UWS Instructor Resources
Shortcut to this page: bit.ly/UWS-IR
Recommended Handbooks
- MLA Handbook, 9th Edition (2021). Includes punctuation, inclusive language, plagiarism, annotated bibliographies, and quoting and paraphrasing sources.
- A Guide to Rhetoric, Genre, and Success in First-Year Writing (open source)
- UWS Exercise Book 2017-2018
Index to Categories on This Page
- Administrative Resources
- LATTE
- Syllabus Materials
- Lens Essay
- Comparative Genre Analysis (CGA)
- Research Essay
- First-Year Experience
- Teaching Technologies
- Reference Library
Administrative Resources
These resources include useful academic forms, lists of academic advisors, and lists of important student services.
Syllabus Materials
Contained here are resources for syllabus creation such as required language, grading tips and rubrics, schedule templates, and sample syllabi.Lens Essay
The lens essay is a 6- to 7-page assignment in which students are asked to apply a theoretical "lens" text to a primary text; they do this in order to interpret or "re-see" the primary text in a new light and to arrive at new insights that they wouldn't otherwise have come to.
- Assignment Sequences (Sequence One | Sequence Two)
- Handouts and Exercises
- Sample Lens Essays
- "A Living Document with Dead Ideals" (Sam Ackerman | UWS 8b: The American Dream)
- "The Relative Truth" (Sydney Carim | UWS 42b: Images of Africa)
- "Soldiers on the Street: How Insecurity Can Justify Authoritarianism" (Jacob Knauer | UWS 15b: Utopias/Dystopias)
- "Condemnation of Female Hunger" (Carina J. Luo | UWS 16a: Sex and Advertising)
- "What Is a Nation?" (Markia Neufville | UWS 41b: Huddled Masses: Immigrants in America)
- INDEX of sample papers in Write Now!
Comparative Genre Analysis (CGA)
The Comparative Genre Analysis (CGA) unit asks students to compare writing styles in 3-4 articles from different genres to identify – and understand the reasons for – commonalities and differences between the disciplines. This prepares students to read scholarship in multiple disciplines and teaches them to be aware of their own stylistic and formal writing choices.
Research Essay
The 10- to 12-page research essay builds on the lens essay as it asks students to use multiple lenses and engage in close reading to make an original argument. As the first part of the research process, students prepare a research proposal (graded on completion) that includes their assessment of the literature on the topic, their proposed methodology, an annotated bibliography, and a weekly timeline.
- Research Guides and Resources
- Research Essay Exercises and Handouts
- Research Assignment Sequences
- Sample Research Proposals and Essays
- Proposals
- “Podcasts and Parasociability” (Mandy Feuerman | UWS 58A The Age of Distraction)
- "Star Wars Mythology and American Individualism: The Archetype of Han Solo" (Liam Carpenter-Shulman | UWS 23b: The Cosmos)
- "Code Black: Public Hospitals and Inequality in American Healthcare" (Kang Hankyul | UWS 4a: Medical Ethics)
- Essays
- "Academic Dishonesty and COVID-19: A Biological Explanation" (Rotem Arie | UWS 37a: Biology of Morality)
- "Suffering Redefined: The Animal Liberation Front’s Subversion of Utilitarianism" (Leeza Barstein | UWS 34b: Undermining Power: Subversion and Resistance)
- "Putin’s Propaganda: The Effect of Russian Propaganda on Masculinity" (Alexander J. Dragunoff | UWS 16a: Sex and Advertising)
- "Gene Editing: How Advancements in this Technology Highlight the Need to Redefine Disability" (Ada de la Fuente-Akersveen | UWS 4a: Medical Ethics)
- "Transgender People in Advertisements, Transnormativity, and Corporate Wokeness" (Zoe Hermer-Cisek | UWS 16a: Sex and Advertising)
- "Egalitarian Dating Initiation: Men’s View on Passive and Assertive Women" (Alexandra Pan | UWS 2B: Darwinian Dating: The Evolution of Human Attraction)
- "Women’s Friendships and Feminism" (Roshni Ray | UWS 24a: Conceptions of Friendship)
- "'The Most Dangerous Negro': Martin Luther King Jr. and the FBI" (Jacob Silverman | UWS 5b: From the 13th Amendment to Mass Incarceration)
- "Kendrick Lamar’s 'The Blacker the Berry': Rap’s Ability to Influence Social and Political Activism" (Harrison Sugarman | UWS 22a Black Voices in the 20th Century)
- "Working at Play in Dark Souls" (Sam Timbers | UWS 31a: Fans, Culture, and Society)
- INDEX of sample papers in Write Now!
- Proposals
First-Year Experience
These are core elements of every UWS that provide first-year students with foundational experiences to help them succeed at Brandeis. Critical Conversations – public discussions on a key theme featuring two or more faculty from different disciplines and a third faculty moderator – build first year cohort identity and introduce students to Brandeis’ intellectual and scholarly discourse. Experiential Learning assignments occur on campus and are chosen or designed by the instructor; sample Experiential Assignments include small-group discussions between students and a faculty member, visits to the archives, a campus scavenger hunt, or attending a lecture or performance.
Teaching Technologies
Contained here are overviews of useful teaching technologies (LATTE, Perusall, Zoom, Zotero, etc.) and tips on using them effectively in class.
Reference Library
These resources range from scholarly articles on writing pedagogy, to open-access writing resources, to UWP handouts and exercises, to an archive of recent, successful UWS essays and proposals.- A Guide to Rhetoric, Genre, and Success in First-Year Writing, Melanie Gagich & Emilie Zickel
- Elements of the Academic Essay (DOCX | PDF)
- Open-Access Resources (OAR) for Students
- Handouts and Exercises
- UWS Exercise Book 2017-2018
- MLA Handbook, 9th Edition (2021). Access via OneSearch. Includes not only citation guidelines but universally useful sections on Punctuation, Inclusive Language, Plagiarism, Annotated Bibliographies, and Quoting and Paraphrasing Sources.
- Writing Pedagogy and Classroom Techniques
- Writing in the Disciplines
- Write Now!