S. Rose

English 680 Writing Program Administration

Fall 2003

Book Review or Nomination Letter for Council of WPAs Book Award

Some Notes on Expectations for those of you doing a review of a recent book on an issue(s) of concern for writing program administrators or writing a letter of nomination for the WPA book Award (two different course projects options)

Selecting the Book

One possible guideline for you to use in selecting an appropriate book would be to use the criteria for nominations for the Council of Writing Program Administrators’ “Best Book” award. Here’s an excerpt from the call for nominations:

. …The award will be given bi-annually to the author(s) or editors(s) of the best book addressing issues in administration of higher education writing programs, including first-year programs, undergraduate writing majors, advanced composition programs, technical/scientific/business/professional writing programs, writing across the curriculum, and writing centers.

…Nominated books will be evaluated for scholarship and research contributing to understanding writing program administration.…

For the book review, you might also consider reviewing a book for which WPAs are not the primary or only audience, but is of interest to them—a book on an issue in higher education, for example: on assessment, service learning, higher education change, etc. For an award nomination, the book must be centered on WPA issues.

Evaluating the Book's Contribution

You might address the criteria the book award committee developed:

. The Awards Committee developed the following criteria for selection:
1) The book addresses one or more issues of long-term interest to administrators of writing programs in higher education.
2) The book presents outcomes of the intellectual work of one or more writing program administrators.
3) The book discusses theories, practices or policies that contribute to a richer understanding of WPA work.
4) The book shows sensitivity toward the situated contexts in which WPAs work.
5) The book makes a significant contribution to the scholarship of writing program administration.
6) The book will serve as a strong representative of the scholarship of and research on writing program administration.

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