Presents an interview with Richard Rorty. Notes that Rorty's views may surprise some compositionists: "social constructionism" does not refer to any intellectual movement he is aware of; social constructionism does not share the same fundamental assumptions as new pragmatism; writing across the curriculum is a terrible idea; and there…

Annotates 44 references focused on the theories behind writing-across-the-curriculum programs and on how these theories are implemented in actual practice. Excludes discussions of specific classroom techniques and uses of writing in particular disciplines. (RAE)

Suggests the concept of convention provides a basis for teaching the cross-curricular writing course. Describes an experimental freshman writing course which focused on the written discourse of five disciplines: art history, history, biology, literature, and philosophy. (RAE)

Presents Martin Greenspan's four-stage (preparatory, incubation, illumination, and verification) model of the creation of new thought. Argues that this model provides a way of seeing, identifying, and understanding features of writing to learn and learning to write that other composition theories have not permitted. (RS)

Explores the dialectical analysis of ideological formation formulated by Goran Therborn. Draws on Therborn's analysis to discuss, present dilemmas, and speculate about the futures of writing across the curriculum programs. Develops three arguments concerning these programs based on Therborn's theories. (HB)

Examines three phases of linguistics' influence on writing instruction. Suggests that the production of context-independent, explicit texts is too narrow a goal and that helping students imitate speech in their writing is a proper goal for an advanced composition class. (RAE)

Describes a writing course which shapes sequence and response to do justice to the potentially superior student writer. Emphasizes balancing and integrating reading and writing assignments; encouraging revision as an opportunity to think; optional conferences; and peer evaluation. (RAE)

Asserts that the conventions of academic writing are not obvious to faculty, and must be even more mysterious to students. It is therefore properly the business of the academy to teach the academy's forms of writing. (MS)

Proposes a continuum of lines of inquiry applicable to many of the human sciences. Illustrates the continuum by discussing the approaches of Sigmund Freud, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim. Suggests uses of the continuum as an aid to invention and as a method of analysis. (RAE)

Offers a research-based pedagogy for teaching writing in advanced economics courses. Argues that teachers should recognize that writing can influence their students' learning in content courses. (MS)

Isolates the variable of research writing as a means of defining an "advanced composition program." Concludes that advanced composition courses should focus on specialized writing. (MS)

Recommends that as college faculties of all disciplines become more concerned with the quality of their students' writing and seek assistance of composition faculties in improving it. The need for a common vocabulary for defining "good" writing, diagnosing problems, and recommending teaching methods is apparent. (RAE)

Suggests two shifts in perspective that will help turn writing across the curriculum courses toward aim and away from mode as a central organizing principle. Suggests a theoretical shift from "mode" to "topic" and a practical shift from single to plural textuality, combining several textual paradigms as demonstrated in the…

Reports on a national survey examining the current institutional situation of "advanced composition" courses. Finds (1) doubt about the institutional future of such courses; (2) a wide variety of course content and points of focus; (3) theoretical divisions among teachers of such courses; and (4) positive perceptions of the relationship…