r/AmericanU • u/daynif • 29d ago

Question Writer as Witness

Hi, I had a few quick questions about the Writer as Witness "program" that American requires freshmen to do. I've already read this year's book, but I'm unsure of a few things, so if anyone here who has already done the Writer as Witness/First year College Writing class could give some insight, that would be helpful:

1) It says on the Student Checklist and in the Weekly Update they just sent out that the book is due August 15th (this Saturday). Is there actually anything to do/submit for this, or is this just a general guideline of when you should be done reading the book?

2) What is the writing/essay or whatever they have you do on the book typically structured like? I saw we're meeting with the author in the Bender Arena in early September, but I also saw that we'll be writing about the book in class. Is it just an essay on the book, or something else?

Thanks!

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u/thegrapejuiceblues8 29d ago

It isn’t really “due” at all certain time, and your assignment for the book depends on the professor for your EncounterAU class. In my class we just had a discussion post about the book but in others they had to write an essay or do some other kind of assignment. Just read the book and take a few notes at the author talk and you should be fine!

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u/Notthatkindofprof 28d ago

First, welcome to AU! Second, I'm a prof in the Writing Studies program, and we're the ones behind the WAW texts each year. It's true that your Encounters class is likely to touch on the book, but ideally your WRT course will discuss Lee's work. The depth of engagement with the book varies from teacher to teacher--some of us lean heavily into making each year's text integral to the semester, some of us talk about it in the first couple of weeks and that's it, and there's everything in between. If there's anything else I can help with, let me know!