WBIS Program Goals

The Writing-Based Inquiry Seminars (WBIS) will help students strengthen their writing, reading, and thinking skills within an academic context that will prepare them for their future college work. The goals and objectives of the Writing-Based Inquiry Seminar program are the following:

Writing process strategies

Students will develop a set of strategies to generate ideas and to revise and edit their writing through successive drafts. In addition, students will engage in critical reflections of their texts and of their writing processes. Students will also become aware of how the relationships between audience, purpose, context, and genre shape the meaning and function of any text, including their own.

Synthesis of sources

Students will gain practice with analytical and argumentative writing, both of which necessitate an ability to integrate sources logically and grammatically; to use summary, paraphrase, and quotations appropriately and effectively; to use the appropriate documentation style; and to meet academic expectations of grammatical and mechanical correctness in final papers.

Critical analysis

Students will develop skills in critical evaluation and decision-making. This will involve evaluating one's own writing and the writing of peers and professionals. Students will also be faced with evaluating different sources of information, which may include print media, film, and the Internet, as well as primary sources.

Technology

Students will learn to use available writing technologies effectively. They will learn to efficiently locate and evaluate information found through online sources.

Collaborative work

Students will learn to work cooperatively within groups to make decisions and to solve problems.

Dr. Samantha Looker, WBIS Director