Writing Plan Phases
Collecting Baseline Data
First Edition Writing Plan
Second Edition Writing Plan
Third Edition Writing Plan
Legacy Writing Plan
  • phase completed
  • phase in-progress

The School of Kinesiology, located in the College of Education and Human Development, provides foundational education in exercise science, movement science, and social behavioral sciences with all requiring proficient communication skills within the context of the particular field. The school’s three undergraduate majors (Kinesiology, Physical Activity and Health Promotion, and Sport Management), enroll close to 500 undergraduate majors.  The school, its course offerings, and students’ career pursuits are interdisciplinary and involve collaborative partnerships with medicine, neuroscience, epidemiology, business, education, and social sciences.

School of Kinesiology Writing Plan

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Writing in the School of Kinesiology

Students enrolled in the School of Kinesiology’s three majors anticipate professions requiring effective communication to academic, professional, and lay audiences. Thus, in each major, students gain experience conveying complex, often technical, data to readers with varied levels of technical experience.

Writing Abilities Expected of Kinesiology Majors

The School of Kinesiology’s faculty generated the following list in response to the question, “With which writing abilities should students in this unit’s major(s) graduate?”

  1. Use writing to develop critical thinking skills.
  2. Describe and analyze movement and physical activity.
  3. Synthesize and interpret complex data.
  4. Apply scientific data to real-world situations and practical problems.
  5. Apply scientific research to personal experience.
  6. Read journal articles for essential content and subsequently critically review literature to provide appropriate interpretation.
  7. Demonstrate an understanding of scholastic ethics by integrating appropriate sources (paraphrasing, quoting, summarizing, and citing).
  8. Use APA format for structure, organization, and citations.
  9. Communicate with specific audiences (lay, scientific, professional) by addressing the audience’s specific contexts.
  10. Develop effective written, visual, and oral presentation skills.
  11. Use technology appropriate for communication (e.g. presentation software, graphing software, and design software).

Menu of Grading Criteria Used in Kinesiology Courses

School of Kinesiology faculty developed the following menu of grading criteria from which instructors and each major can select and adapt relevant items.

The text…

  1. Describes research studies related to movement and/or physical activity.
  2. Analyzes the relative strengths and limitations of research studies’ representation of movement and/or physical activity.
  3. Synthesizes complex data from multiple research studies.
  4. Interprets complex data, so that its meaning and use is clear.
  5. Applies scientific data to real-world situations and/or practical problems.
  6. Demonstrates an understanding of scholastic ethics by integrating appropriate source information (paraphrasing, quoting, summarizing, and citing).
  7. Correctly uses basic APA format for citing.
  8. Demonstrates students’ ability to write to specific audiences (lay, scientific, professional) by addressing the audience’s specific contexts.

Highlights from the Writing Plan

The School of Kinesiology was an early adopter of the WEC program and has participated in several cycles of implementing and evaluating undergraduate writing in multiple courses. Corresponding goals and the next phase of activities are currently being developed. Traditional writing activities and writing intensive courses are supported. New resources, for example, writing tips for graduate instructors, are being identified and implemented.