Learning by Writing: A Primer on Writing Across the Curriculum

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"Busy professors don't have time to be writing instructors, and no one should expect them to be. Often they do spend time 'correcting' papers, however. That time could be better used in planning assignments and devising strategies for students to improve their work in progress, rather than dealing with writing disasters after they have occurred. If writing becomes part of the learning process--more than the testing and grading process--students can gain needed writing practice as they assimilate course content."

--Lois Barry, The Busy Professor's Travel Guide to Writing Across the Curriculum

Some Key Concepts

Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC). This means students write in all departments in order to learn course materials, as well as to demonstrate mastery of them. They write in ways that are characteristic of each department's discipline and educational goals, and they are taught by departmental faculty and instructors who know best what those goals are. It does not (necessarily) mean instruction in writing formal essays.

Formal vs. Informal Writing Assignments. Formal writing assignments require students to submit finished, polished pieces of writing (lab reports, research papers, literature reviews, book reviews, essays, etc.) that will be graded. Informal writing, by contrast, is ungraded writing that encourages preparatory, exploratory engagement in course materials. There are many kinds of informal writing, such as journals, microthemes, response papers, in-class worksheets, and course dictionaries.

Writing-Intensive Course. A course that features frequent formal and informal writing that is connected to the overall aims of the course; discussion of what constitutes good, appropriate writing in that course or discipline; and feedback from instructor to student several times during the term. The instructor will not (necessarily) see, and certainly will not mark, all the writing the students do. Assistance in designing these courses is available from the WAC coordinator.

"Product" vs. "Process." These terms identify and begin to define a major change in the ways writing is currently thought about. Emphasis on "product" assumes that the unassisted student thinks through (and perhaps researches) the paper topic (often a 15-page term paper submitted in the last days of class) and then writes it, producing a satisfactory and satisfying paper with a clear purpose and thesis and with appropriate illustrations, all in smooth and correct prose. The student characteristically receives no coaching about what the teacher expects, about what is appropriate for the particular discipline, why the paper needs to be written, or to whom. A few students and some professional writers flourish under this system. Most do not.

An emphasis on "process" acknowledges the kind of writing we faculty normally do: a problem poses itself (either sought after or, more usually, quite by surprise), notes are scribbled whenever a thought strikes us, alternative sentences are tried out on the way to work, drafting, clarifying our ideas as we draft, finding out what we mean near the end of the first or subsequent drafts, pacing up and down, showing drafts to colleagues, sending it off (is this messy sentence reminding you what writing is REALLY like?). Ideally, for any writing assignment, instructors find ways to guide the students through the process of thinking and writing about course materials.

Stages in the Process. Schematically, "process" has been divided into Prewriting (finding a usable topic, defining an audience, discovering ideas, coming up with a rough plan for the paper), Drafting or Writing (developing and organizing ideas in paragraphs and sentences), Revising ("seeing" the draft again, adding, deleting, rearranging, substituting), and Editing (smoothing out sentences, improving word choices, cleaning up mechanical matters). By segregating the stages, this scheme implies that one writes in that order only, whereas we know that all of these items, and more, work simultaneously when we write. It is useful, though, for faculty to recognize that writing involves many diverse activities and many often difficult choices as suggested by these stages; and it is helpful for faculty to design assignments in ways that allow (or even encourage) students to attend to these different stages. Providing opportunities for revision is one of the best ways for instructors to build "process" into assignments and to improve the writing that students do.

Draft Dates. These emphasize revision. Students usually learn more from writing, and papers are usually better if instructors assign a due date for a draft and collect a copy of that draft. The draft should be a version of the paper the student would be willing to hand in (avoid the term "rough draft"). Depending on how much time they have available, instructors either merely log the draft in as "submitted" or they can review it and provide feedback to students (which may range from merely skimming quickly for notable strengths or danger signs to thoroughly reading the entire draft and holding conferences.)

Talk about Writing in Progress and Peer Review. Good writers talk about their work while it is in progress. Instructors can create opportunities for students to discuss their topics with their peers (in pairs or small groups in or out of class) and with their instructors in brief conferences. Peer Review involves exchanging drafts between or among students for feedback. These exchanges require a set of guidelines or a questionnaire that directs the peer’s reading of the author’s paper in order to avoid simple responses of approval or disapproval, and to keep the peer from remarking only on mechanical matters such as grammar and spelling. Some of the advantages of peer review: authors face a real audience; they receive criticism, questions, and advice while their papers are still changeable and thus find direction for revision; and students see that they are not isolated in their struggle with writing.