Fall 2017
WRITE TO LEARN,
LEARN TO WRITE
WRITING INTENSIVE CURRICULUM PROGRAM NEWSLETTER
Index
Watch, Listen, and Learn:
Using Video Feedback to Assess
and Improve Student Writing
Forrest Rodgers
The Number of Multilingual Writers
is Greater Than You Think . . . and
So are the Ways You Can Help
Them Succeed
Kate Parsons
Spotlight on Faculty:
Michele Louro, PhD
Kate Parsons
The WIC Program will host a
two-day intensive professional
development seminar in May
2018. All faculty interested in
learning about best practices
in the teaching of writing
are welcome to participate.
Preference will be given to W-II
and W-III instructors. Faculty
will receive a $360 stipend
for participation. Detailed
information will be circulated in
March 2018.
Welcome to the sixth issue of Write to Learn,
Learn to Write, the Writing Intensive Curriculum
(WIC) Program newsletter. This issue presents
articles on the teaching of writing to students
with various linguistic backgrounds and providing
students with productive feedback on their writing
using a cutting-edge method. This newsletter also
provides information about new WIC endeavors
and future WIC events.
Tanya K. Rodrigue, PhD
Forrest Rodgers, PhD and assistant professor of criminal justice, discusses his
research and experiences with providing video feedback on student writing
in “Watch, Listen, and Learn: Using Video Feedback to Assess and Improve
Student Writing.” He explains the benefits of using video and audio to help
students improve their writing and provides pedagogical tips for instructors
interested in experimenting with this feedback mechanism.
In “The Number of Multilingual Writers is Greater Than You Think . . . and So are
the Ways You Can Help Them Succeed,” Kate Parsons, MAT in TESOL candidate
and WIC graduate assistant, explores the subject of multilingual student
writers in college settings. She provides a detailed explanation of who can be
considered a multilingual writer (MLW) and works to deconstruct two common
assumptions about this student demographic. At the end of her article, Parsons
provides pedagogical tips for college instructors who work with multilingual
writers.
The Spotlight on Faculty section features Michele Louro, PhD, associate
professor of history, and faculty fellow for the Center for Research and Creative
Activities. Louro discusses her work with student writers and the ways in which
her own writing informs her teaching of writing in history courses.
Fall 2017 | WIC Program Newsletter | 1
 Welcome continued
I hope you enjoy reading this issue. Please be sure to check out the new WIC Canvas site, which can be accessed on the
Salem State University WIC webpage. Also, the WIC program now offers a weekly newsletter with brief tips on the teaching
of writing. Please email Tanya Rodrigue at trodrigue@salemstate.edu or go to tinyletter.com/WritingTips to subscribe to the
weekly newsletter.

Sincerely,
Tanya K. Rodrigue, PhD
WIC Coordinator and Assistant Professor of English

The WIC Program is actively seeking article submissions for upcoming newsletter issues on various topics related
to writing pedagogy. Some possible topics are: an effective or challenging student writing activity or assignment;
the process of designing a W-designated course; the benefits and challenges of teaching a W-designated course;
the function and purpose of writing in a field or discipline; and the role of writing in careers related to a discipline.
Articles should be approximately 750-1200 words. Please send ideas, drafts or polished articles to Tanya Rodrigue
at trodrigue@salemstate.edu. All submissions will be considered, yet given space limitations, not everyone will be
asked to further develop their work.

Watch, Listen, and Learn: Using Video Feedback to

Assess and Improve Student Writing
By Forrest Rodgers, PhD,
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice
When I started explain the strengths and weaknesses of their work. In
college about this article, I will describe how I began to incorporate
seventeen years video feedback into the grading process; the research
ago, I recall being that I collected on student perspectives regarding video
terrified of the feedback vs. traditional feedback; and some tips for
number of papers I instructors interested in using video for feedback on
would have to write student writing.
for each class.
As a major in the When I previously taught at a university in Wisconsin, I
social sciences, had many more students than I have now. I was fresh out
Forrest Rodgers it was customary of graduate school, and I was determined to have students
to write numerous papers of various lengths throughout write as much as possible to demonstrate that they had
the course of a semester, usually culminating in a ten- learned the necessary information. I quickly realized that
plus page paper. What became more frustrating in this this was a recipe for disaster, as it became immensely
process was the fact that I would spend hours perfecting time-consuming to grade so many assignments for that
what I thought was great work, only to receive minimal many students. More importantly, I found that students
comments and markings with a seemingly random grade were not substantially improving their work over the course
at the top. Through advising and other conversations, of the semester. After consulting with a representative
many of my former and current students have expressed from the Division of Technology Services there, we worked
similar sentiments. In 2013, I began using videos to provide toward strategies to create more effective assignments.
feedback to students’ assignments as a way to more fully He also suggested that I use audio and/or video feedback

2 | WIC Program Newsletter | Fall 2017

to respond to students’ work to see if it helped them
improve their writing. After trying out video feedback for
a few assignments, I began to receive comments from
students who thanked me for the detailed feedback. Many
stated that they now knew exactly what to do to improve
their future papers. Feeling enthusiastic about the results,
I began to use video feedback for all of my courses, and I
haven’t let up since.
I am not a technologically advanced person. Although I
can get by, I’m not as tech-savvy as many others in my age
group. However, learning to record (and eventually edit)
videos was quite simple. Fortunately, Canvas supports
video feedback. As such, no additional technology is
required, aside from a computer that has a camera,
flash enabled, and audio capabilities. When I first fully
transitioned to using videos in this way, it took me several
weeks to respond to papers. At times, students had already
submitted a second assignment before I could get to the
previous one. However, I later realized that this was due to
the overall volume of papers rather than how much longer it
took to record each video.
Because I can talk faster than I can type, recording videos
takes a similar amount of time as traditional feedback, if
not less. On average, it takes me about 10 minutes to read,
grade and record feedback for a four-page paper. This is
partially explained by the amount of details I provide in
each response. This time is lessened when each student
is writing on a similar topic, as I can then address the
class overall and limit how much individualized feedback
I provide. Each video is about four-five minutes long. Over
time, I learned to offer minimal comments on things that
were obvious or information that I would address to the
entire class.
Video Feedback Vs. Traditional Feedback:
A Research Study
Because video feedback is relatively rare, I wanted to
gather data from students to see if they consider this to
be an effective practice. After all, if it is not meaningful
for students, it is not a task worth doing. During the 2016
Writing Intensive Curriculum (WIC) Seminar program, I
embarked on a research project wherein I surveyed my
former students who had received and viewed video
feedback on at least one of my course assignments. This
study was limited to only my former students because
I knew of no other professors across campus who did
this. Limitations aside, I gathered survey data from 45
students across six semesters, which is pretty substantial
considering the voluntary nature of this project. The
online survey asked students about whether any of
their professors provided audio or video feedback, the
effectiveness of such feedback, and basic demographic
questions (e.g. gender, age, race/ethnicity) for the sake of
controlling for variation.
The results of the study were quite revealing. First, 100
percent of the sample stated that no more than two
of their current or former professors provide audio or
video feedback. Because of the phrasing of the answer
responses (none, 1-2, 3-4, or 5 or more), it’s likely that only
one professor does/did it (me). That’s important because
it doesn’t allow for meaningful comparison to others who
provide this form of feedback. Curiously, 53 percent of
the sample chose detailed feedback as being the most
important to their learning. Quality feedback was selected
second most often (42 percent). Prompt feedback was by
far the least preferred (only one person). That’s good news,
professors! The implications suggest that taking a few
more days to provide better, more detailed feedback is more
helpful to students in learning how to improve their writing.
Other important findings relate to preferences for audio/
video feedback over written (traditional) feedback. For
example, two-thirds of the sample (30 respondents) stated
that they felt more confident about the fairness of their
grade when receiving video feedback. Similarly, 73 percent
of the respondents felt that video feedback is more detailed.
Finally, in rating the overall effectiveness that receiving
video feedback had on improving their writing, 71 percent
of the sample stated that it was either very or somewhat
effective. Overall, it appears that using video feedback to
respond to student writing is preferred by many students.
Below are some comments from students about video
feedback:
• “You were the first professor I had to ever use video
feedback, and I thought it was great and had a positive
reaction to it. I assume it makes your job and life a little
easier.”
• “Written feedback in relation to rubrics is nice, but for
overall writing quality video feedback helped me the
most.”
• “It makes it feel more personal/makes me feel like the
professor cares more about the feedback itself.”
CONTINUED
Fall 2017 | WIC Program Newsletter | 3
However, not every student prefers this mode of delivery
Two out of eighteen respondents provided negative
qualitative responses:
• “Professor may say stuff you don’t like or want to hear.”
5) If you try it out, ask students for their input. After all, I
do this because students view it as more effective and
they learn more from it. This may not be suitable for all
disciplines or professors, but I have a feeling that many
people would find it useful.

• “Takes much longer than traditional feedback. Its (sic) a
waste of time.”
In addition to these negative comments, there are some
disadvantages to using this type of feedback. First, you
must be in a quiet area where you are free to record videos.
I mostly have to do this at home or in my office when I
can shut the door. This is a clear disadvantage compared
to traditional feedback, with which you can pretty much
do anywhere. Also, technology sometimes fails. I have
encountered several problems with Canvas: the audio has
not worked; the platform has not submitted the recorded;
or Canvas is down. Although the latter would impact any
mode of feedback, the other two technological issues may
deter some from trying this feedback mechanism.
Tips for Experimenting with Video Feedback
Overall, using audio and/or video feedback is a relatively
new practice that is emerging in teaching and learning
across a variety of educational levels. It has significantly
enhanced my ability to connect with students and to
improve their writing abilities. It is my hope that other
educators will incorporate this into their classes to the
benefit of future generations of students.
WIC Brown Bag Lunch Series presents two events in
spring 2018: How the Salem State Writing Center Can
Help Instructors (January 29 at 11 am) and Supporting
Multilingual Writers (March 26 at 11 am). Please
RSVP to WIC graduate assistant Kate Parsons at
k_parsons4@salemstate.edu or on the WIC Eventbrite
website: bit.ly/2jh7LC5.

Despite these limitations, video feedback appears to be an

effective and meaningful practice for improving student
writing and learning. If you decide to try it out, here are a
few tips that may be helpful.

1) Start with one class and one assignment. This could

be an upper-level, writing intensive course, or a lower-
level introductory course. Take the overall workload
into consideration. This may be especially useful for
hybrid or online courses.

2) Set a schedule and stick to it. I recommend grading

six or seven papers at a time and then taking a break. I
recommend this for traditional feedback as well, but the
videos make it a bit more tiring to record all at one time.

3) Make a brief outline of notes to discuss. I typically

record the video right after I’ve read the paper and
submitted the grade so that it makes it easier to recall
the strengths and weaknesses of the paper.

4) Consider using screencast technology. Web-based

platforms like screencast-o-matic.com allow you to
record up to 15 minute videos for free. This would allow
you to record the screen so that you can view the paper
while talking. Canvas does not currently have this
option.

4 | WIC Program Newsletter | Fall 2017

The Number of Multilingual Writers is Greater Than You
Think . . . and So are the Ways You Can Help Them Succeed
By Kate Parsons, MA in English, MAT in TESOL candidate and WIC Graduate Assistant
Linguistic diversity has become the reality on most college
and university campuses across the country and in our
own backyard of Eastern Massachusetts. This is a good
thing for many reasons but particularly because our
students with knowledge of two or more languages and
cultures help the entire SSU community realize stated
goals regarding global education, inclusion and diversity.
To ensure their full participation and success at SSU,
multilingual writers (MLWs) need strong writing support.
This article offers a brief discussion of multilingual writers
and addresses two common assumptions about teaching
them. It ends with pedagogical suggestions for helping
multilingual writers succeed.
Who are the multilingual writers in our
classrooms?
The multilingual writers in university classrooms are not a
homogenous group. While there is much variation among
individuals, they fit into four broad categories, each with its
own characteristics.
1. The category most recognizable to instructors is that of
international students who have studied English as a
foreign language. In many cases, these students have
encountered English in classroom settings in their home
country but rarely used it to communicate with native
speakers of English before arriving at SSU.
2. A growing population that may include traditional or
adult students is that of recent immigrants from non-
English speaking countries. They may struggle with
academic writing, reading, and speaking in English.
3. Generation 1.5 students are those who immigrated to
the U.S. as children. Their speaking abilities are often
indistinguishable from native English speakers, but they
may struggle with academic writing and reading.
1
Horner, Bruce, Min-Zhan Lu, Jacqueline Jones Roster, and John Trimbur, “Opinion: Language Difference in Writing: Toward a Translingual Approach,” College English 73, no. 3
(2011): 305.
2
Thonus, Terese, “Tutoring Multilingual Students: Shattering the Myths,” Journal of College Reading & Learning, 44, no. 2 (2014): 204.
3
de Kleine, Crista and Rachel Lawton, “Meeting the Needs of Linguistically Diverse Students at the College Level: Executive Summary and Paper,” College Reading & Learning
Association White Papers. November 2015: 4. https://www.crla.net/images/whitepaper/Meeting_Needs_of_Diverse_Students.pdf
4
“International Student Data,” Institute of International Education, accessed December 1, 2017. https://www.iie.org/en/Research-and-Insights/Open-Doors/Fact-Sheets-and-Info-
graphics/Infographics/International-Student-Data
4. Finally, when considering language difference generally,
native speakers of “non-standard” varieties of English
can also be considered MLWs.1 They can include
speakers of “new” or “World” Englishes from areas
once colonized by Britain or the U.S., such as India,
Singapore or the Philippines. Additionally, Americans
who grew up speaking non-standard varieties of
English, such as African American Vernacular English
and regional dialects, can also be included in this
category. While not learning English as an entirely new
language, these MLWs are learning U.S. academic
language and norms.
As the above descriptions imply, there are probably more
MLWs in SSU classrooms than instructors realize. Writing
scholar Terese Thonus notes that “few educators are fully
aware of the sheer number of multilingual students around
them.”2
Further, the numbers of MLWs will continue to grow.
Domestically, 20 percent of the US school-aged population
speaks a language other than English at home, and this
percentage carries over to the college level. 3 In the 2016-17
academic year, 1,078,822 international students studied at
U.S. colleges and universities, 4 accounting for the bulk of
higher education enrollment increases. Clearly, MLWs of
some description presently do, and will continue to, make
up a significant portion of university students.
Instructors obviously play a major role in student success
across the board and even more so when it comes to
MLWs. Below, I address some common assumptions about
the pedagogical needs of MLWs and provide suggestions
as to how to best support them as writers.
CONTINUED
Fall 2017 | WIC Program Newsletter | 5
Assumption #1: Don’t they just need to learn
grammar?
Yes and no. Grammar is an important component
of language, but it is only one of many factors in
demonstrating knowledge and communicating
ideas. Grammatical correctness does not guarantee
comprehension, and grammatical error does not
necessarily indicate a lack of understanding of content.
Moreover, grammar is embedded in meaning. MLWs
continue to learn it as they write, read, speak, and listen
in English.
With more advanced MLWs, issues that may be labeled
as grammar are in fact issues with vocabulary.5 Much of
English is learned in “chunks,” that is, pairs or groups of
words that co-occur very frequently. While native speakers
have access to a vast store of these language chunks,
MLWs can only learn them through exposure. Consider that
“to give something careful consideration” is acceptable
while “to give something careful contemplation” is not,
though both are grammatically correct.
Assumption #2: It’s not my job to teach ESL.
No, it’s not. But the MLWs in your classroom aren’t
just learning English. They are simultaneously learning
course content, U.S. academic expectations, U.S. cultural
values and norms, and the English language. 6 A common
misperception is that MLWs should “just learn English”
first and then enter mainstream classrooms, but this
approach is impractical. Language, separate from function
and context, cannot simply be brought like a machine to
a fix-it shop. MLWs learn content, culture and English in
classrooms across the disciplines—through classroom
experiences, readings, assignments, instructor interactions
and feedback, as well as from their peers. Adding to the
impracticality is that MLWs are gaining not simply English
but academic language proficiency, which is embedded in
discipline-specific academic discourse communities and
takes significant time to acquire.
While you may not be responsible for teaching ESL, there’s
a lot you can do to increase the chances that MLWs in your
classroom will succeed.
5
Nakamaru, Sarah, “Lexical Issues in Writing Center Tutorials with International and US-educated Multilingual Writers,” Journal of Second Language Writing, 19, no. 2 (2010): 103.
6
Paul Kei Matsuda and Matthew J. Hammill, “Second Language Writing Pedagogy,” in A Guide to Composition Pedagogies, eds. Gary Tate, Amy Rupiper Taggart, Kurt Schick, and
H.B. Hessler (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 269.
6 | WIC Program Newsletter | Fall 2017
Here’s how you can support your students:
• Recognize that having two or more languages is a
linguistic and cultural resource for MLWs, not a deficit.
Try to help them and their classmates view their linguistic
knowledge this way.
• Be patient. Learning a language, like learning to write, is
a lengthy recursive process. Error is a major part of that
process, and because language development takes time,
MLWs are likely to make the same error repeatedly.
Please do not mistake learning for laziness.
• Privilege meaning over grammatical correctness in
writing. Like other students, MLWs want to learn and
share their ideas. Make a concerted effort to listen to
them. Ask yourself whether a missing definite article or
incorrect verb tense really impedes your understanding.
If it does, provide that specific feedback. If it doesn’t,
read on.
• Be kind. As mentioned above, MLWs are learning English,
course content, U.S. culture, and academic culture
simultaneously. This is an enormous cognitive task. Signs
from faculty of both encouragement and discouragement
will weigh heavily on them.
• If possible, include course content that is inclusive of
linguistic and cultural difference. If that’s not possible,
scaffold background knowledge for MLWs. Courses that
utilize American literature or popular culture, for instance,
will put MLWs at a real disadvantage if they are expected
to somehow learn by themselves what their American
counterparts are already intimately familiar with.
• If you consider grammatical correctness in grading, be
explicit about it as a criterion and assign it a reasonable
percentage of the assignment or final grade.
• Get to know MLW backgrounds, if possible and
appropriate. It may help you to better understand their
particular linguistic strengths and challenges.
• If providing feedback on grammar, focus on how it
impacts meaning. For instance, “I got confused here”
or “Who is they here?” can be more helpful than
“awkward” or “pronoun?”

Bibliography
Horner, Bruce, Min-Zhan Lu, Jacqueline Jones Roster, and John
Trimbur. “Opinion: Language Difference in Writing: Toward a
Translingual Approach.” College English 73, no. 3 (2011): 303-321.
“International Student Data,” Institute of International Education,
accessed December 1, 2017. https://www.iie.org/en/Research-
and-Insights/Open-Doors/Fact-Sheets-and-Infographics/
Infographics/International-Student-Data
de Kleine, Crista and Rachel Lawton. “Meeting the Needs of
Linguistically Diverse Students at the College Level: Executive
Summary and Paper.” College Reading & Learning Association
White Papers. November 2015. https://www.crla.net/images/
whitepaper/Meeting_Needs_of_Diverse_Students.pdf
Matsuda, Paul Kei and Matthew J. Hammill, “Second Language
Writing Pedagogy.” In A Guide to Composition Pedagogies, edited
by Gary Tate, Amy Rupiper Taggart, Kurt Schick, and H.B. Hessler,
266-282. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Nakamaru, Sarah. “Lexical Issues in Writing Center Tutorials with
International and US-educated Multilingual Writers.” Journal of
Second Language Writing, 19, no. 2 (2010): 95-113.
Thonus, Terese. “Tutoring Multilingual Students: Shattering the
Myths.” Journal of College Reading & Learning, 44, no. 2 (2014):
200-213.
Spotlight on Faculty
Michele Louro, PhD, is
an associate professor
of history and currently
serves as the faculty
fellow for the Center for
Research and Creative
Activities. Louro
teaches graduate and
undergraduate courses on
modern South Asia, the
British Empire, and world
history. Outside of her
work at Salem State, Louro Michele Louro, PhD
serves as the managing
editor of the Journal of World History and is the treasurer
of the World History Association.
Louro’s first book, Comrades against Imperialism: Nehru,
India and Interwar Internationalism (Cambridge University
Press), will be published in March of 2018. She has
written articles in several journals including the Journal of
Contemporary History, Comparative Studies of South Asia,
Africa and the Middle East, and Third Frame: Literature,
Culture and Society. She also has a chapter published in the
edited collection, The Internationalist Moment: South Asia,
Worlds and Worldviews.
Kate Parsons, MAT in TESOL candidate and WIC graduate
assistant, interviewed Louro in November of 2017 about her
writing and work with student writers.
KP: Which writing intensive courses do you teach?
ML: I teach our capstone course for history majors, a
seminar on research and writing. In this course, students
develop a bibliography, a proposal, and then several drafts
of a research paper, which is fairly intensive for them.
My job is really to guide them from an idea through the
research and writing process and produce something
that would look like an article that may be published in an
academic journal.
I will start teaching a W-II class in the fall of 2018 on the
British Empire. I’m really excited about teaching historical
thinking and historical research and writing at the W-II
level. I’m using a really exciting book. It’s a graphic novel,
but the author goes into the primary sources that he found
to write the novel and lays out how he researched and
wrote it. I’m going to have the students create graphic
novel historical projects to play with the genres that we
use as historians.
KP: It sounds like your students are really researching and
writing simultaneously.
ML: Exactly, and for me as a professor, the research, the
writing, and the teaching are really organically connected.
I teach the seminar every semester because it helps me
think through the projects that I’m working on as I work
with students on their writing. I look at our classroom
as a community of scholars writing within the discipline.
And that kind of space gives us the opportunity to talk
about ideas, talk about obstacles and challenges, talk
about strategies that work. We’re constantly discussing
and sharing ideas. We’re also encouraging one another,
as one of the ways we finish writing projects is through
accountability, encouragement, and not making writing
a solitary activity. So even if my students are doing
something entirely different, we all have a deadline. When
they turn in their first drafts, I’m finishing some aspect of a
chapter or an article or something that I need to be working
on too. So there’s that accountability piece and also that
Fall 2017 | WIC Program Newsletter | 7
community in which we’re all talking about the process of
researching and the process of writing together.
KP: How do your own writing projects affect your teaching
of writing?
ML: I think I have four projects right now. I have the
book—I just finished the copy edits and so in many
ways, that’s done. It’s been really fun to have revised my
dissertation while teaching here. Most of my students
know about my book because I’m always reminding
students that they are historians in training, and the
difference is that I have the PhD, and I’ve been doing this
a lot longer. But we are all historians. We are all asking
questions about history and writing about history using
historical evidence that we can interpret.
So even in my courses that aren’t writing courses, I’m
always trying to get students to think about the kinds of
questions that I’m asking in my book. Along the way, I like
to show things like my copyedited mark-ups or what my
dissertation advisor wrote on my first drafts to remind
students that regardless of where you are in the writing
process or what advanced level you achieve, writing is
never perfect. It’s always a process. And there are always
comments that can strengthen or make your writing better.
And so in that way, I’ve been able to share experiences as a
writer from the dissertation all the way through to the book.
Launching a new project can be really exciting and also
really frustrating. It’s sort of like starting over. I am starting
in a new historical period with new historical actors. So
in many ways when I look at my students in the research
seminar, they’re also just starting a research journey, and
so I’m taking a research journey with them. I’m starting
with the bibliography and what books are most important—
which ones do I need to read now? Which kinds of sources
are really going to answer the questions that I’m asking,
and how can I write about and interpret those sources? So
those same kinds of questions that they’re grappling with
at a very early stage, I’m grappling with in my new project.
When I teach writing, I often give a version of a research
talk to my students. I walk them through what peaks my
interest, what sources I came up with that I could find,
what historians have said about a particular topic, and how
that became a project. How did I begin to draft that project?
I oftentimes also use the story of my previous book. How
did this become an idea? It actually began as a master’s
thesis, and then a dissertation, and then a book. I say to my
students “I was like you, sitting in the classroom and trying
8 | WIC Program Newsletter | Fall 2017
to figure out what I was going to write about.” How did I
get from that to the book? And then to the launch of a new
project, and where does that journey take you?
KP: It’s nice that you show them the nuts and bolts of the
process, which can really bring it down to earth.
ML: Well, yes, because if I want to foster a real community
of writers or treat them as historians in training, then they
have to know that we too suffer from anxiety and we too
have to take suggestions for revisions, criticism, and turn
that into something revised, polished, and meaningful.
So in many ways, we’re not all that different.
KP: Can you think of a specific instance in your teaching
that was surprising or interesting or gave you a new
perspective on your own work?
ML: I’m always just really impressed by our students and
their abilities, with all that’s going on in their lives and at
this university, to sit down and really drill deeply into a
research project and write about it in a way that’s coherent
and meaningful. That’s always the most rewarding part of
teaching writing, I think, just to help them. Sometimes, just
like with your own writing, it can be frustrating, and they
feel like there are obstacles that they just can’t overcome.
For instance, the capstone course can seem overwhelming
both to teach and for the students to go through in a
semester. But the final product is always something that
they’re really proud of and that’s really the most rewarding.
KP: What advice would you offer to student writers in the
discipline of history?
ML: Be persistent, be surprised by your sources, be willing
to change your course when those sources challenge
preconceived notions that you have or ideas about what
your project is going to be. Enjoy the journey and the
process because in a lot of ways it can be frustrating,
but that’s actually the hard mental work that goes into
researching and writing in the historical discipline.
And then the practical stuff: make sure that you block off
the time to do it, make sure you’re accountable for your
deadlines, don’t do it alone. These projects always work
out much better if you have a community of writers working
with you, whether it’s a writing group or a family member,
whoever it is who you’re accountable to and you are also
sharing ideas with before you commit to a final draft.
KP: Thank you!