How to Use this Page
Below are resources that University Writing has developed to support students and instructors across the disciplines in their writing and writing instruction. We define writing broadly, so you will find resources on ePortfolios, visual design, professional communication, and presentations in addition to traditional writing tasks like reflective writing, literature reviews, peer review, and editing and proofing.
Please use the keywords on the right-hand side of the page or the search bar above to navigate these resources. If you would like to use these resources in your course, please follow the Creative Commons information located at the bottom of each resource. If you plan to use the source in its original format, we ask that you leave the University Writing branding intact.
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In order to effectively share our research findings with others, we must be able to deliver presentations clearly and impactfully. These resources include tips about oral and visual communication as well as visual design principles that will help engage and inform your audience.
Materials designed by Colby Axelberd, Christopher Basgier, Katharine H. Brown, Amy Cicchino, Carly Cummings, Megan Haskins, Layli Miron, Annie Small, Heather Stuart, and Parker Wade
This brief handout outlines elements of oral communication
Once you have a draft of your oral presentation, this peer review worksheet can help you self-assess or get feedback
This handout will help you decide the best way to visually represent your data
This handout introduces you to four principles for visual design: contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity
This worksheet is meant to help you put together a presentation. It has been designed for students in aerospace engineering
Designing Presentations in Aerospace Engineering Worksheet Word Document
Designing Presentations in Aerospace Engineering Worksheet PDF
This handout will introduce you to scientific posters and analyze example posters
This worksheet will help you self-assess a draft of your scientific poster or gather feedback from a peer
This worksheet is designed to help you articulate how you “see” visible materials and what you expect students to do with visible materials in your courses
This document outlines ways of managing nonverbal mechanics, including the upper and lower body, with attention to accessibility for speakers with disabilities
Grants are a difficult genre for anyone to learn. A straightforward technical description of the proposed project simply won’t do the trick. The resources below will help you consider how to tailor your project to a request for proposals (RFP), consider your audience, and manage the process.
Materials designed by Christopher Basgier
This handout compiles common tips and advice related to grant writing
This worksheet helps you reflect on what you already know about grant writing and begin by analyzing a model excerpt from a grant
Reflective writing helps you critically think about your learning, respond to new knowledge, connect your learning experiences, and consider how new knowledge aligns to your professional and developmental goals. Use the resources below to learn more about reflective writing, including how to design reflective writing prompts.
Materials designed by Amber Simpson, Animal Sciences Academy Team, Christopher Basgier, ePortfolio Project, Heather Stuart, Lindsay Doukopolous, Margaret Marshall, and Parker Wade
This handout provides a brief introduction to reflective writing along with sample questions that can support reflective thinking
This handout introduces you to the six Rs of reflection: reporting, responding, relating, reasoning, reconstructing, and repackaging. Bain, J., Ballantyne, R., Mills, C. & Lester, N. (2002) labeled these levels with the mnemonic “5 Rs of reflection.” We have added a sixth level to this framework to account for the way reflection moves into other genres, such as an ePortfolio or personal narrative
This handout will take you through a heuristic process aimed at developing an effective reflective writing assignment for students keeping in mind the expected learning outcomes
A Heuristic for Developing a Reflective Writing Assignment Word Document
A Heuristic for Developing a Reflective Writing Assignment PDF
Reflection can take many different forms, and any number of strategies can help you support students’ reflective practices. This handout lists various prompts and questions you can adapt to your specific course context and objectives
This handout is meant to inform you on the benefits of using reflective writing in lab contexts
Assigning Reflective Writing Prompts in Lab Settings Handout Word Document
Assigning Reflective Writing Prompts in Lab Settings Handout PDF
This worksheet guides you in using expressive writing for self-discovery. You will learn about different types of expressive writing, such as answering prompts or making gratitude lists, and can complete several reflective prompts.
This handout gives three example reflective writing assignments from different disciplines, each fostering a different goal related to reflective practice
This worksheet will help you consider questions that are important as you develop a reflective writing prompt for your course
Once you’ve developed your reflective writing prompt, this peer reviewguide can help you get feedback.
Peer Feedback on Reflective Writing Prompts (for Faculty) Word Document
Peer Feedback on Reflective Writing Prompts (for Faculty) PDF
This worksheet provides examples of student reflections in need of feedback and guidance which you can use to practice providing feedback that helps students improve their reflective writing
This rubric was created as part of our ePortfolio Project. However, you can use or adapt it to assess reflective writing in ePortfolios
One type of academic writing is research abstracts, which are important distillations of academic research. In many fields, they are used as conference proposals, and they appear in journal articles to help readers understand the research and decide if they want to read further. Use these materials to better understand research abstracts and begin creating your own research abstracts.
Materials designed by Christopher Basgier, Layli Miron, and Megan Moeller
This handout introduces you to abstracts, or the summaries that typically begin a kind of research writing
This resource was designed to introduce readers to abstracts within the College of Human Sciences, in fields such as Nutrition, Hospitality Management, Consumer and Design Sciences, Human Development and Family Science, and Global Education
Writing Research Abstracts in the College of Human Sciences Handout and Worksheet Word Document
Writing Research Abstracts in the College of Human Sciences Handout and Worksheet PDF
This worksheet will help you analyze example abstracts from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds
Writing Effective Research Abstracts across the Disciplines Handout and Worksheet Word Document
Writing Effective Research Abstracts across the Disciplines Handout and Worksheet PDF
This worksheet features four abstracts accepted into Auburn’s 2018 Research Symposium, which you can analyze to identify the six components of an abstract
Scientific posters communicate research in a visually engaging way and can be paired with an oral presentation or audience discussion. Posters can be designed for other experts in your field or for interdisciplinary or general audiences who are outside of your field. In either case, it’s important to critically consider your audience, purpose, content, and layout. Use the resources below to plan, draft, and assess your scientific poster.
Materials designed by Katharine H. Brown, Amy Cicchino, and Carly Cummings
This handout will introduce you to scientific posters and analyze example posters
This worksheet will help you self-assess a draft of your scientific poster or gather feedback from a peer
The Writing SySTEM, a project funded by the National Science Foundation Innovations in Graduate Education program (award number 2224967), equips graduate student writers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields with the skills and resources needed to succeed in their writing projects. The materials in this section address some of the unique features and challenges of writing in STEM.
Materials designed in collaboration by Sushil Adhikari, Christopher Basgier, Katharine Brown, Jordan Harshman, Jeff LaMondia, and Russell Mailen
This handout will guide new and experienced researchers in how to effectively find relevant, peer-reviewed research publications using intentional search strategies and online databases.
There is no one “right” way to organize a thesis or dissertation, which is part of what makes writing one challenging. Use these resources to help guide you as you make decisions regarding organization structure and argument development for your thesis or dissertation. To learn more about formatting your thesis or dissertation, contact the Graduate School. Also check out our section on research writing.
Materials designed by G. Travis Adams and Carly Cummings
This brief handout explains the different parts of a thesis or dissertation
This handout guides students through the process of outlining and developing the sections of scientific theses and dissertations
As writers within the sphere of building science, building construction, construction engineering, and construction management, these handouts and worksheets can be utilized to help you effectively communicate in your discipline.
Materials designed by Muhammad Umer
This handout introduces various types of data visualizations, explains their expected data types, and offers tips to make these visualizations appealing.
Data Visualization Made Beautiful: Techniques and Best Practices Word Document
Data Visualization Made Beautiful: Techniques and Best Practices PDF
This handout complements the above handout, “Data Visualization Made Beautiful: Techniques and Best Practices,” and provides exercises to practice data visualization. It concludes with a self-test on the relevant concepts.
