My research is largely centered on issues in higher education writing pedagogy—especially in the sciences. I am interested in how faculty who are not specifically trained in writing pedagogy can best help their students (1) learn the writing and related reading and research skills in their disciplines; (2) develop a mature understanding of writing as a complex practice that requires feedback and revision, awareness of and sensitivity to context, and so on; and (3) negotiate their way through the confusing and often inconsistent expectations of writing assignments in their different courses. I am particularly interested in two aspects of writing pedagogy: how writing assignments can be crafted to best engage students in the intellectual task and empower students to write from the position of authority needed to execute scholarly and professional discourse; and modes of feedback that encourage substantial, thoughtful revision and yet are reasonably efficient and acceptable for instructors.
- Keywords:
- Writing in the Disciplines, Writing Across the Curriculum, feedback, audio feedback, science labs
- Current projects:
- The Duke Reader Project
- student use of reader feedback
- student writing in the science lab
- Recent Publications
- Cary Moskovitz, Introducing Students to College Writing: Moving beyond Humanities-Centered Practices, Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture, vol. 11 no. 1 (Winter, 2011) [abs].
- Kathryn A. Wood, Cary Moskovitz, Theresa M. Valiga, Audio Feedback for Student Writing in Online Nursing Courses: Exploring Student and Instructor Reactions, Journal of Nursing Education, vol. 50 no. 9 (September, 2011), pp. 540-3 [abs].
- Cary Moskovitz, The Duke Reader Project: Engaging the University Community in Undergraduate Writing Instruction, Liberal Education, vol. 94 no. 3/4 (Summer/Fall, 2011), pp. 48-53 [abs].
- Cary Moskovitz, Reader Experts Help Students Bring the Write Stuff, The Chronicle of Higher Education (May 27, 2011).
- Cary Moskovitz and David Kellogg, Inquiry-Based Writing in the Laboratory Course, Science, vol. 332 no. 6032 (May 20, 2011), pp. 919-920 [abs].