Valerie Lehr, Gender Studies
Interviewed by
Det Thammavongsa
Could you describe your writing process to me?
In Dr. Lehr's training in high school and college, all work had to be handwritten because computers and typewriters were not in wide use. This affects her writing process because she begins by doing extensive reading and gaining more knowledge on the topic, and when actually writing, she prefers to starts off on paper. Few of her initial thoughts are lost when they are written down on paper, and even if a sentence or paragraph is crossed out and omitted at one point, it is still there if she decides to use it later. Computers have worked their way into her writing process, allowing her to do more drafts, more efficiently, but she still prefers to start off the process writing by hand, a product of her training.
What kinds of writing do you assign students in Gender Studies/Government courses?
She assigns topics associated with political theory and issues dealing with the family. Assignments might be brief response papers, reviews, or argument papers.
What sets the approach to writing in your department apart from that of other departments?
Dr. Lehr says writing in gender studies courses is definitely not like science writing but more like literary criticism.
What kinds of things do you look for in student writing?
She stresses the importance of a certain type of thought process as something she looks for in student writing: the "integration of ideas," either ideas brought up in class or in several assigned readings incorporated into student writing. Longer sentences usually signify an integration of ideas, whereas the form of short sentences may prohibit thought. A secondary element Dr. Lehr looks for is correct grammar.
Do you encourage students to hand in rough drafts or other early drafts?
She encourages but doesn't require doing multiple drafts. As a writer herself, she's able to organize most of the content inside of her head, but putting it down on paper requires many drafts before it is how she likes it. She believes constant revision is necessary and gaining more feedback is a must.