The Community Writing Project

The Community Writing Project in PWR is one of the oldest service-learning programs in writing and rhetoric in the nation. PWR instructors selected to teach CWP-designated sections, advised by the Community Writing Project Coordinator, choose from the many participating community non-profit and governmental agencies the ones that best match their specific course goals and themes. Students in PWR 1 or PWR 2 classes with a CWP component research and produce written, spoken, visual, and/or multimedia projects that directly benefit the agencies with which they work. These projects give students opportunities to put rhetorical principles to work in real world community settings, developing broad-based skills in research while performing public service. Students’ CWP projects frequently become their first published works.

While most assignments in CWP-designated sections are completed for academic audiences, CWP students also produce an array of practical documents and presentations for community audiences. In PWR 1 courses with CWP designations, at least one major academic assignment is replaced by a community writing assignment. CWP students in PWR 1 may research and write newspaper or newsletter articles, web pages, brochures, fact sheets, training manuals, teaching materials, or grant proposals. CWP students in PWR 2 may produce, in addition to written documents, spoken, video, or multimedia projects for the agencies with which they work, and up to half of their coursework may be community-based. Most community projects in PWR 1 and all projects in PWR 2 require field and probably archival research in addition to library and Web research. Some CWP projects are individually accomplished; many are undertaken collaboratively with peers.

Instructors interested in CWP sections should contact Carolyn Ross, the Community Writing Project Coordinator, at cbross@stanford.edu.