It is generally accepted in the literature that writing assignments, even short ones, increase both student writing ability and comprehension of the material covered in the assignments. As class enrollments increase, particularly at the introductory level, however, instructors often sacrifice writing assignments because of the difficulty in…

This article will describe a writing assignment designed for use in a liberal arts college whose mission stresses effective written communication both within and across disciplines. In this assignment, students write three separate solutions to the same mathematics problem: one for a mathematical peer, a second for a contemporary that does not…

This column provides ideas and techniques to enhance your science teaching. This month's issue discusses planning and using interactive word walls to support science and reading instruction. Many classrooms have word walls displaying vocabulary that students have learned in class. Word walls serve as visual scaffolds to support instruction. To…

Communication is a critical skill for students to possess in preparation for college and their future careers. One way for students to communicate their ideas in all content areas is through writing. The English language arts portion of the Common Core State Standards (CCSSI 2010a) specifically states that students need to understand perspectives…

Much research shows that students do not transfer learning well from one class to the next. This study was designed to investigate if students were transferring rhetorical strategies from their disciplinary courses to advanced writing courses. The findings suggest that business majors not only transferred rhetorical knowledge from their other…

This study explores whether an extensive reading (ER) approach can enhance L2 learners' writing performance in an English for Academic Purposes context. Two classes were compared in terms of writing improvement after one semester: a 'traditional' writing class primarily focused on writing practice and grammar instruction, and an ER class in which…

The authors discuss a scholarship of teaching and learning project conducted in three first-year writing seminars of different disciplines. The goal was to introduce students to academic inquiry, which they define as the process of critically analyzing class materials, engaging with the larger body of knowledge on a topic, using evidence to…

In seeking a disciplinary literacy model that would enable students to express well-developed perspectives and argue contrasting views with the sound use of evidence, the authors developed a student-driven model that emphasized historical investigation, offered substance, and scaffolded reading and writing. To support their project, they created…

Source-based essays are evaluated both on the quality of the writing and the content appropriate interpretation and use of source material. Hence, composing a high-quality source-based essay (an essay written based on source material) relies on skills related to both reading (the sources) and writing (the essay) skills. As such, source-based…

This mixed method study compared how student teachers rated their ability in implementing components of content-area literacy compared to their clinical educators' perceptions of the student teachers' actual performance. The researchers collaborated with preK-12 clinical educators to develop a scaled survey to rate level of skill in four…

Being driven by the hypothetico-deductive mode of inquiry, previous studies have tested the effectiveness of theory-driven interventions under controlled experimental conditions to come up with universally applicable generalizations. To make a case in the opposite direction, this data-driven study aims at uncovering techniques and strategies…

Despite the emphasis on increasing the frequency with which students engage in analytic writing, we know very little about the "writing diet" of adolescents. Student notebooks, used as a daily record of in-class work, provide one source of evidence about the diversity of writing expectations that students face. Through careful…

This paper reports on the challenge of evaluating students' scientific literacy in a writing-to-learn context, as illustrated by our experience with an online science-writing project. In this mixed methods study, year 9 students in a case study class (13-14 year olds, n?=?26) authored a series of two "hybridised" short stories that…

To graduate high school fully prepared for college and the workforce, students need more than basic literacy skills. They need to master the distinct approaches to literacy that are used in academic disciplines such as science, mathematics, and history--as well as Career Technical Education courses. Many students still struggle to master more…

Writing centers can be staffed wholly or partially by tutors with little training in science writing. This article suggests that an emphasis on scientific rhetoric, not content, may be most useful for training tutors and developing handouts and checklists to aid novice science writers in invention and revision. The article also suggests that a…