Wasley, Paula. “Research Yields Tips on Crafting Better Syllabi.” Chronicle of Higher Education, vol. 54, no. 27, 14 Mar. 2008, pp. A11.

In the article “Research Yields Tips on Crafting Better Syllabi,” Paula Wesley suggests that “many professors don’t give much thought to what students take away from their syllabi . . . [they] may want to borrow a page of two from a few researchers who have formally pondered the question” (A11). Wasley supports her suggestion by providing evidence from various professors and their research. Her purpose is to give suggestions to professors in order to help them craft better syllabi for their courses that are more helpful to students. She directs her article to professors who may or may not think that the content of their syllabi matters to students. As a student and possible future teacher, I found the tips to be useful in some respects; however, I didn’t agree with the section titled “Assert Your Authority”. I agree that it’s good to give students clear guidelines on what the expectations are for both the students and the professor, but the the idea of authority is what made me hesitate. It’s complicated though, because professors are an authority in some way, and if you don’t have some some appearance of authority, it could result in students not taking you seriously.