UMass Lowell First Year Writing Program

Everyone knows English majors can’t get jobs. Except the employers who hire them. - The Boston Globe College kids — and their parents — think a humanities degree is useless. But businesses want students who can write and think critically.

Write Night is coming!

Now, this is scary! 🧟‍♂️🧟‍♀️

https://www.gocomics.com/the-bent-pinky

Great things are happening within the First-Year Writing Program!

First-year Writing Classes Get Creative The First-year Writing Program is changing things up by offering service-learning and research experiences. Honors College students explore and write about Lowell, while other students can choose their own level in College Writing, including the intensive “studio” option.

College Writing students were celebrated for demonstrating excellence in writing. Four awards were handed out along with honorable mentions. Congratulations, students!

Feel free to tag yourself.

Summer Session tutoring is available at the Writing Center! Visit the Writing Center website to schedule an appointment to discuss your writing process. Tutoring will be available on Mondays 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., throughout Summer Sessions I and II.

The Writing Center | UMass Lowell The Writing Center at UMass Lowell (3rd Floor, O'Leary Library) offers free writing support to all writers in the UMass Lowell community. Undergraduate peer tutors are available to work one-on-one with you on any stage of a writing assignment, for any writing project. If you need help brainstorming,...

First-year Writing students, are you finishing up end-of-semester papers? The Writing Center is open on a drop-in basis during Finals Week for peer tutoring support. No appointment needed -- just bring your drafts to The Writing Center on the 3rd Floor of O'Leary Library for workshopping. The Finals Week schedule is:
Monday, May 2: 10:00am - 8:00pm
Tuesday, May 3: 10:00am - 3:00pm, 4:00pm - 8:00pm
Wednesday, May 4: 10:00am - 6:30pm
Friday, May 6: 10:00am - 2:00pm

First-Year Writing Program students are welcome to attend UML's 2016 Student Research & Community Engagement Symposium on Tuesday, April 19. This event will be held in the ICC from noon to 5:00pm and is a great opportunity to learn about student research in every discipline! For more details, visit the Symposium website, linked below.

Student Research & Community Engagement Symposium | UMass Lowell

College Writing 2 students, are you using archival records in any projects this semester? This article mentions/links you to a few useful archives as part of a larger discussion about The Freedmen and Southern Society Project.

Born as a slave in Norfolk, Virginia on February 29, 1840, William H. Carney escaped through the Underground Railroad, and found his father living in Massachusetts. In February 1863, Carney joined the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry as a Sergeant. The regiment was one of the first official African-American units in the United States during the Civil War. He took part in the July 18, 1863, assault on Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina. (This battle was dramatized in the 1989 film "Glory.")

In "The Black Military Experience," from the Freedman and Southern Society Project (supported by the NHPRC), there is an account of the battle from Lt. Col. E.N. Hallowell:

"With Col. Shaw leading, the assault was commenced. Exposed to the direct fire of cannister and musketry and as the ramparts were mounted, the havoc made in our ranks was very great.

Upon leaving the ditch for the parapet, they obstanetly contested with the bayonet our advance. Notwithstanding these difficulties the men succeeded in driving the enemy from most of their guns, many following the enemy into the Fort. It was here upon the crest of the parapet that Col. Shaw fell; here fell Capts Russel and Simpkins; here were also most of the officers wounded. The Colors of the Regt reached the crest, and were there fought for by the enemy. The State Flag then torn from its staff, but the staff remains with us. Hand Grenades were now added to the missels directed against the men."

The Massachusetts 54th suffered 272 killed, wounded or missing out of the 600 in the battle. Hallowell singled out Carney and three other men for special merit. After being wounded, Sgt. Carney saw that the color bearer had been shot down a few feet away. Carney summoned all his strength to retrieve the fallen colors and continued the charge. During the charge Carney was shot several more times, yet he kept the colors flying high. Once delivering the flag back to his regiment, he shouted "The Old Flag never touched the ground!"

In May 1900, nearly 37 years after the battle, Carney received the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The Freedmen and Southern Society Project was established in 1976 to capture the essence of that revolution by depicting the drama of emancipation in the words of the participants: liberated slaves and defeated slaveholders, soldiers and civilians, common folk and the elite, Northerners and Southerners. For more information, go to http://www.freedmen.umd.edu/index.html

Library of Congress! Archival research! BASEBALL! What other primary-source treasures can you find in the LoC's Digital Collections?

Library of Congress on Instagram: “Sharon Robinson, daughter of baseball legend Jackie Robinson,... “Sharon Robinson, daughter of baseball legend Jackie Robinson, looks over sheet music for Arthur Clark's "Jackie Robinson" song during a visit to the…”

On the importance of structure, in *any* composition: "My work as a sculptor has trained me to write... When I start a piece I work it from all directions. I jump back and forth from section to section in no particular order. I leave broad ideas and impressions everywhere. I make notations and draw charts. I don’t write in complete sentences. I don’t bother with spelling, and I don’t fuss with exacting language. Readers will sense if I’ve crafted my dialogue before establishing the architecture of my characters and the dynamics between them. They will know if I’ve constructed my scenes before my story line was complete."

Structure: What Writers Can Learn from Visual Artists | The Ploughshares Blog Structure: What Writers Can Learn from Visual Artists Posted on February 10, 2016 by Annie Weatherwax in Writing, Writing Advice and tagged anatomy, arc, character development, composition, construction, craft, details, dynamic, foundation, painting, relationships, sculpture, story line, structure,…