This year’s Quality Enhancement Plan: Writing Around the Curriculum is a campaign The Writing Center has implemented to help UNF continue to maintain SAC’s university accreditation.

Linda Howell, director of the UNF Writing Center, hopes the integration of the Quality Enhancement Plan will help clarify instructor’s expectations from students in regards to professional-level writing.

“What we found is that faculty are frustrated with the way students handle sources, and students are kind of frustrated with not really understanding what faculty are expecting from them,” Howell explains. “Not only source integration is causing problems, but citation styles in respected disciplines as well.”

The fully stated objectives are:

Students will compose documents that responsibly utilize relevant source materials and accurately cite them in assigned professional citation style(s).

Students will compose documents that adhere to Standard Written English usage and exhibit assignment appropriate sentence and document level style choices.

First-year students will be the first to notice changes starting in Spring of 2020. Dr. Howell says a strong emphasis will be placed on changing their curriculum to integrate writing courses that specifically prepare them for their discipline or chosen major.

Part of the QEP is to reach out to instructors in every discipline so that both faculty and students are in communication as to what’s expected from student papers. Howell hopes to demonstrate to faculty and students that professional writing is a holistic process. It is a set of skills that consist of more than simply putting words on a page.

“Those sets of skills include critical reading, problem solving, and analysis. Writing is kind of the performance of those skills. It’s a whole process,” Howell says. “The better the process, the better the product.”

The Writing Center has been tabling at Market Days and will continue until the end of the year to promote their #WriteLikeAnOsprey campaign.

The Writing Center encourages students to provide feedback regarding what skills and knowledge they want from their college experience in regards to writing.

As writing becomes more of a central focus in each college’s curriculum, Howell wants students to be aware of the many resources available on campus, including tutoring, workshops, and preparation for undergraduate research.

“We don’t want you to come to the Writing Center and feel like you’re being punished.”

Howell invites students with questions and opinions about the QEP to bring them to the Writing Center’s tent at Market Days or any of their three locations on campus.

The full text of the Quality Enhancement Plan: Writing Around the Curriculum can be found on the Academic Affairs page.

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