What is Writing to Learn?

Contents

Getting Started

Why include writing in my courses?

What is writing to learn?

WTL Activities

What is writing to engage?

What is writing in the disciplines?

WID Assignments

Useful Knowledge

What should I know about rhetorical situations?

Do I have to be an expert in grammar to assign writing?

What should I know about genre and design?

What should I know about second-language writing?

What teaching resources are available?

What should I know about WAC and graduate education?

Assigning Writing

What makes a good writing assignment?

How can I avoid getting lousy student writing?

What benefits might reflective writing have for my students?

Using Peer Review

Why consider collaborative writing assignments?

Do writing and peer review take up too much class time?

How can I get the most out of peer review?

Responding to Writing

How can I handle responding to student writing?

How can writing centers support writing in my courses?

What writing resources are available for my students?

Using Technology

How can computer technologies support writing in my classes?

Designing and Assessing WAC Programs

What is a WAC program?

What designs are typical for WAC programs?

How can WAC programs be assessed?

More on WAC

Where can I learn more about WAC?

When we consider how Writing across the Curriculum (WAC) has been implemented at a range of universities, we see that writing assignments generally fall into one of two categories: writing to learn (WTL) and writing in the disciplines (WID). A third category, writing to engage (WTE), falls between the two more commonly used types of writing assignments.

Please note that teachers can combine these categories and assign writing that meets the goals of each. More often, however, teachers choose to focus on one of these types of writing.

Generally, writing-to-learn activities are short, impromptu or otherwise informal and low-stakes writing tasks that help students think through key concepts or ideas presented in a course. Often, these writing tasks are limited to less than five minutes of class time or are assigned as brief, out-of-class assignments.

Because writing-to-learn activities are crucial to many WAC programs (because they best meet teaching goals through writing), this guide presents a great deal of information on writing to learn (WTL), including a detailed rationale, examples, and logistical tips.

A Fuller Definition of Writing to Learn

Theoreticians and practitioners alike agree that writing promotes both critical thinking and learning (See Adams, 1973; Applebee, 1985; Britton et al., 1975; Bruner,1975; Emig,1977; Herrington, 1981; Odell,1980; and Parker, 1985 in the citations below.) As Toby Fulwiler and Art Young (1982) explain in their "Introduction" to Language Connections: Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum:

Writing to communicate—or what James Britton calls "transactional writing"—means writing to accomplish something, to inform, instruct, or persuade.... Writing to learn is different. We write to ourselves as well as talk with others to objectify our perceptions of reality; the primary function of this "expressive" language is not to communicate, but to order and represent experience to our own understanding. In this sense language provides us with a unique way of knowing and becomes a tool for discovering, for shaping meaning, and for reaching understanding. (p. x)

In "Writing to Learn Means Learning to Think," Syrene Forsman (1985) makes the same point, but she directs her attention not to a theoretical justification but a practical rationale for writing to learn:

As teachers we can choose between (a) sentencing students to thoughtless mechanical operations and (b) facilitating their ability to think. If students' readiness for more involved thought processes is bypassed in favor of jamming more facts and figures into their heads, they will stagnate at the lower levels of thinking. But if students are encouraged to try a variety of thought processes in classes, they can, regardless of their ages, develop considerable mental power. Writing is one of the most effective ways to develop thinking. (p. 162)

The Consequences of Writing by Robert P. Parker and Vera Goodkin (1987) is an especially good early resource on writing to learn. Following a detailed discussion of the theoretical links between language (especially writing) and learning, these authors outline projects that focus on writing in entomology, clinical nursing, psychology, and mathematics, all with similar results: students learned key concepts and understood material more fully while also practicing some features of discourse for the specified discourse community. Thus, writing to learn can have additional positive effects in helping students mature as effective communicators even though the initial goal is to help students become better learners.

Examples of Writing-to-Learn Activities

Writing-to-learn activities can happen frequently or infrequently in your class; some can extend over the entire semester; some can be extended to include a wide variety of writing tasks in different formats and to different audiences. Use the list below to read more about writing-to-learn activities.

Using Technology with WTL Activities

If you teach in a computer classroom, if students can bring laptops or tablets to class, or if students have easy access to computers outside of class, WTL activities of all sorts can be adapted for in-class writing.

What Kinds of WTL Tasks Can Be Carried Out in a Computer-Supported Classroom?

  • Summarize and respond to readings
  • Summarize key points from prior class
  • Pose problems based on class material
  • Clarify unclear points in reading or class
  • Plan writing or speaking projects
  • Discover potential audiences
  • Practice format for assignments and projects
  • Record observations over time
  • Define key terms
  • Record round-robin comments for inductive learning
  • Organize group-response sheets
  • Capture peer review of drafts in progress

For additional ways to use technologies to support WTL, see How might computer technologies support students' writing in my classes?

Alternatives for Evaluating WTL Assignments

Because they are informal and often impromptu, writing-to-learn activities aren't marked for correctness. Rather, teachers or classmates quickly read the writing for a general sense of what students understand and don't understand.

Because most teachers cannot read through and comment on every WTL activity students complete, we suggest the following alternatives:

  • Use an occasional WTL warm-up at the beginning of class as a "quiz." Pick up a single sheet of paper or glance at a computer screen and comment briefly on students' grasp of a reading assignment or key concepts.
  • Pick up WTL material from five-ten students every day or every other day. Don't read every word, but skim quickly to identify tasks students might need help with—a reading that bogged down in class discussion, a page that has very little written, a page that has lots written.
  • Use different colored pens or highlighters to note points in selected entries. One color means "good idea," one means "consider pursuing this idea as a paper topic," another means "come back to this idea again and explore it in more detail," and so on.
  • While students are writing at the beginning and end of class, walk around the room and read over shoulders. This technique is especially easy if you have students writing on computers. Stop to talk to or jot a note on the writing of 3-4 students. If students don't like having you read over shoulders, ask them to select a few recent WTL activities and put those to one side for you to collect and read quickly.
  • Ask students to select their best or most provocative WTL writing for you to review.
  • Ask students to share WTL activities with one or two classmates.
  • Ask students to send the WTL writing that contains questions about course material to you over e-mail.
  • Ask students to post provocative questions or summary/analysis of readings on an electronic bulletin board or Web forum for class comment.

Logistical Tip: Always have students use loose-leaf paper, not a spiral bound notebook. Students might misplace some of their writing, but teachers can much more easily pick up single pages to review.

Beyond the Basics

The literature now available on writing-to-learn or writing-to-engage practices is deep and broad, encompassing far more than a brief bibliographic essay can accurately capture. Let me offer instead two pieces of advice - consult the more general resources noted here on low-stakes or writing-to-learn activities and look at the journals in your discipline that take up teaching issues. Those journals are most likely to include articles that situate writing-to-learn and writing-to-engage activities in the courses you might find yourself teaching. The articles themselves will glean from the robust resources to point you toward those titles that will best fill in background you might find helpful.

We collect below titles from across disciplines to offer some potential starting points, most from 2005-2012. We have organized the resources in two tables to cluster articles by discipline and then by writing activity. Please note, however, that disciplinary titles here point to writing to learn rather than writing in the disciplines (or writing to communicate) titles that are included in the WID section of this resource. All titles refer to the list of Works Cited that follows the tables.

Titles sorted by broad disciplinary focus

General

Anderson, 2010

Badley, 2009

Black, 2008

Blevins-Knabe, 1987

Bowie, 2012

Cisero, 2006

Ellis, Taylor & Drury, 2007

Gump, 2010

Hughes, 2008

Jackson, 2010

Jones, 2010

Krause-Jensen, 2010

Liu, 2006

Melzer, 2009

Miyazoe & Anderson, 2011

Ponte, 2006

Shafer, 2012

Simmons, L., 2008

Stead, 2005

Ventis, 1990

Veri, Barton, Burgee, Davis, Eaton, Frazier, Gray, Halsey & Thurman, 2006

Wade, 1995

Watts & Burnett, 2012

Wolfe, C.R., 2010

Wolfe, J., 2011

Yang, Yeh & Wong, 2010

Arts/Humanities

Browning, 2011

Coe, 2011

Festa, 2009

Gillette, 2006

Hamilton & Gilbert, 2005

Hynd, Holschuh & Hubbard, 2004

Mulnix & Mulnix, 2010

Rivers, 2006

Rose, 2012

White, Wright-Soika & Russell, 2007

Business

Carnes, Jennings, Vice & Wiedmaier, 2001

Harter & Quinlan, 2008

O'Halloran & Deale, 2004

Stevens, 2005

Education

Alvine, 2001

Doll, Kereakoglow, Rahkika Sarma & Hare, 2008

Galer-Unti, 2002

Gallavan, Bowles & Young, 2007

Hellman & Rowland, 2008

Holliway, 2009

Hourigan & Murray, 2010

Simon, 2007

Street & Stang, 2009

Tynjala, 1998

Walker, 2006

Wheeler & Wheeler, 2009

STEM

Ablin, 2008

Allain, Abbot, & Deardorff, 2006

Armstrong, Wallace & Chang, 2008

Bahls, 2012

Balgopal & Wallace, 2009

Balgopal, Wallace & Dahlberg, 2012

Blevins-Knabe, 1987

Bobich, 2008

Carnegie, 2012

Chamely-Wiik, Haky & Galen, 2012

Cheng, Pare, Collimore & Joordens, 2011

Clark, 2010

Coles, 1991

Cooper, 2012

Cunningham, 2007

Danielson, 2010

Defazio, Jones, Tennant & Hook, 2010

Doty, 2012

Drabick, Weisberg, Paul & Bubier, 2007

Franz, 2012

Gladding & Cox, 2008

Goodman, 2005

Guill, 2006

Habre, 2012

Halsor & Faul-Halsor, 1991

Hauk & Isom, 2009

Hosten, Talanova & Lipkowitz, 2011

Jolley, 1990

Kalman & Rohar

Killingbeck, 2006

Kirkland, 1997

Lakin & Wichman, 2005

Libarkin & Ording, 2012

Lie, Shapiro, Cohn & Najm, 2010

McDermott & Hand, 2010

McDonnell, Ennis & Shoemaker, 2011

McMillan & Raines, 2010

Moni, Moni & Poronnik, 2007

Polizzotto & Ortiz, 2008

Quitadamo & Kurtz, 2007

Radmacher, 1995

Reilly & Strickland, 2010

Reynolds, Thaiss, Katkin & Thompson, 2012

Rich, Miller & DeTora, 2011

Schwartz, Lederman & Crawford, 2004

Seto & Meel, 2006

Sharp, Olds, Miller & Dyrud, 1999

Simmons, S.R., 2008

Staats & Batteen, 2009

Stanesco, 1991

Stewart, Myers & Culley, 2010

Stout, 2010

Theoret & Luna, 2009

Turner & Broemmel, 2006

Ventis, 1990

Wandersee, Clary, & Guzman, 2006

White, 2007

Social Sciences

Brewer & Jozefowicz, 2006

Cavdar & Doe, 2012

Centellas, 2010

Fouberg, 2000

Frank, 2006

Gordy & Perry, 2005

Holtzman, 2005

Hooey & Bailey, 2005

Horton & Diaz, 2011

Hudd & Bronson, 2007

Kebede, 2009

Malcolm, 2006

Massengill, 2011

Messinger, 2004

Mott, 2008

Nesoff, 2004

Pressman, 2008

Reynolds, 2010

Rusche & Jason, 2011

Walmsley & Birkbeck, 2006

 

 

Titles sorted by type of writing activity or outcome emphasized

 

Journals

Brewer & Jozefowicz, 2006

Cisero, 2006

Coles, 1991

Doll, Kereakoglow, Rahkika Sarma & Hare, 2008

Fouberg, 2000

Hooey & Bailey, 2005

Jolley, 1990

Nesoff, 2004

Schwartz, Lederman & Crawford, 2004

Seto & Meel, 2006

Sharp, Olds, Miller & Dyrud, 1999

Stanesco, 1991

Theoret & Luna, 2009

Walker, 2006

Minute Papers

Drabick, Weisberg, Paul & Bubier, 2007

Seto & Meel, 2006

Stead, 2005

Stewart, Myers & Culley, 2010

Biography/Autobiography

Alvine, 2001

Kebede, 2009

Seto & Meel, 2006

Stout, 2010

Walmsley & Birkbeck, 2006

Personal Response

Anderson, 2010

Balgopal, Wallace & Dahlberg, 2012

Black, 2008

Brewer & Jozefowicz, 2006

Clark, 2010

Frank, 2006

Gladding & Cox, 2008

Gordy & Peary, 2005

Hughes, 2008

Kalman & Rohar, 2010

Messinger, 2004

Moni, Moni & Poronnik, 2007

Rusche & Jason, 2011

Shafer, 2012

Simmons, S.R., 2008

Wandersee, Clary & Guzman, 2006

Critical Response

Ablin, 2008

Balgopal & Wallace, 2009

Browning, 2011

Clark, 2010

Festa, 2009

Gillette, 2006

Guill, 2006

Gump, 2010

Hauk & Isom, 2009

Holtzman, 2005

Kalman & Rohar, 2010

Lakin & Wichman, 2005

Liu, 2006

Malcolm, 2006

Massengill, 2011

Messinger, 2004

Mott, 2008

Pressman, 2008

Reilly & Strickland, 2010

Rose, 2012

Rusche & Jason, 2011

Tynjala, 1998

Blogs

Cooper, 2012

Hourigan & Murray, 2010

Miyazoe & Anderson, 2011

Discussion Forums

Cheng, Pare, Collimore & Joordens, 2011

Cooper, 2012

Miyazoe & Anderson, 2011

Theoret & Luna, 2009

Podcasts

Bowie, 2012

Jones, 2010

Letters

White, Wright-Soika & Russell, 2007

Ethnography

Hamilton & Gilbert, 2005

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Palmquist, M., Rodrigues, D., Kiefer, K., and Zimmerman, D. (1995). Enhancing the audience for writing across the curriculum: Housing WAC in a network-supported writing center. Computers and Composition, 12, 335-353.

Parker, R. P. (1985). The language across the curriculum movement: A brief overview and bibliography. College Composition and Communication, 36, 173-177.

Parker, R. P., & Goodkin, V. (1987). The Consequences of Writing: Enhancing Learning in the Disciplines. Upper Montclair, NJ: Boynton/Cook.

Polizzotto, K., & Ortiz, M.T. (2008). Design projects in human anatomy & physiology. American Biology Teacher, 70(4), 230-234.

Ponte, L.M. (2006). The case of the unhappy sports fan: Embracing student-centered learning and promoting upper-level cognitive skills through an online dispute resolution simulation. Journal of Legal Studies Education, 23(2), 169-194.

Pressman, J. (2008). The Arab-Israeli conflict and the case of the lemon tree. International Studies Perspective, 9(4), 430-441.

Quitadamo, I.J., & Kurtz, M.J. (2007). Learning to improve: Using writing to increase critical thinking performance in general education biology. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 6(2), 140-154.

Radmacher, S.A. (1995). Summary writing: A tool to improve student comprehension and writing in psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 22(2), 113-115.

Reilly, J.T., & Strickland, M. (2010). A writing and ethics component for a quantum mechanics, physical chemistry course. Journal of College Science Teaching, 39(4), 35-41.

Reynolds, J. (2010). Writing in the discipline of anthropology—theoretical, thematic and geographical spaces. Studies in Higher Education, 35(1), 11-24.

Reynolds, J.A., Thaiss, C., Katkin, W., & Thompson, R.J., Jr. (2012). Writing-to-learn in undergraduate science education: A community-based, conceptually driven approach. CBE Life Sciences Education, 11: 17-25.

Rich, J., Miller, D., & DeTora, L. (2011). From concept to application: Student narratives of problem-solving as a basis for writing assignments in science classes. Across the Disciplines, 8. https://wac.colostate.edu/atd/articles/richetal2011

Rivers, M. (2006). The faces of distortion. Communication Teacher, 20(2), 57-60.

Rose, M. (2012). "Object Lesson": Using family heirlooms to engage students in art history. Art Education, 65(4), 47-52.

Rusche, S.N., & Jason, K. (2011). "You have to absorb yourself in it": Using inquiry and reflection to promote student learning and self-knowledge. Teaching Sociology, 39(4), 338-353.

Russell, D.R. (1990). Writing across the curriculum in historical perspective: Toward a social interpretation. College English, 52, 52-73.

Schwartz, R.S., Lederman, N.G., & Crawford, B.A. (2004). Developing view of nature of science in an authentic context: An explicit approach to bridging the gap between nature of science and scientific inquiry. Science Education, 88(4), 610-645.

Seto, B., & Meel, D.E. (2006). Writing in mathematics: Making it work. PRIMUS, 16(3), 204-232.

Shafer, G. (2012). On spooky stories, the war and "This I Believe." Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 39(4), 398-406.

Sharp, J.E., Olds, B.M., Miller, R.L., & Dyrud, M.A. (1999). Four effective writing strategies for engineering classes. Journal of Engineering Education, 53-57.

Simmons, L. (2008). What would Freud say to Voltaire? The use of dialogues in survey courses. Inquiry, 13(1), 56-64.

Simmons, S.R. (2008). "Knowing our place and time": Memoir as pedagogy. Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education. 37: 1-7.

Simon, L. (2007). Expanding literacies: Teachers' inquiry research and multigenre texts. English Education, 39(2), 146-176.

Staats, S., & Batteen, C. (2009). Context in an interdisciplinary algebra writing assignment. Journal of College Reading and Learning, 40(1), 35-50.

Stanesco, J.D. (1991). The personal journal as a learning and evaluation tool in geology field-trip courses. Journal of Geological Education, 39: 204-205.

Stead, D.R. (2005). A review of the one-minute paper. Active Learning in Higher Education: The Journal of the Institute for Learning and Teaching, 6(2), 118-131.

Stevens, B. (2005). The car accident: An exercise in persuasive writing. Communication Teacher, 19(2), 62-67.

Stewart, T.L., Myers, A.C., & Culley, M.R. (2010). Enhanced learning and retention through "writing to learn" in the psychology classroom. Teaching of Psychology, 37(1), 46-49.

Stout, R.P. (2010). "Hello, I'm Carbon": Writing about elements and compounds. Journal of Chemical Education, 87(11), 1163-1165.

Street, C., & Stang, K.K. (2009). In what ways do teacher education courses change teachers' self-confidence as writers? Teacher Education Quarterly, 36(3), 75-94.

Theoret, J.M., & Luna, A. (2009). Thinking statistically in writing: Journals and discussion boards in an introductory statistics course. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 21(1), 57-65.

Turner, T., & Broemmel, A. (2006). Fourteen writing strategies. Science Scope, 30(4), 27-31.

Tynjala, P. (1998). Writing as a tool for constructive learning: Students' learning experiences during an experiment. Higher Education, 36(2), 209-230.

Ventis, D.G. (1990). Writing to discuss: Use of a clustering technique. Teaching of Psychology, 17(1), 42-44.

Veri, M.J., Barton, K., Burgee, D., Davis, J.A., Jr., Eaton, P., Frazier, C., Gray, S., Halsey, C., & Thurman, R. (2006). Etched impressions: Student writing as engaged pedagogy in the graduate sport management classroom. Quest, 58(4), 443-464.

Wade, C. (1995). Using writing to develop and assess critical thinking. Teaching of Psychology, 22(1), 24-28.

Walker, S.E. (2006). Journal writing as a teaching technique to promote reflection. Journal of Athletic Training, 41(2), 216-221.

Walmsley, C., & Birkbeck, J. (2006). Personal narrative writing: A method of values reflection for BSW students. Journal of Teaching Social Work, 26(1-2), 111-126.

Walvoord, B.E. (1992). "Getting started." In McLeod, S.H., and Soven, M. (Eds.), Writing across the curriculum: A guide to developing programs. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Wandersee, J.H., Clary, R.M., & Guzman, S.M. (2006). A writing template for probing students' botanical sense of place. American Biology Teacher, 68(7), 419-422.

Watts, J., & Burnett, R.E. (2012). Pairing courses across the disciplines: Effects on writing performance. Written Communication, 29(2), 208-235.

Wheeler, S., & Wheeler, D. (2009). Using wikis to promote quality learning in teacher training. Learning, Media and Technology, 34(1), 1-10.

White, A.M., Wright-Soika, M., & Russsell, M.S. (2007). Epistolary connections: Letters as pedagogical tools in the introductory women's studies course. Feminist Teacher: A Journal of the Practices, Theories, and Scholarship of Feminist Teaching, 17(3), 204-224.

White, H.B. (2007). The eyes have it: A problem-based learning exercise in molecular evolution. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 35(3), 213-218.

Wolfe, C.R. (2011). Argumentation across the curriculum. Written Communication, 28(2), 193-219.

Wolfe, J. (2010). Rhetorical numbers: A case for quantitative writing in the composition classroom. College Composition and Communication, 61(3), 452-475.

Yang, Y., Yeh, H., & Wong, W. (2010). The influence of social interaction on meaning construction in a virtual community. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(2), 287-306.

Young, A., and Fulwiler, T. (1986). Writing across the disciplines: Research into practice. Upper Montclair, NJ: Boynton/Cook.

Additional Resources

For a more complete bibliography, go to http://www.iub.edu/~cwp/lib/wacgen.shtml and to the WAC Bibliography on the Clearinghouse.