Presentation:

What is “meaningful” writing instruction? Is the generic “research report” or mid-term essay really of value in advancing student writing or understanding course content?

Writing in the Disciplines (WID) offers a valuable approach to university-wide initiatives regarding writing instruction. Its defining feature is its “play” on the synergy between writing and content instruction. Getting away from the idea of writing as teaching “English” (proper comma placement, grammar & editorial training), WID instead uses research faculty’s expertise in the workplace in different fields to activate students’ growth as writers and “apprentices” in the field. The goals of writing instruction then become field/genre specific, with good WID classes furthering course content goals.

To illustrate the effectiveness of apprentice-oriented courses, session leaders and participants examined briefly several WID courses at Duke University, including courses in disciplines as varied as Dance, Public Policy and Biology). Together, they looked at how text formats such as policy memorandums, professional book reviews, and research grants can be used in writing classes as examples for students to learn about writing and writing processes and to demonstrate authentic writing models. The features and qualities of these models, including how the models relate to the intellectual work of the field and to reader expectations, are valuable sources of discussion in the WID class context, and can be contrasted to other types of writing. A scientific letter to an editor, for example, has different formal requirements than a research article or a grant proposal. In one exercise taken from a political science course, students were asked to write a role-playing memorandum that responds to the question, “Should the president meet with a human rights activist who is agitating to change US policy on Sudan? This exercise illustrates how students may be asked to approximate some type of apprenticeship writing done by those in the field, by a novice writer. Several other examples demonstrated how WID students can be exposed to the kinds of writing models in which professionals actually engage, for example, going through actual revisions of figures/figure legends in an original research publication in the field of chemistry to illustrate the process of getting a paper published). These writing models have a context within the course. In addition, students can be assigned a writing model with a context outside the course, for example by communicating to a larger audience. Assignments of this nature might include writing a letter to an editor or publishing a book review—exercises that will yield them insights into different modes of writing as well as different formats.

Discussion:

Session participants were split into groups, and asked to identify types of writing they themselves engage in as professionals. Which formats could they readily imagine assigning as a student project? Why do some of these seem like a good fit? Why do some of these seem like a poor fit? In looking at what would or would not be successful, the groups discussed the value of breaking down larger formats such as the research paper into smaller, more manageable projects, for example, focusing on writing an abstract, or a results or discussion section, rather than a large research paper. They also discussed the relative merits of “writing up” v. “writing down” in various models, for example, writing a memo to the boss vs. writing a critique/review from the position of the expert.

Finally there was a brief discussion of the following:

• What kinds of writing will students do after graduation?
• What is the value of practice in scholarly forms of writing?
• What is the value of students learning to write in a field that they do not pursue?
• How should levels of student preparation influence the types of writing that might be assigned?

Session participants agreed that writing instruction and content instruction can be unified when students are challenged to write as “apprentices” in the fields and disciplines they are studying.
At the same time, they noted that WID courses (even with reasonable course caps) require significantly more effort on the part of instructors. They emphasized that faculty support and rewards and a supportive infrastructure (e.g. writing centers, course caps, faculty consultants) are critical to sustaining the type of writing in the disciplines initiative undertaken at Duke University

Recommendations:

For Individual Campuses

• In order to engage and motive faculty to become involved in WID courses, universities must institute faculty incentives and rewards. Enrollments in WID courses at Duke University, for instance, are usually capped at 15 and instructors of such courses are often provided with graduate assistants. Duke faculty are also eligible for course development funds for the design of WID courses.

For The Reinvention Center

• There are increasing models of Writing in the Disciplines courses at Duke University and elsewhere. Great interest was expressed in making more widely available a bibliography which would include model assignments in a range of disciplines, sample syllabi, etc. to assist with institutions undergoing major revisions of the general writing curricula.
  

References/Resources:

Supplemental Materials

Session handouts