As part of an NSF grant, the Campus Writing and Speaking Program has been studying thousands of peer reviews, generated through a digital peer review system, to see the extent to which certain key terms and concepts “transfer” from first-year writing (where they are learned) into STEM courses. In this session, Chris Anson and Kendra Andrews will share several analyses of data from NC State and another university that is part of the grant. Reporting on one set of studies, Chris will show what happened when a corpus of “key terms” generated from a survey of nearly 500 writing experts was applied to student peer reviews in first-year composition and STEM courses. In another set of studies, Kendra will share the results of a focus analysis of student peer review comments in upper-level STEM courses at NC State. Both presenters will add complexity to current theories of transfer of writing ability across disciplinary and other contexts.

Please bring a lunch!