CWR4B: Reading, Writing, and Research is writing seminar satisfies the second half (Part B) of the University of California's Reading & Composition Requirement. Offering students structured, sustained, and highly articulated practice in the recursive processes of reading, composing, and critical analysis, CWR4B guides students through the stages of creating a research paper, using section-specific themes to frame this work. The theme informing the research on this site is “Success Across the Curriculum: How Practitioners ‘Do’ Their Discipline.”
Throughout the semester, students in this section of CWR4B read scholarly articles representing disciplines across the curriculum, as well as books by field practitioners that target general audiences; students also attend on-campus panel discussions, faculty presentations, and department-sponsored colloquium to hear and see scholars share their work. Observing, analyzing, and discussing how practitioners "do" their discipline in a range of forums, students not only discover different ways of conducting and presenting research, but they become increasingly familiar with discourse conventions used within and across Areas of Study.
Students also discover that scholarly work seldom happens in a vacuum. Whether it's scholars referencing other practitioners to frame their own contributions, extending or challenging earlier studies in the field, or working with one or more individuals on a co-authored project, CWR4B students frequently comment on the implicit and explicit collaborative work that allows scholars to question, validate, dispute, and refine what the field already knows.
Students' understanding of what it means to "do" a profession is likewise enhanced by conducting research on what it means to be a writer-practitioner in their own field. Despite their efforts to model other scholars, students often discover that their questions could have been more focused, their research methods could have been more precise, and their path could have been more efficient. Such insights often come too late for students to (fully) integrate the lessons into their own projects; however by making their research available to others, CWR4B alumni—like established field practitioners—contribute to a growing collection of information that can help us all better understand and be more successful in the work we do.
All students in this section of the course are invited to share their research on this site. The work of students who accept this invitation appears on these pages.
Throughout the semester, students in this section of CWR4B read scholarly articles representing disciplines across the curriculum, as well as books by field practitioners that target general audiences; students also attend on-campus panel discussions, faculty presentations, and department-sponsored colloquium to hear and see scholars share their work. Observing, analyzing, and discussing how practitioners "do" their discipline in a range of forums, students not only discover different ways of conducting and presenting research, but they become increasingly familiar with discourse conventions used within and across Areas of Study.
Students also discover that scholarly work seldom happens in a vacuum. Whether it's scholars referencing other practitioners to frame their own contributions, extending or challenging earlier studies in the field, or working with one or more individuals on a co-authored project, CWR4B students frequently comment on the implicit and explicit collaborative work that allows scholars to question, validate, dispute, and refine what the field already knows.
Students' understanding of what it means to "do" a profession is likewise enhanced by conducting research on what it means to be a writer-practitioner in their own field. Despite their efforts to model other scholars, students often discover that their questions could have been more focused, their research methods could have been more precise, and their path could have been more efficient. Such insights often come too late for students to (fully) integrate the lessons into their own projects; however by making their research available to others, CWR4B alumni—like established field practitioners—contribute to a growing collection of information that can help us all better understand and be more successful in the work we do.
All students in this section of the course are invited to share their research on this site. The work of students who accept this invitation appears on these pages.