What is a “capstone” event?
The first of the stated objectives of first-year writing instruction at The George Washington University is to help our students develop the “capacity for critical reading and for analytic thinking that examines assumptions and evidence, in both scholarly texts and informed public commentary.” The symposium is one among several UW20 “capstone” initiatives that aim to provide students with the opportunity to combine these capacities through publicly presented scholarship. (Our annual online anthology, Euonymous, brings together a selection of the most compelling thinking and writing produced by first-year writing students in the fall semester. And our Student Lecture Series creates a public forum for select current and former UW20 students who demonstrate a high level of commitment to their writing, whose writing demonstrates critical thinking and intellectual engagement, and whose writing creates an opportunity for members of the GW community to see writing as a public event and writer
