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Writing Resource Center

Faculty Resources

Below is an assortment of resources that may help faculty.

Writing Intensive Course Information

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Writing Support

Academic Support & Achievement Program

    The Academic Support and Achievement Program (ASAP) has provided academic support tutorials and workshops for Cortland students since 1983. Our goal is to help your students understand how they learn most efficiently so they can do their best on your tests and assignments. To that end, we diagnose and analyze student difficulties in reading, writing, math and study skills. Thereafter, we use the students’ courses as the context for their work with us, focusing such practice within course assignments is more meaningful for the students and provides tangible evidence of success.

    Our services are open to all SUNY Cortland students and include support for academic writing, study skills, time management, college-level reading, and lower level math and math- related courses. We also provide Supplemental Instruction for traditionally challenging courses such as PSY 101, BIO 110/111, BIO 202, BIO 301/302, CHE 221/222, ECO 111 and others as the need arises and resources become available. Students may use these services through self -referral or faculty- referral means. Although 85 percent of our students come to the ASAP Office voluntarily, a faculty member can require a student’s attendance to address academic deficiencies by filing an “official” referral form for study skills, math or writing. These faculty requests are handled on a priority basis, and a tutorial report of the initial meeting will be forwarded to you. Please see your department secretary for the forms.

    For faculty, we develop tailor-made classroom presentations. Such special presentations have included topics such as “Approaches to the Research Paper,” “test-taking skills,” “writing critiques or book reviews,” and course-specific study skills. Simply call Mariangela Chandler, director to make the necessary arrangements. Her number is ext. 4309. We also support faculty by providing Test Administration Services for your students with documented disabilities who cannot schedule suitable times to take their exams with you. Call Mariangela Chandler at ext. 4309 to find out how to access this service.

    Certainly, most of our students are capable of meeting the challenges of your courses—once they make the adjustment from a sheltered environment to an independent learning environment. One of our most important challenges each year is to help new Cortland students (first-year and transfers) quickly adjust to the rigors of your academic standards. Please call us if we can help. Or, stop by. Our office is located in Van Hoesen Hall, Room B-205.

    Sincerely,
    Mariangela Chandler, Director
    Teri Vigars
    Rickie McClure

A Successful Peer Tutoring Program

  • The administration of SUNY Cortland recognizes that the diverse population of students entering our college each year is experiencing a major change in life and the transition can be aided by a variety of student-supportive services.
  • Peer tutoring represents one type of supportive service for students.
  • Research has shown that trained peer tutors are much more effective than untrained peer tutors.
  • To find the best possible candidates for the peer tutor training class, we ask faculty to recommend students from their classes who have both received a B or better in the class and who have shown the ability to work well with their peers.
  • All students recommended by faculty receive a letter from the vice president for Student Affairs, inviting them to become peer tutors.
  • Students then attend a two-credit course, which includes approximately 22.5 hours of graded classroom instruction and 25 hours of tutoring after which they receive national certification from the College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA). Grades for this class are based on the quality of the students’ written work as well as on the amount they contribute to class discussions related to the assigned readings. Once they are certified by CRLA, they are eligible to become paid peer tutors through the Student Government Association and the Equal Opportunity Program at SUNY Cortland. Additionally, many have gone on to tutor in other settings outside of the college.
  • Peer tutors are trained to help students become independent learners and find their own answers to problems-not provide answers. They help students learn how to ask the kinds of questions that will help them become good critical thinkers.
  • So, it all begins with excellent faculty recommendations, followed by a class that consistently receives high evaluations from the students and ends with a corps of peer tutors who will contribute to better retention of students and improved critical thinking skills.

Supplemental Instruction

    Supplemental Instruction is designed to assist students by providing group-based help sessions in a variety of classes that have been proven to be consistently difficult for students in the past. SI sessions are generally one-hour weekly sessions that are led by an SI leader- an individual who has taken the course during his/her academic career and has done extraordinarily well. Furthermore, the SI leader is trained to facilitate student-to-student dialogue and connect study skills appropriate to the targeted course material. These SI sessions allow students the opportunity to ask the SI leader questions, review class/lab notes, and prepare for exams in a relaxed environment. In the past, Supplemental Instruction has been proven to be most effective for those students who regularly attend SI sessions, prepared, and ready to discuss current material.

    Most of the leaders we employ are hired based on professors’ recommendations. We’re always looking for more recommendations so if you know of any students who meet the criteria below, please contact Rickie McClure at mcclurer@cortland.edu. We’re located in the ASAP office in Van Hoesen Hall, Room B-205, or you can contact us by phone at (607) 753-4309.

    Minimum Qualifications:

    • Overall GPA of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) or above.
    • Grade of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) or above in the class for which the student is being recommended; prior enrollment with the professor who is to teach the selected course is preferred.
    • Demonstrated ability to empathize with struggling students.
    • Able to incorporate a variety of study strategies to accommodate students’ different learning styles.
    • Able to attend all classes of selected course.
    • Able to attend two-day SI Leader training session before semester begins.
    • Able to schedule three one-hour sessions per week during the semester at a variety of times to meet student needs.
    • Able to attend one monthly meeting with all other SI Leaders to exchange session ideas and experiences.
    • Able to attend one half-hour weekly meeting with SI Supervisor
      • (All of the above averages out to approximately 10 hours a week)

    In addition to the qualifications above a leader should be energetic, enthusiastic, personable, positive, patient, open-minded, flexible and able to think on his/her feet. Leaders get paid $800 for their first semester as a leader and get $50 raises each semester that they return as a leader. Thank you for your recommendations. Your input is a vital part of Supplemental Instruction’s continued success. Supplemental Instruction is funded by SGA with Mandatory Student Activity Fees.

Instructor Referral Procedure

    The majority of students who come to SUNY Cortland ASAP for writing deficiencies do so voluntarily, although often at the suggestion of an instructor or advisor. For those faculty members who prefer a more direct approach, whereby student attendance at ASAP tutorials is mandatory and a written report is sent to the instructor, please follow this procedure:

    1. Briefly discuss the paper and its deficiencies with the student in order to clarify the reasons the assignment did not meet your standards for college writing.
    2. Advise the student that a written referral has been sent to ASAP, Van Hoesen Hall, Room B-205, (ext. 4309) and that he/she should make an appointment to begin rewriting the paper.
    3. Attach the faculty referral to the paper, checking areas of weakness, and forward to ASAP, Van Hoesen Hall, Room B-205, by campus mail.
    4. With the guidance of an ASAP staff member, the student will begin the revision process according to the instructor’s suggestions. Following the first or second meeting with the student, the tutor will forward a brief written report to the instructor. If after this initial report an instructor needs additional information about a referred student’s progress, effort or attitude, he should contact ASAP.
    5. When the student has developed an understanding for needed changes and completed the revision, the new draft will be submitted to the instructor.

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CPN Referrals

    At our May 2007 Composition meeting, it became apparent that many CPN 100/102 and 101/103 instructors were unfamiliar with the referral process already in place for instructors to refer students to the Academic Support and Achievement Program for help with writing concerns. In an ongoing effort to forge a stronger link between the CPN program and ASAP toward the mutual goal of improving student writing at Cortland, I have updated the Referral form, and created an informational Notice of Referral letter which can be given, in whole or in part, to referred students at your discretion.

    Master copies of these forms are included in your new Cortland Composition Handbook for your convenience; the forms are also available here online through the adjacent links. You may photocopy or print the forms as needed and submit them through campus mail (make an extra copy to keep for your records), or you may fill them out and submit them electronically.

    My hope is that the Referral form will help you to itemize efficiently the kind and severity of difficulties a referred student is having; feel free to provide as much or as little detail as you wish about the student’s situation. The tutor who meets with that student initially will see your referral form (although the student will not), and will begin by asking questions targeting the areas of concern that you have indicated. After this initial appointment, you will receive a report detailing the work done and indicating whether future appointments have been scheduled by the student.

    Please note: If you are especially worried about a student’s likelihood of failure in CPN 100/101, indicate this in response to the bolded statement just beneath the heading on the Referral form. Such students may be offered extra support services comparable to those provided for former CPN 129 (Writing Lab) students, on a space-available basis.

    If  you have any questions about the forms, the referral process, or the services provided by ASAP staff, please do not hesitate to call me at 607.753.2361, email drakej@cortland.edu, or stop by our new office on the top floor of Van Hoesen B, Rm. 205.

  • CPN Referral Form MS Word Format
  • CPN Referral Form PDF format
  • Student Notice of Referral MS Word Format

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Preventing and Detecting Plagiarism

SUNY Cortland Academic Integrity Policy

    The policy, including disciplinary action, is outlined in Chapter 340 of official SUNY Cortland College Handbook. Here is the excerpt from the handbook.

Preventing Plagiarism: Tips for Faculty

    What is the first thing you should do?
    Put your expectations on your syllabus.

    Is that enough?
    No. At the beginning of the semester, discuss academic honesty in class. Make students aware of the nature of academic writing, i.e., the fact that it engages other writers’ ideas and follows certain conventions and customs. Point out that knowledge of these conventions (paraphrase, quotation, summary, documentation of sources, etc.) is not tacit. The conventions have to be learned. Explain the concepts of intellectual property, copyright, and fair use. Point out that plagiarism is a legal issue as well as an ethical and moral one. Give students a list of examples of different types of plagiarism. Tell them about penalties and discuss some past cases.

    Can you assume that students have learned the conventions of academic writing?
    If students took CPN 100 Academic Writing I and CPN 101 Academic Writing II at Cortland, they were taught the features and rules of academic writing. Their knowledge and skill may have atrophied if they have not had much writing practice outside of or since the composition course.

    Transfer students may have taken composition courses that focused on expressive writing or writing that does not require the student to engage reading sources. The best approach is to educate students about plagiarism. Do this yourself or refer them to handbooks and web sites.

    How can you design assignments that will reduce the likelihood of plagiarism?

    • Be sure your expectations are clear.
    • Contextualize the assignments. Specify topic, purpose, audience, and genre. Everyone does not have to do the same assignment. Give a list of prompts. Use topics that are innovative, unique, current, and local, or have students reply to a thesis statement or quotation.
    • Distribute a handout with clear instructions. Include a guide for documenting sources in your discipline. Two excellent sites are the University of Wisconsin library and the Purdue University online writing lab.
    • Require, at an early stage, an annotated bibliography, with call numbers and complete URLs (title, author, organization, title of broader work, date created or modified, date of student access, full URL).
    • Require students to submit photocopies of the sources or the page from which the material was taken.
    • Specify the types of sources students may include:
        • - use only material published in the last 5 years
        - use only material placed on reserve in the library
        - use only certain types, e.g., “at least 2 books, 3 articles, 1 Internet site.”
        - include one or more readings that have been assigned in the course
        - include data from interviews
    • Monitor work in progress. Make sure work is handed in before the end of the semester.
    • adopt a Process Writing approach and have students follow a sequence of prewriting, drafting, revising and editing,
    • require students to submit papers in stages: prospectus/outline, annotated bibliography, summaries of select sources,
    • Do not allow last minute changes of topic, and do not accept one-shot final draft copies.
    • Do not repeat assignments.

    Is there anything else you can do?

    • Create a database of student writing
    • Require students to submit their work to www.turnitin.com
    • Require them to send you electronic versions of their papers so that you can create your own searchable file

Detecting Plagiarism

    Here are some resources to help you combat plagiarism.

    • Plagiarism.com lists detailed information on the technologies behind Turnitin.com, facts about Internet plagiarism, and a report on the growth of "cheatsites" Online.
    • Coastal Carolina University lists active Internet paper mills and was compiled as part of a teaching effectiveness seminar on cheating, plagiarism and Internet paper mills. When this list started in March 1999, it had 35 sites on it. There are now more than 250.
    • Lemoyne College has a great plagiarism site that contains all the information one could want to know about the subject.
    • Council of Writing Program Administrators. Click on Position Statements for an excellent resource, Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on Best Practices.
    • Cheating 101: a comprehensive list of the sites students use to purchase papers, a list of plagiarism detection sites, and helpful advice for detecting plagiarized papers.
    • Virtual Salt is maintained by Robert Harris, who has written an excellent book on the subject of plagiarism, The Plagiarism Handbook. The site is an excellent resource for teachers that helps them educate students on the subject, detect plagiarism, prevent it, and even discuss the subject with students who may or may not be guilty of academic dishonesty.
    • Bedford/St.Martins has a site that includes handouts that are designed to be used as a quick reference for both students and instructors dealing with plagiarism. Instructors are permitted to distribute the handouts.
    • University of Alberta provides a comprehensive site for detecting plagiarism.
    • Iowa State University lists strategies for deterring plagiarism.

Using Turnitin.com

    SUNY-Cortland has purchased a subscription to Turnitin.com. To use the service, one must first register with the SUNY-Cortland account on Turnitin.com. It involves two steps: 1) At Turnitin.com’s homepage, click “Create User Profile.” Follow the on-screen directions. 2) After registering and logging in under the username and password just established, click “Join Account.” At the prompt, one will be required to provide Cortland’s subscription information: Account ID and Password. For the Cortland account number and password, please contact Shawn Van Etten, Director of Institutional Research and Assessment, 753-5565, vanettens@cortland.edu. This information is not needed again after an instructor has successfully joined Cortland’s Turnitin.com account. Please note: The instructor’s students do NOT use this administrative information when they enroll in a class. After an instructor registers with Turnitin.com and joins Cortland’s account, the instructor must then create separate accounts for his/her classes. At the instructor’s main page (after logging in), there is a link to “Add a Class.” Only one class can be added at a time. Each class is given an ID #, and the instructor must establish a unique password for each class. (This is the information that will be given to students when they enroll in a class.) Once classes are added, the instructor can create assignments, change preferences, and use other features such as the calendar.

    After assignments are set up by the instructor, student essays can be submitted to Turnitin.com in two ways: 1) An instructor uploads student assignments (one at a time or in batches) or 2) Students submit their own essays. Regardless of which method an instructor chooses, students must first be registered within that instructor’s class.

    Students register with the site (“Create a user profile”) and then enroll in their designated class (“Join Account”) by entering the class ID# and password that the instructor set up for each class. When each student enrolls, she creates her own username and password, and once she joins her designated section, only then can she begin using the student features of Turnitin.com.

    It is easy for students to submit their own essays to the site. At the individual class homepage, a list of assignments set up by the instructor will be visible. To the right of each assignment name is a “Submit” button. Students can either upload a document (for example, as an MS Word document) or copy-and-paste a document. Students should be warned that copying-and-pasting erases the formatting and stylistics of the original document. If the instructor wants to print a copy of a student’s essay and expects the line spacing and other conventions to be as in the original, then students should be told not to cut-and-paste.

    After an essay is submitted, the essay is scanned by Turnitin.com’s plagiarism detection system. Depending on what an instructor designates (under “Preferences” on the class homepage), the plagiarism analysis can be done in a matter of minutes (“Fast track turnaround”) or within 24 hours. The system scans each essay and compares it to documents on the internet and within the site’s own databases (which consist of thousands of other student essays submitted to Turnitin.com).

    All essays are given “Originality Reports” after the plagiarism scan is complete. (If an instructor does not want his/her students to see the reports generated for their essays, one should check the appropriate box under “Preferences.”) The report will be color-coded (according to severity or percentage of similarity), and will mark the lines in the essay that are identical to a source on the internet or within a database. However, it is the instructor’s responsibility to know how to read and analyze the originality reports. One should not rely only on the color-code designation, because of several possibilities:

    • The plagiarism detection system does not distinguish properly attributed direct quotations as such. A paper that contains several direct quotations, even if they are documented and perfectly acceptable, will come back with a “High” percentage and color-code (green, yellow or red). Before accusing a student of plagiarism, an instructor should go through the originality report, compare it with the student’s original document, and verify that all direct quotations have indeed been documented properly.
    • Essays submitted by students who are writing essays on the same sources, and who therefore have identical Works Cited pages (assuming they have been done correctly), can also trigger a false plagiarism detection alert.
    • No plagiarism service is infallible, and Turnitin.com should not take the place of an instructor’s own set of eyes and awareness of his/her students’ writing styles. Obviously, what is not on the internet or within an online database can not be scanned by Turnitin.com, so many plagiarized papers will go undetected if a student has taken ideas and wording from a book or a print journal, or from a student in another class whose instructor does not use Turnitin.com.

    Nonetheless, Turnitin.com is a user-friendly service that is effective when used regularly. And, in the event of a plagiarized paper, the originality report is additional documentation for an instructor who proceeds with a charge of Academic Dishonesty against a student.

    - Amy Burtner

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Faculty Writing Group

    The Faculty Writing Group Web site contains information for academic writers in various disciplines who intend to publish their work. There is an extensive bibliography of books covering everything from writer's block to publishing the dissertation to serving as an editor. The FWG meets several times each semester, and the schedule can be found on the Web site.

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Teaching Writing