University of Minnesota
Department of Writing Studies
612-624-3445
writ@umn.edu


Department of Writing Studies home page.

News & Events

Events

    • The Erosion of Writing Skills
    • 12/04/2009 9:00 AM
    • Location: 125 Nolte Center for Continuing Education Teachers frequently make the claim that each generation of students gets progressively worse at writing.

News

  • Kim Thomas-Pollei to Serve on RSA Board

    Ph.D. candidate Kim Thomas-Pollei was elected to serve on the RSA board. Congratulations Kim!

    November 18th, 2009
  • Prof. Richard Graff to Present at CNES Colloquium

    'Vocal Stylings: The Orator's Voice in Classical Typologies of Prose Style'
    presented by Professor Richard Graff
    Department of Writing Studies

    ***Friday, November 20th, 3:30pm***
    110 Nicholson Hall

    Abstract: In this presentation, Professor Graff will discuss the close linkage between (verbal) style and voice in Greek and Roman treatises on rhetoric and literary criticism. This linkage takes two main forms. First, several authors (e.g., Aristotle, "Demetrius", Dionysius of Halicarnassus) remark on how certain stylistic features of the written oratorical text compel an animated (or monotonous) vocal presentation in reading or recitation; here, the text's style controls its manner of vocal delivery (speaking rate, intonation, etc.). Second, the style of individual orators was regularly characterized in terms of its fullness or weakness of "voice". Although this is a metaphorical use of the term, often such characterizations appear to project known (or presumed) qualities of a given speaker's actual, physical voice back onto the style of his texts. This latter procedure, though suspect on several levels, contributed both to the hardening of a traditional evaluation of the styles of Isocrates, Demosthenes, and other Attic orators, and to the evolution of the theory of style-types (kharakteres lexeôs, genera dicendi).

    This event is free and open to the public.

    Sponsored by:

    Classical and Near Eastern Studies
    University of Minnesota
    245 Nicholson Hall
    216 Pillsbury Dr SE
    Minneapolis, MN 55455

    P: 612-625-5353
    F: 612-624-4894

    cnes@umn.edu
    http://cnes.cla.umn.edu

    November 18th, 2009
  • Writing Studies Parlor: November 23rd

    Speaking Across the Disciplines:
    What Speech Pedagogy Can Teach Us About Writing

    Presented by Timothy Oleksiak

    A Department of Writing Studies Parlor Event
    Monday, November 23, 2009
    12.30 Nicholson Hall 345

    Please join us for discussion and refreshments

    November 17th, 2009
  • Interdisciplinary Studies of Writing (ISW) Research Colloquium

    The Center for Writing presents its second annual Interdisciplinary Studies of Writing (ISW) Research Colloquium this Friday, November 13. Three recent ISW grant recipients from across the disciplines will present the findings of their original research, and a lively discussion will follow. The colloquium will be held from 12:00-2:00 in 135 Nicholson Hall. Lunch will be provided for the first 30 people to register at http://writing.umn.edu/twwi.

    The three presentations are based on the following grants:

    Bridge Students Talk Back: Analyzing the Writing Component of the Summer Bridge Program
    Thomas Reynolds and Pat Bruch, Writing Studies

    Digital writing in a doctoral level pharmacotherapy course for physical therapy students
    Amy Pittenger, Pharmacy, Office of CyberLearning and Outreach

    Teaching discipline-specific writing to horticulture students using an online module
    Eric Watkins, Horticultural Science

    November 11th, 2009

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