Attached Courses
Barnard Writing Fellows consult with other undergraduates on the papers they write in Barnard courses across the curriculum. Writing Fellows are assigned only to courses whose instructors request them. The Writing Fellows assigned to any given course read and discuss students' first drafts. Students then revise their papers and hand in a second draft (with the first draft attached) to their professor for grading.
Unlike undergraduate TAs, Writing Fellows do no grading, nor do they in any other way take the place of the course instructor. They are educated readers; they are the peers of the students to whose work they are responding. They and their peers are engaged in collaborative learning.
For Students in Attached Courses
You will hand in first drafts of your writing assignment to your instructor, who will pass it on to your Writing Fellow. Your Writing Fellow will read your essay, write specific comments / questions in the margins, and provide feedback in the form of an endnote. After, your Writing Fellow will also meet with you for a 30-minute conference, giving you the chance to have an extended conversation about your paper.
We hope these conferences will help you to develop what you want to say and how best to say it, so that you will have a superior revision to submit to your instructor (along with your first version) by the final due date.
Writing Fellows will send a sign-up sheet for conferences through email or an announcement through Canvas. This usually happens around the week the first draft of your assignment is due.
Conference locations will be indicated on the sign-up sheet. Please note when and where you have scheduled your conference. Not all conferences with Attached Writing Fellows meet in the Writing Center.
Be sure to record your Writing Fellow's phone number and email address when you sign up for your conference in case you need to contact your fellow.
If you are in a course with attached fellows, it is a course requirement that you meet with your Writing Fellow to discuss your papers. You are entirely free to make your own choices about how much and what sort of revision you finally want to do.
Refer to your instructor’s and the Writing Fellow’s no-show policy by emailing them or looking in the course syllabus.
For Faculty
Writing Fellows are assigned to instructors who request them and require of their students two or three writing projects, spaced out evenly over the semester, with time allowed for revisions.
Writing projects might mean two to three short papers or one long paper submitted--and revised--in successive stages, or any other variation you might invent.
The Writing Fellows assigned to any given course read assigned first drafts written by students enrolled in the course and conference with each student about their draft for 30 minutes. Students then have a week to revise their papers, after which they hand in a second draft (with the first draft attached) to their professor for grading.
Writing Fellows have been/are attached to courses in Anthropology, Architecture, Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures, Biology, Comparative Literature, Economics, English, History, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Slavic, Sociology, Spanish, and Women's Studies.
If you would like to have Writing Fellows attached to your course, please be in touch with Pam Cobrin by e-mail (pcobrin@barnard.edu) or telephone (212.854.2724) before the semester begins.