The Daily Bulletin Archive

A successful college career depends in large part upon a student’s ability to employ the language of the higher-education community. That language is not simply good writing; it is a particular kind of writing. The College Writing Program has revamped the traditional composition courses to help students develop the necessary skills.

“Nearly all Buffalo State students take at least one of the two courses we teach,” said Michele Ninacs, interim director of the College Writing Program. Those courses, CWP 101 and CWP 102, formerly were taught through the English Department.

“The trend in the field [of college writing] is moving toward teaching students to write for the academy,” explained Ninacs.

Students are placed into either CWP 101 or CWP 102 based primarily on standardized test scores. In CWP 101, students are introduced to what Ninacs called “the vocabulary of academic discourse,” which enables them to write the kind of papers their professors expect.

“It is really a way of enculturating students into the academic community,” she said. “As students learn academic writing, they move from seeing themselves as students to recognizing that they are scholars and partners in their own educations.”

In CWP 102, students learn to conduct research and to develop research papers. Ninacs’s students conduct surveys and interviews through which they learn the process of engaging in academic research as well as the skills involved in writing a paper.

The College Writing Program has about 35 instructors, five of whom are full-time lecturers. In addition to teaching the composition courses, faculty members staff the Writing Help Center in E. H. Butler Library 214. There, students can ask for help with research or writing on a walk-in basis.

Students who score below 400 on the SAT’s language section are assigned to CWP 099, which is taught through Academic Support Programs (ASP).

“We offered six sections of CWP 099 this fall,” said Roswell Park IV, director of ASP. “Many of our students speak English as a second language. We keep the classes small so that we can offer a guided and directed program that meets their needs and prepares them for CWP 101.”

All students must complete two additional writing-intensive courses to graduate. Professors who teach these courses—designated by a W—use writing as a learning tool.

Other programs that help students develop their writing skills include the Educational Opportunity Program and the Student Support Services Program. Students also have access to tutors through the Writing Center in Ketchum Hall, where students who have been trained to serve as tutors help fellow students.

The Academic Skills Center is staffed by professionals who provide tutoring services as well. Tom Renzi, the center’s coordinator of tutorial services, said, “Most of the students who use our services are A and B students. They come because they know that tutoring will help them maintain their grades.”