This article reports a study that examines the efforts of one school--Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania--to improve student writing in first-year learning communities by promoting so-called process-based writing pedagogy outside of writing classes. Administrators encouraged instructors of subject-matter classes to integrate the…

Early status reports on WAC call for engagement with the disciplines, robust research about writing, and a transformation from missionary work to a more wide-ranging model. A Taxonomy of WAC describes common characteristics of WAC programs as well as organizing those characteristics into a progression from initiation to change agency. (Contains 1…

In this dissertation, I use qualitative research methods to study relationships between compositionists and faculty in other disciplines in the context of cross-curricular literacy (CCL) work. Drawing on a two-year CCL project in the biology department, for which I was a participant observer, I argue that compositionists need to attend more…

Describes a collaborative writing project at Adrian College in Michigan. Students in a general chemistry class collaborated with those from a freshman writing course; the intention was to have students combine their talents to improve their ability to express scientific ideas in a clear and accurate manner. Discusses student reactions and…

Proponents of writing across the curriculum are quick to clarify that writing to learn is not the same as learning to write; but as flip sides of a single coin, the two support one another. Across-the-curriculum writing finds its merit in removing students from their passivity. Cross-curricular writing activities fall into two groups--expressive…

If the various academic disciplines are considered as cultures, with their own language, literature, behavior, and mode of discourse, then more and more the need of educated readers is to read across disciplines or multiculturally, and the goal of college writing teachers should be to encourage students' interdisciplinary reading. Respect for the…

Describes the design, implementation, evaluation and outcomes of using writing across the curriculum in a package of composition, history, and environmental science courses offered to 50 developmental writers attending the University of Minnesota's General College. Writing was taught as a learning strategy related to critical thinking and content…

The relationship between writing-across-the-curriculum (WAC) programs and the first-year writing program has always been a delicate one. Although some WAC requirements have been formalized, faculty participation in programs is still largely voluntary. At Cornell University (New York), for example, teachers must require at least 6 and no more than…

A writing across the curriculum program at Queensborough Community College in New York began its work on campus as Writing and Reading in the Technologies (WRIT) and chose to work with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology (ECET) department. The program's implementation was two-tiered. In Tier 1, over a period of three years, the WRIT…

This article is an account of a cooperative project to develop student writing within an interdisciplinary human sciences degree, in line with the 'Writing in the Disciplines' approach adopted in the USA that aims to develop student writing within mainstream teaching. The course tutor worked with a writing tutor to introduce a 'writing strand'…

Writing across the curriculum (WAC) programs had their genesis in grass-roots efforts to promote attention to writing in all disciplinary areas. At first based on generic faculty-development activities with little regard to systemic and institutional concerns, WAC programs are now more often engaged in assessment and research of writing,…

Originally developed as part of a project for the Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) system, this learning package on writing across the curriculum is designed for teachers who wish to upgrade or expand their teaching skills on their own. The package includes an overview of the project; a comprehensive search of the ERIC database; a lecture…

Designed to reveal the art and craft of composition and the principles that underlie good writing, this textbook focuses on how to improve students' writing and how to give students a sense of the contribution writing makes to any kind of learning. The 20 chapters of the textbook are divided into 5 parts: (1) "The Writing Experience";…

Reviews the history of writing across the curriculum programs and examines two instructional orientations, the general writing approach, which views writing as a unique tool for consolidating learning; and the discipline-specific approach, which focuses on the function or social purposes for writing. (DMM)

Describes a follow-up study of a University of Wyoming faculty development workshop on writing across the curriculum to assess its impact on teaching roles. Compares gatekeepers (e.g., teachers control classroom discourse and enforce the discipline's conventions) and border crossers (e.g., teachers invite students to direct discourse, and create…