Mini-lessons
The Brooklyn College Writing Fellows have developed a number of mini-lessons on various aspects of the writing process. Each of these lessons lasts approximately 30 minutes and is easily integrated into courses in all disciplines. Each link below includes a lesson plan, hand-outs and suggestions, allowing you to adapt the lesson directly into your own course. If you would like to request a Fellow to present a mini-lesson to your class, please contact the WAC coordinators.
Avoiding Plagiarism
Students will learn the definition of plagiarism and how to avoid it. They will complete a short quiz on plagiarism to show mastery of the skill.
Summarizing Sources
Students will learn how to summarize an article and identify the best summary during a brief exercise.
Summary versus Analysis (pdf)
Students will learn to identify assignments that require analysis and receive guidelines for developing analysis of a text.
Academic Diction (pdf)
Students will learn how to employ appropriate academic diction in their own writing.
Interview as Instrument for Peer Review (pdf)
Students will learn how to use the interview as a technique to hone in on a topic and generate a thesis statement.
Thesis Statements (pdf)
This lesson will provide students with a working definition of a thesis statement while also helping them to acquire techniques that will aid them in constructing their own thesis statements.
Thesis Statements and Essay Organization for Philosophy (pdf)
This lesson, designed for a philosophy course, focuses on thesis statements and essay organization.
Thesis Statements and Textual Analysis (pdf)
This lesson looks at thesis statements for an assignment that requires close reading or textual analysis.
Writing a Literature Review (pdf)
This lesson shows students how to write a short literature review essay for disciplines in the social sciences and humanities.
Organizing Essays (pdf)
Students will learn several strategies for organizing short, persuasive essays in response to a particular assignment. This lesson emphasizes the usefulness of developing strong arguments as part of the writing process.
Note-taking / Literature Mapping
This lesson aids students in improving their reading comprehension, navigating difficult materials, and finding citations and quotes when writing papers.
