-1666
Email contact form
Credentials
- M.A. Oregon State University 2004
- B.A. cum laude Bryn Mawr College 1969
Research
Sara Jameson teaches a wide range of writing courses including composition, argument, style, food and science writing, critical reviewing and technical writing, on campus and online. Her latest major publication is the Instructor Manual for the 2nd edition of The Academic Writer. Other publications include articles for the department’s English Letter, most recently in June 2011 a review of Professor Neil Davison’s Jewishness and Masculinity from the Modern to the Postmodern. Research interests include visual rhetoric, information literacy and instructional technology. Her co-authored article on OSU’s first year composition information literacy program, “Step by Step through the Scholarly Conversation: A Collaborative Library/Writing Faculty Project to Embed Information Literacy and Promote Critical Thinking in First Year Composition at Oregon State University” was published in College and Undergraduate Libraries in 2008 http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/handle/1957/7926. She serves on Oregon’s Writing and English Advisory Committee, as well as School and University committees.
Course Information
Technical Writing (WR 327) will prepare you to produce instructive, informative, and persuasive documents aimed at well-defined and achievable outcomes. Technical documents are precise, concise, logically organized, and based on factual information. The purpose and target audience of each document determine the style that an author chooses, including document layout, vocabulary, sentence and paragraph structure, and visuals. To this end, this course will teach processes for analyzing “writing contexts” and producing effective, clean, and reader-centered documents in an efficient manner. You can expect to gather, read, and present the technical content of your field to various audiences in attractive, error-free copy, as well as to learn strategies for presenting that content orally.
You will learn and practice the conventions for writing scientific materials for a variety of audiences, including print and digital publishing sites, adapting the materials and texts as needed to become increasingly sophisticated critical thinkers and writers who can shape material effectively. While working on good writing to create engaging feature articles which explain science to a general educated audience, the course will also look at the history of science writing and compare to scientific writing. You can work in the areas of science that most interest you and/or fields in which OSU excels.
You will interview scientists outside of class to gather information for assignments. In addition, a service learning project may be available and guest speakers may present, such as from OSU’s Terra Magazine, for example. This 3-credit course involves writing and research assignments, lecture, and in-class and on-line activities.
This practicum prepares graduate students to teach professional writing for the workplace, specifically OSU’s WR 214 Writing in Business (Business Writing). It provides grounding in rhetorical theories and practices for effective teaching of this course. The curriculum for WR 518 is consistent with the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Two-Year College Association (TYCA) recommendations for graduate preparation for teaching workplace writing for undergraduates.
The course will include familiarity with rhetorical principles in the workplace, typical textbooks, standard syllabus and schedule, typical assignments, managing workload, and using software such as Track changes, Excel and PowerPoint common in the workplace. Visits to current WR 214 classes will provide first hand experience of the class in action. OSU Career Services and WR 214 instructors may visit the practicum to share their expertise and discuss issues.
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