PLEASE EXCUSE ANY DUPLICATIONS, AS THIS IS BEING MAILED TO MULTIPLE GROUPS! I am Dr. Randall Hansen of Stetson University, and I need your participation in an important survey of how writing is used in the college curriculum. I am asking that you either use the questionnaire format found in this email or visit the survey web site (http://www.stetson.edu/~hansen/survey.html), and return your responses to me via email or snailmail as soon as possible. I will gladly send you copies of the results, which will also be published in a chapter of a new book to be published by Ten Speed Press. Thank you so much for your help. Please feel free to contact me with questions, concerns, etc. And if you want a paper copy of this survey to complete, please email me at [log in to unmask] --Dr. Randall Hansen ******************************************************************************* Writing Survey Directions: Please take a few minutes to read and complete the following questionnaire. Your answers, along with those of your colleagues from around the country, will be aggregated to develop a composite picture of professors' views on the importance of writing in the curriculum. Section I: Basic Writing Information 1. On average, how many writing assignments do you require of your students per semester/quarter? ______________________________ 2. How heavily are writing assignments weighted in determining final grades? _____ More heavily weighted than exams. _____ Equally heavily weighted with exams. _____ Less heavily weighted than exams. _____ Writing assignments are the sole means of determining final grades. _____ Other (please specify)___________________________ 3. The exams you give are (approximately): _____ all essay _____ half essay; half objective _____ a third essay; two-thirds objective _____ two-thirds essay; one third objective _____ some exams are mostly essay; others are mostly objective _____ other (please specify)___________________________ Section II: About Your Writing Assignments 1. Please check all the following categories of writing assignments that are typical of what you generally require: _____ Term/Research papers _____ Reports _____ Summary Essays _____ Journalistic writing _____ Response Essays _____ Public Relations writing _____ Synthesis Essays _____ Speeches _____ Rhetoric/Argumentation _____ Journal entries _____ Essays employing an original _____ Creative writing, argument using sources fiction, short stories, _____ Expository writing about poetry literature _____ Other (please specify)__________ ________________ ____________ 2. Please rate the following errors that students make when writing academic papers, specifically evaluating each error on how likely it is to influence you to reduce the student's grade. Please rate each error on the following scale: #1 being an extremely serious error students make, and #7 being a less serious error. a. _____ poor organization b. _____ failure to adequately support theses c. _____ little evidence of adequate research d. _____ little evidence of understanding the topic e. _____ inadequate citation of sources f. _____ sentence fragments g. _____ run-on sentences h. _____ comma splices i. _____ complex/confusing sentence structure j. _____ short, choppy sentences, paragraphs k. _____ poor or nonexistent transitions l. _____ misplaced and dangling clauses, phrases m. _____ nonagreement of subject and verb n. _____ verb tense changes o. _____ overuse of passive voice p. _____ lack of parallelism q. _____ vague or unclear pronoun reference r. _____ overuse of empty, meaningless modifiers (e.g. very, really) s. _____ incorrect word usage (e.g. affect vs. effect) t. _____ overuse of cliches u. _____ overuse of jargon v. _____ use of non-inclusive and/or sexist language w. _____ wordiness x. _____ misspellings y. _____ typos and sloppiness z. _____ failure to follow a particular academic writing style aa. _____ poor punctuation bb. _____ improper capitalization cc. _____ poor vocabulary dd. _____ paper is too short ee. _____ paper is too long ff. _____ Other (please specify______________________________ _____ Other (please specify______________________________ _____ Other (please specify)_____________________________ _____ Other (please specify)_____________________________ 3. From the list of errors in question 2, please provide the five most frequent errors your students make in their writing assignments: Most commmon__________(supply letter) Second-most common__________________(supply letter) Third-most common__________________(supetter) Fourth-most common__________________(supply letter) Fifth-most common__________________(supply letter) 4. If applicable, please indicate the formula you use to determine a student's grade on an individual paper (e.g. content -- 50%, style -- 50%): ______________________ -- ______% ______________________ -- ______% ______________________ -- ______% ______________________ -- ______% 5. _____ Please indicate on a scale of 1 to 7 (where 1 is extremely important and 7 is not important), how important you believe writing skills are for **academic** success. 6. _____ Please indicate on a scale of 1 to 7 (where 1 is extremely important and 7 is not important), how important you believe writing skills are for **career** success. 7. If you could offer students who are preparing to complete a writing assignment one piece of advice, that advice would be: ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ 8. Do you have any additional comments concerning student writing? ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ Section III: Demographic information 1. Number of years you've been teaching:___________years 2. Subjects/courses you currently teach: ___________________________________________________________ 3. Your rank:___________________________________ 4. Your college/university is: _____ public/state _____ private/independent 5. Your college/university enrolls approximately __________ students. 6. You have an average off _________ students in each class. ************Thank you for your time and thoughtfulness!************ Dr. Randall S. Hansen Department of Marketing School of Business Stetson University DeLand, FL 32720 (904) 734-1747 E-mail: [log in to unmask]