Freshman Common Writing Experience
*The Common Writing Experience*
Deadline Extended to Friday, August 25
Please contact Kaley Schoeph if you have questions about the assignment.
The common writing experience is required of all students participating in Freshman Connections. This essay assignment is administered online through InQsit. Once submitted, essays will be evaluated by a team of trained readers according to specific evaluation criteria.
*All students participating in Freshman Connections are expected to complete this assignment, regardless of current placement in the Writing Program or prior credit (AP, dual-credit, transfer, or other) for one or more Writing Program courses; if you've received such credit, you will still receive credit for those courses.
PROCESS
- READ: You must read the Freshman Common Reader (Where Am I Wearing?) first. You may wish to take notes or to highlight interesting or important passages.
- PREPARE: You may do this by writing a summary and response to the text, discussing the text with others, or doing additional research on your own. Please review the EXPECTATIONS for the Common Writing Assignment.
- WRITE: Once you’ve finished reading the text, you may log in to the writing test on InQsit at any time beginning July 15 and before August 15. *Be sure you have a strong, reliable internet connection.* When you log in, you will receive a prompt asking you to compose an essay on one of two specific questions, ideas, or issues raised by the book. You will have two hours to complete the assignment, so be sure that you have sufficient time and are ready to write when you log in. We recommend composing your essay in a word processing program (such as Microsoft Word) so that you can save and keep a copy of your work; you can copy and paste your finished essay into the text-response space on InQsit by using the "Edit" tab on your browser's menu bar. If you experience any difficulty submitting your essay or lose your internet connection and cannot log back in, e-mail your completed essay to Kaley Schoeph immediately.
*For problems with your Ball State username and password, please contact the HelpDesk.*
The system is structured to assign different questions during different time periods. You may log in to a given time period only once; if you log in and log back out, you will have to wait until the next available time period to log in again. You may log in to the assignment a total of two times (two different time periods, once each). To log in a third time, or for ANY other questions or problems, contact Kaley Schoeph. Remember that you need to complete the assignment only once.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
You will need your Ball State username and password to log in.
You should have your copy of the text (Where Am I Wearing?) handy, as well as a dictionary. You may also have any notes or practice writing you’ve done, and blank paper for notes, outlines, brainstorming ideas, etc.
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
If you need a disability accommodation for this assignment, please contact the Disabled Student Development office at 765-285-5293.
Once you enter your username and password, you will be officially logged in and must complete the assignment within two hours.
Helpful Links
Kelsey Timmerman's website and blog
Information and Resources
Study Questions
Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities
Student Academic Ethics Policy
The OWL at Purdue (for APA and MLA citation guidelines)