Across the Disciplines, a refereed journal devoted to language, learning, and academic writing, publishes articles relevant to writing and writing pedagogy in all their intellectual, political, social, and technological complexity. Across the Disciplines shares the mission of the WAC Clearinghouse in making information about writing and writing instruction freely available to members of the CAC, WAC, and ECAC communities.
The Power of Relevant Models: Using a Corpus of Student Writing to Introduce Disciplinary Practices in a First Year Composition Course, Jack A. Hardy, Emory University, Ute Römer, and Audrey Roberson, Georgia State University.
DOI: 10.37514/ATD-J.2015.12.1.01
In attempts to find appropriate and authentic materials for students who are developing their academic writing skills, instructors often turn to works written by professional academics. However, genres such as published research articles and textbooks in specific disciplines may not be the most suitable models for what first year composition writers are expected to produce. This article demonstrates how a corpus of successful student writing across disciplines, the Michigan Corpus of Upper-level Student Papers (MICUSP), can function as a useful and relevant tool in a discipline-specific, genre-based reading and writing course.
Issue 2 (July through December)
Featured Article:
Is WAC/WID Ready for the Transdisciplinary Research University?, Justin K. Rademaekers, West Chester University of Pennsylvania
DOI: 10.37514/ATD-J.2015.12.2.02Over the past two decades, academic and research institutions increasingly moved toward a transdisciplinary model of knowledge production where collaborations occur among disciplines with seemingly divergent methods and ideologies. The author reviews some of the common communicative barriers that emerge in transdisciplinary and radically interdisciplinary collaborations, and argues that as institutional investments in transdisciplinarity become more tangible, researchers and teachers of disciplinary writing should rethink some approaches to writing to learn pedagogy in WAC/WID.Review:
A Review of WAC and Second Language Writers: Research Towards Linguistically and Culturally Inclusive Programs and Practices, Terry Zawacki and Michelle Cox, 2014. Fort Collins, CO: The WAC Clearinghouse & Parlor Press, [ISBN 978-1-60235-504-0. 482 pages, including index. (PDF at wac.colostate.edu/books/perspectives/l2/ and print).]
DOI: 10.37514/ATD-J.2015.12.2.03A book review by Alisa Russell, George Mason University (Published October 27, 2015)
Writing instruction, support, and research often focus on undergraduate students, but graduate students need instruction and support, both formally and informally, and bring their own complex identities into liminal academic spaces, too. Historically, writing instruction has been pushed to the margins in academic disciplines, especially for graduate students who are often expected to be expert academic writers of a variety of specialized genres—such as academic articles, conference proposals and papers, and grant applications. Since disciplinary communities "have rarely integrated systematic writing instruction into their curricula to initiate the neophytes consciously into the written conventions of a particular field" (David Russell, 2002, p.17), graduate students seek out university resources, activities or other thirdspaces (Edward Soja, 1996, and/or Rhonda Grego & Nancy Thompson, 2008) offered outside their departments, such as writing center consultations, writing groups, and writing workshops, and often develop their own "underground" support systems. This special issue of ATD seeks to bring together discussions, strategies, programs, and courses that all address different ways of meeting the diverse writing needs of graduate students.
Guest editors: Marilee Brooks-Gillies, Elena G. Garcia, Soo Hyon Kim, Katie Manthey, and Trixie G. Smith, Michigan State University
Performing and visual arts programs across the country ask students at all levels to write about the artistic domains they inhabit. From undergraduates taking introductory arts courses, to MFA students writing theses and academic journal articles, thousands of students nationwide are creating and performing art—witnessing an array of creative processes, performances and exhibitions—and attempting to write about their experiences. This special issue delivers articles from contributors who explore connections between the teaching and learning of writing and the performing and visual arts in the classroom or studio, in writing centers, and elsewhere across the disciplines. Thirteen authors energetically perform theoretical and literature-review focused pieces, case studies, and innovative multimodal hybrid webtexts.
All told, contributors offer ideas and experiences that are thoughtful and thought provoking, artful and inspired by artists. With no further ado, please raise the curtains and let the shows begin…
Guest editors: Steven J. Corbett, George Mason University, and Betsy Cooper, Hunter College
Note: If you would like to serve as guest editor for a special issue, or if you would like to suggest a topic for a special issue, please contact Michael Pemberton, editor, at michaelp@georgiasouthern.edu or (912) 478-1383.