Purpose of the Project
Made possible by a grant from the Teaching Resources Center, the TRC Writing Project seeks to improve student writing, and supplement writing instruction, in any U.C. Davis classes that offer a writing component. Comprised primarily of links to writing handouts created and maintained by writing centers and labs at American colleges and universities, this project organizes and presents writing help in those areas where students most need it: the processes of beginning, writing, and revising essays; the definitions and uses of concepts and terms commonly addressed in writing classes; and the particular challenges of students who approach English as a second language. This project may also introduce students to new approaches in independent and distributed learning, as well as to many previously unknown and helpful resources at other universities. Students should not, however, hope that familiarity with the resources found here would ever be fruitfully substituted for time spent practicing reading and writing with expert writers, whether they be leaders of large classes who take time to cover the basics of writing clear and thoughtful prose, specialists at the Learning Skills Center who have years of experience talking students through their responses to challenging writing assignments, or, most appropriately, the faculty and teaching assistants who teach Composition classes offered by the University Writing Program. For more information about writing at UC Davis, please also visit the web sites of the University Writing Program the Campus Writing Center's Writing in the Disciplines Program.
For more on distributed learning, see the California State University Center for Distributed Learning, and "Distributed Learning and Institutional Restructuring," an essay by Brian L. Hawkins, President of Educause.
Structure of the Project
As you can tell from the Writing Project Grid, each of the covered writing topics is represented by a variety of handouts and then followed up by writing advice found in composition textbooks or the thoughts of famous writers. Each category heading contains all the relevant links for that subject, including the "best link" which most thoroughly presents the topic; the "nutshell" link which offers a much shorter chart, checklist, or skeletal version of the topic; other recommended links; and some pithy advice on the subject from a Composition specialist or established author.
Like almost everything on the web, this project is a work in progress. I appreciate the helpful feedback of writers who have worked with and benefited from the TRC Writing Project.
About the AuthorAndy Jones is the Faculty Liaison to the Teaching Resources Center and to Mediaworks. In addition, Andy is a Lecturer in the University Writing Program, and from 1997 to 2005 acted as Coordinator of the Computer-Aided Instruction Program for the University Writing Program and the Department of English. He has taught writing and literature classes at U.C. Davis for more than 14 years, and has given more than 50 talks and presentations on using computers to teach writing, critical thinking, and literature. With his colleague and fellow lecturer Anne Fleischmann, Andy was awarded a grant from the University of California College Preparation Initiative to create part of an online Advanced Placement English Literature course for California High Schools. With graduate student and TRC Teaching Assistant Coordinator Kathy Cunningham, Andy created the UC Davis Academic Integrity Project. In 2006 honored with the ASUCD "Educator of the Year" Award at the University of California, Davis. In addition to his work for the English Department and the Teaching Resources Center, Andy hosts "Dr. Andy's Poetry and Technology Hour" on community radio station KDVS. He lives in Davis with his wife, Kate, and his children, Geneva and Jackson. Andy can be reached at aojones at ucdavis.edu.
AcknowledgmentsAndy would like to thank the following teachers and writers without whose advice on writing, writing instruction, and technology this project would not be possible. Unless otherwise noted, each teaches at the University of California, Davis. To learn more about them, click on the links below.
Linda Bates, University Writing Program, Retired
Mary Bly, University Writing Program
Amy Clarke, Sierra College
Marlene Clarke, University Writing Program
Maureen Coulson, Mediaworks
Mardena Creek, University Writing Program
Victoria Cross, The Teaching Resources Center
Rick Falk, Former Professor of Plant Pathology at U.C. Davis
Erin Farmer, Solano Community College
Anne Fleischmann, Sierra College
Gary Sue Goodman, University Writing Program
Davey Marlin-Jones, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Ellen Lange, Lecturer in Linguistics
Joseph Mills, North Carolina School for the Arts
Jack Petrash, Teacher and Author
Christopher Ricks, Boston University
Kevin Roddy, Medieval Studies
Kirsten Saxton, Mills College
Eric Schroeder, University Writing Program
Barbara Sommer, The Department of Psychology
John Stenzel, University Writing Program
Harry Thomas, Boston University
Jeff van de Pol, IET Publications
Jan Van Stavern, Dominican College
John Vohs, Communications, RetiredEnglish Department Chair Linda Morris and Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Studies (and now HARCS Dean) Patricia Turner also supported the creation of an earlier web-writing experiment, The Hamlet Project.
Return to the Teaching Resources Center Writing Project Home Page