The Writing Program (WP) at Saint Louis University has striven to create a course that draws on a richer disciplinary understanding of writing and rhetoric. The standard course structure, from which instructors are asked to fashion their own syllabi, asks students to pursue a scaffolded semester-long project. As they pursue the scaffolded…

In this article we consider the ways in which college writers make use of prior knowledge as they take up new writing tasks. Drawing on two studies of transfer, both connected to a Teaching for Transfer composition curriculum for first-year students, we articulate a theory of prior knowledge and document how the use of prior knowledge can detract…

This author organized and taught the new ENG 09/111 classes at her college, as well as authoring the course text and workbook. English 09/111 offers a unique opportunity for students who are not quite ready for freshmen composition, but more than likely do not need an entire semester of developmental English. In this article, she details the…

In her recent "Teaching English in the Two-Year College" ("TETYC") article, Denise Marchionda argues for a grading system in her first-year writing course that turns over responsibility to students for earning grades. The approach, which she calls "the point-by-point grading system," is a variation on a contract grading approach in which each…

The treatment of a research paper as an isolated utterance within a composition classroom is problematic in that such papers may fail to encourage transfer of writing knowledge. In this essay, I argue that a research paper's failure to work as a utterance situated within a conversation--as critiqued through a framework constructed by Mikhail…

If I can show my literature students how Nabokov can take them from familiar representations of experience to representations of less familiar experiences, from a knowledge of the given world to an understanding of the world of the imagination, then, it seems to me, I ought to be able find some way of showing my composition students how to do it…

In this article, the author shares how efficient and effective Google Documents is for faculty seeking to engage students in inquiry-based, emergent, and primary research in first-year composition courses. The specific appeal of Google Documents is that it occupies a space between "open source"--defined by the Open Source Initiative as "free,…

As any reader of "About Campus" knows, binary oppositions contribute to the definitions of institutional types--the trade school versus the liberal arts college, for example. They help define disciplines and subdisciplines and the status differentials among them: consider the difference in intellectual cachet as one moves from linguistics to…

The author discusses his experience in a university project that led to the creation of a first-year writing text based on interviews with members of a local neighborhood. In particular, he analyzes the negative reaction that many of the community's residents expressed toward the text's portrayals of them. From the tensions that developed, the…

This article presents the techniques used by six teachers for their writing classes. To help her students get their topics on paper, Carrie DuPre instructs her students to call themselves on their cellphones and leave themselves a message on voice mail. Samm Erickson asks his students with laptops to be "the researchers" in their literature class.…

From freshman composition courses to high school exit exams, the term "critical thinking" is everywhere. The educationally ubiquitous term has been defined as criticism that combines research, knowledge of historical context, and balanced judgment. In theory then, critical thinking should be taught in virtually every course in the humanities. In…

Current theoretical conversations in the field of Rhetoric and Composition, particularly conversations related to first-year curricular design, are increasingly concerned with the issue of "teaching for transfer." While developing successful transfer pedagogy is a challenging undertaking, one that may require writing instructors to…

Peer-response remains a central process in first-year composition; faculty can make it effective and efficient by "spotlighting"--designing the process as digital, emergent, and distributive. In this article, the author first elaborates on his own use of peer-response terminology. He favors "peer-response" as the descriptive term for…

Narrates how one writing program administrator at a small private college implemented a portfolio assessment program in first-year writing courses. Describes the difficulties of developing a consensus regarding the criteria of good writing. Advocates the process of group interaction as a means of faculty development and collegiality. (HB)

Discusses and tries to define the basic differences between high school and college-level writing. Examines key assumptions of the Summer Writing Program at Carleton College along with the criteria used for determining whether students should receive writing course credit. Reveals contradictions in stated criteria and praxis. (HB)