WAC Bibliography

1. Addison, Joanne; Sharon James McGee. (2010). Writing in high school/writing in college: Research trends and future directions. College Composition and Communication 62.1, 147-179.

Annotation: Outlines major large-scale writing research projects done within the ten years preceding article publication. Using student responses to the National Survey of Student Engagement’s (NSSE) 'writing-specific' questions, Addison and McGee identified five scales that 'describe the quality of undergraduate writing and establish that certain types of writing are substantially related to NSSE’s deep learning subscales, especially higherorder thinking and integrative learning,' through investigating: pre-writing activities, instructor articulation of clear expectations, the assignment of higher-order writing tasks, good instructor practices such as student collaboration, sample review and opportunities for writing practice, and evidence of student use of integrated media like the inclusion of visual content in their writing. Upon comparison of the aggregate data from the studies referenced above using these five scales, Addison and McGee found that college and high school faculty across the curriculum only diverged in their practices in terms of assigning higher-order writing tasks and using integrated media . Yet, college faculty tended to provide fewer opportunities for peer review and 'informal, exploratory' writing. Alternately, student and teacher as well as instructor-workplace perceptions and expectations about writing were far less congruent. In response, calls for the following future actions: the creation of 'WAC-centered vertical curriculum' between high schools and colleges that concretely emphasizes the transfer of skills related to not only essay but also narrative and critical research-based writing , including interdisciplinary rhetorical analysis and workplace genres; the establishment of future research partnerships between large organizations like NSSE and WPA jointly guided by the Committee on Research and Committee on Professional Visibility and Databases within CCCC; and the formation of an online repository by NCTE/CCCC to archive the raw data and tools used in writing studies as a resource for upcoming research and advocacy efforts [Rachel E. H. Edwards, Alignments and Alliences: Smoothing Students' Transitions from High School English to First-Year College Writing, WPA-CompPile Bibliographies, No. 20]

Keywords: writing-studies, school-college, articulation, literacy, WAC, scale, deep learning, curriculum, workplace, genre, best-practices, academic, research-method, future, trend, National Survey of Student Engagement’s (NSSE), WPA Committee on Research and Committee on Professional Visibility and Databases, CCCC, data repository, digital, rhetorical-analysis, interdisciplinary, trend

2. Adler-Kassner, Linda; Robert Crooks; Ann Watters (Eds.). (1997). Writing the community: Concepts and models for service-learning in composition. Washington, DC: American Association for Higher Education; Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English [ERIC Document Reproduction Service, ED 449 729.

Annotation: '[T]he first collection of essays explicitly connecting service learning and Composition studies' (Deans, Writing Partnerships, 2000, p.13). Adler-Kassner et al. highlight the benefits of combining service learning and composition for academic and nonacademic communities; review institutional barriers to implementing and sustaining effective service learning initiatives; and underscore the need to continue theorizing service learning. Contributors consider the implications of service learning for composition theory and pedagogy, university-community relations, higher education, and civic engagement. They also report on implementation of institution-specific programs, and they invite critical reflection and experimentation with service learning in Composition. The collection includes an annotated bibliography on community service and Composition. [David Stock]. [Rebecca Lorimer & David Stock, Service Learning Initiatives: Implementation and Administration; WPA-CompPile Research Bibliographies, No. 13].

Keywords: community, service-learning, pragmatic, civic literacy, WAC

3. Bazerman, Charles. (1988). Shaping written knowledge: The genre and activity of the experimental article in science. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.

Annotation: Traces the history and character of the experimental article in science, calling attention to the social and rhetorical forces that shaped its development. The book provides a broadly interdisciplinary exploration of an important genre and offers insights that extend far beyond its immediate focus of study. This book is available online as part of the Academic Writing series, Landmark Publications in Writing Studies. [WAC Clearinghouse]

Keywords: science-writing, genre, history, science, research-report, activity-theory, constructivist, knowledge-making, term-paper, experimental, WAC, academic, interdisciplinary

4. Bazerman, Charles; David Blakesley; Mike Palmquist; David Russell. (2008). Open access book publishing in writing studies: A case study. First Monday 13.1-7. https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2088/1920

Annotation: The publication of scholarly books has been shaped strongly in recent decades by two factors: assessments by publishers of the potential market for books and the influence of publisher's reputations on tenure and promotion decisions. This article reflects on the choices made by a group of senior scholars in the field of composition and rhetoric as they conceived of and published an open access book on activity theory and writing and, subsequently, published an open access book series in the area of rhetoric and composition. The implications of open access book publishing for access to scholarly work and tenure–and–promotion decisions are considered.

Keywords: open-access, publishing, writing-studies, WAC Clearinghouse, history, Parlor Press, Reference Guides to Rhetoric and Composition, scholarship, readership, circulation, future, epublication, sustainability

5. Bazerman, Charles; Joseph Little; Lisa Bethel; Teri Chavkin; Danielle Fouquette; Janet Garufis. (2005). Reference guide to writing across the curriculum (Reference guides to rhetoric and composition). Fort Collins, CO: WAC Clearinghouse; West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press. https://wac.colostate.edu/books/bazerman_wac/

Keywords: WAC, review-of-scholarship, history, write-to-learn, science-writing, rhetoric, disciplinary, assessment, program, needs-analysis, bibliography

6. Bloom, Lynn Z.; Donald A. Daiker; Edward M. White (Eds.). (2003). Composition studies in the new millennium: Rereading the past, rewriting the future. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.

Keywords: history, pedagogy, pedagogy, English-profession, FYC, wcenter, WAC

7. Childers; Pamela; Cindy Johanek; Jon Leydens; Joan Mullin; Michael Pemberton; Rebecca Rickly; Mike Palmquist. (2002/2003). FORUM: Writing centers and WAC. Academic.Writing 03. https://wac.colostate.edu/aw/forums/spring2002/

Annotation: This Forum continues the practice of exploring fundamental relationships between key areas of writing studies. In this exchange, a group of scholars who have done substantial work with writing centers and writing-across-the-curriculum programs explore the relationships -- real and ideal -- between the two areas. The Forum opens with statements from each of the participants, and continues with responses to two follow-up and one closing question. In addition to responses to the formal questions, the participants also commented directly on each others' posts. Members of this Forum communicated with each other via electronic mail and the Web over a period of roughly one month. Their interactions are represented here using links among and beyond the texts that they produced. [WAC Clearinghouse]

Keywords: wcenter, WAC, writing-across-the-curriculum, WID

8. Clark, Irene L. & Hernandez, Andrea. (2011). Genre Awareness, Academic Argument, and Transferability. The WAC Journal, 22(1), 65-78. https://doi.org/10.37514/WAC-J.2011.22.1.05

Annotation: The authors report on a preliminary study of the use of FYW instruction in genre-awareness as a means to facilitate transferrable writing skills and techniques across disciplines. By defining genre-awareness as a ""threshold concept,"" they are able to address issues that arise in transfer-based instruction, namely, ""transferability, troublesomeness, and liminality."" A distinction made between genre-awareness and the explicit teaching of genre occurs, in which the re-defining of genre-awareness as threshold concept attempts to eliminate the restrictive method of genre instruction cited by Freedman. The authors address several critiques regarding transferability, noting issues of mimicry and cross-disciplinary inconsistency. They present methods and results of a semester-long survey-based study in which students compose two essays in different genres (argumentative and disciplinary), and one essay reflecting on their differences. Comparison of statistical and commentarial data taken before and after the course occurs, wherein analysis of student awareness of audience, authorial persona, purpose, formatting, and structure transpires. Clark and Hernandez conclude that student focus on structural and surface level elements rather than rhetorical features support issues of instructor expertise in foreign genres posed by Russell, Wardle, and Downs, and that due to an admittedly small sample size, possibilities for future research are vast and necessary. [Clark, Irene L., and Andrea Hernandez. ""Genre Awareness, Academic Argument, and Transferability."" The WAC Journal 22 (2011): 66-78. Print.]

Keywords: genre-awareness, WAC, student-opinion, knowledge-transfer, skill-transfer, persona, formating, citation

9. Downs, Douglas; Elizabeth Wardle. (2007). Teaching about writing, righting misconceptions: (Re)envisioning 'First-Year Composition' as 'Introduction to English Studies'. College Composition and Communication 58.4, 552-584.

Annotation: Downs and Wardle describe WAW curricula that extend beyond students reading and writing about existing scholarship in rhetoric and composition (cf. Dew) to having students conduct primary research on related topics. They frame the pedagogy as an ‘Introduction to Writing Studies’ that explicitly rejects the traditional FYC goal of teaching a universal academic discourse and instead seeks to teach (1) metacognition about writing via procedural and declarative knowledge of writing, and (2) a version of the activity of inquiry that centers universities and spans disciplines. The article theorizes the shortcomings of traditional FYC courses in terms of genre and activity theory and describes WAW curricula that can better respond to these theories of how writing works and thus needs to be learned. It then reports on early results from the curriculum as taught in multiple sections at three institutions, illustrating effects through two particular student experiences in the course. Student feedback and results suggest that the WAW curriculum results in increased self-awareness about writing, improved reading abilities and confidence, and raised awareness of researched writing as conversation. The article concludes with challenges that the curriculum presents, including the challenging nature of the course for students, the resulting imperfections in student work, limited textbook support for the approach, and the need for extensive instructor preparation. [Doug Downs, Writing-About-Writing Curricula: Origins, Theories, and Initial Field-Tests, WPA-CompPile Research Bibliographies, No. 12]

Keywords: FYC, pedagogy, WAW, writing-studies, objective, metacognition, activity-theory, genre-theory, curriculum, student-opinion, data, case-study, self-evaluation, research-awareness, student-confidence, gain, needs-analysis, teacher-training, academic, AP English, content-analysis, contextual, basic-skills, honors, recursive, reflection, rhetorical, skill-transfer, writing-studies, WAC, WID, Charles Bazerman, Larry Beason, Carol Berkenkotter, John Dawkins, Linda Flower, James Paul Gee, Christian Haas, John R. Hayes, Thomas N. Huckin, George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, Sondra Perl, John Swales, misunderstanding

10. Downs, Douglas; Elizabeth Wardle. (2007). Teaching about writing, righting misconceptions: (Re)envisioning 'First-year Composition' as 'Introduction to English Studies'. College Composition and Communication 58.4, 552-584.

Annotation: While much of this article is an explication and defense of the authors' proposed 'writing about writing' pedagogy, there are explicit connections to transfer explored. Downs and Wardle address two prevalent misconceptions about FYC: that FYC can teach students 'academic writing' (a concept that defies singular definition), and that writing skills learned in FYC transfer to other writing contexts. They contend there is 'little empirical verification' of such transfer, and, in fact, some evidence to suggest that such transfer does not occur. To address these two misconceptions, the authors suggest a transformation of FYC into 'Introduction to Writing Studies,' a course that 'could teach about the ways writing works in the world' and about writing as a mediating tool. Based on the results of a pilot study with a research sample of eighty-four students in two universities, the authors conclude that this curriculum results in students' 'increased self awareness about writing,' increased confidence and improved reading ability, and increased understanding of writing (particularly research) as a conversation among writers. While not without its challenges and its critics (which are acknowledged and addressed), this curriculum, the authors assert, has the potential to increase transfer through reflective activities, a focus on abstracting generalities about writing, and increased context awareness, each of which helps students to understand how rhetorical strategies are realized in particular contexts for writing. [Robin L. Snead, 'Transfer-Ability': Issues of Transfer and FYC, WPA-CompPile Research Bibliographies, No. 18] [John Whicker and Doug Downs, Writing-About-Writing Curricula: Research on Effectiveness and Applications, WPA-CompPile Research Bibliographies, No. 12 (2nd ed.)]

Keywords: FYC, pedagogy, WAW, writing-studies, objective, metacognition, activity-theory, genre-theory, curriculum, student-opinion, data, case-study, self-evaluation, research-awareness, student-confidence, gain, needs-analysis, teacher-training, academic, AP English, content-analysis, contextual, basic-skills, honors, recursive, reflection, rhetorical, skill-transfer, writing-studies, WAC, WID, Charles Bazerman, Larry Beason, Carol Berkenkotter, John Dawkins, Linda Flower, James Paul Gee, Christian Haas, John R. Hayes, Thomas N. Huckin, George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, Sondra Perl, John Swales, misunderstanding

11. Ede, Lisa S. (2004). Situating composition: Composition studies and the politics of location. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.

Keywords: location, place, politics, pedagogy, process, English-profession, social process, postprocess, theory, FYC, WC, WAC, ESL, service-learning, literacy, community, technology, online, cultural studies, literacy, resistance, desire, CCCC, historical studies, case study, anecdote, language, semiotics, course-design

12. Farris, Christine. (2003). No discipline? Composition's professional identity crisis. In Bloom, Lynn Z.; Donald A. Daiker; Edward M. White (Eds.), Composition Studies in the new millennium: Rereading the past, rewriting the future; Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press (pp. 57-61).

Keywords: composition studies, professionalism, composition-discipline, postprocess, process, professional movement, Lynn Z. Bloom, Susan Miller, Mike Rose, turf war, WAC,, identity

13. Flowers, Katherine S. (2019). Resisting and Rewriting English-Only Policies: Navigating Multilingual, Raciolinguistic, and Translingual Approaches to Language Advocacy. Literacy in Composition Studies 07.1, 67-89. https://doi.org/10.21623/1.7.1.5

Annotation: The field of writing studies has highlighted the limitations of a monolingual orientation towards language, particularly in the context of English-only language policies, but there have been fewer accounts of how people actively navigate and advocate for alternatives. Drawing on a recent ethnographic, discourse analytic study of how writers reshaped a local language policy, I argue that there are advantages to cultivating and combining multilingual, raciolinguistic, and translingual approaches to language advocacy, yet at the same time, arguments for multilingualism risk eclipsing, and ultimately undermining, these other approaches.

Keywords: Language policy, writing-studies, advocacy, monolingualism, multilingual, economics/economist, racial, translingual, English only

14. Forman, Janis. (1993). Business communication and composition: The writing connection and beyond. Journal of Business Communication 30.3, 313-352.

Annotation: This article considers business communication's current and potential borrowing from composition studies as well as the constraints on such borrowing. It uses a citation analysis and a study of the arguments in business communication articles published in The Journal of Business Communication to identify the current state of composition's impact on research in business writing. After exploring the factors that may impede additional borrowing from composition, it discusses three major areas of composition studies that may profitably influence research in business communication: the historical and theoretical study of composition as a discipline, multicultural and literacy studies, and contemporary critical and social theory. [author's abstract]

Keywords: business-communication, WAC, cross-disciplinary, composition-studies, citation-analysis, discourse-analysis, argumentation, historiography, English-profession, multicultural, literacy-studies, critique, critical social-theory

15. Fulwiler, Toby; Art Young. (2000). Language connections: Writing and reading across the curriculum [digital reprint of 1982, National Council of Teachers of English]. Fort Collins, CO: WAC Clearinghouse. https://wac.colostate.edu/books/language_connections/

Annotation: Available online as part of the Academic.Writing series, Landmark Publications in Writing Studies, Language Connections focuses on general language skills teachers in all disciplines can use 'to enhance student learning and, at the same time, reinforce the more specific language skills taught by reading, writing and speech teachers' (ix). The 12 chapters address issues including journal writing, problem solving approaches to writing, transactional writing, writing to learn, reading processes, and conferencing. An annotated bibliography is provided. [WAC Clearinghouse]

Keywords: WAC, read-write, curriculum

16. Grobman, Laurie. (2017). The policy brief assignment: Transferable skills in action in a community-engaged writing project. Prompt 1.1, 8-18. http://thepromptjournal.com/index.php/prompt/article/view/10/5

Annotation: Abstract: The policy brief assignment in my capstone course in professional writing was designed as a community-engaged project in partnership with a nonprofit organization whose mission is to grow Reading, Pennsylvania's economy. The assignment was intended to do real work in the world: the nonprofit's director, a city council member, and an outreach manager for the city of Reading plan to use the policy briefs to convince Reading's City Council to adopt the recommended policies to enhance citizen participation and representation in local governance and to address deficiencies identified through the STAR Community Rating System(r) (STAR), the nation's leading sustainability framework and certification program (STAR 2016). I welcomed the collaboration and designed the assignment with the goal that students would experience what writing faculty always tell them: fundamental concepts in composition and rhetoric/writing studies are operational in the workplace, and understanding writing and communication rhetorically opens up possibilities for them to enter diverse and unfamiliar writing contexts.

Keywords: SERVICE-LEARNING, WRITING-MAJOR, WID, WAC, ASSIGNMENT-WRITING, ASSIGNMENT, PEDAGOGY, REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

17. Grouling, Jennifer. (2017). The Path to Comptency-Based Certification: A Look at the LEAP Challenge and the VALUE Rubric for Written Communication. Journal of Writing Assessment 10.1. http://journalofwritingassessment.org/article.php?article=120

Annotation: Although originally designed by writing professionals, AAC&U’s VALUE Written Communication rubric is one small part of a larger national vision for higher education. This article traces that vision through multiple AAC&U publications from 2002-2017 to demonstrate the way advocacy-based philanthropy and competency-based education has shifted the VALUE initiative away from institutionally-based assessment toward national accountability. With the General Education Maps and Markers (GEMs) pathway initiative of 2015 and the creation of the VALUE Institute national scoring database in 2018, the VALUE rubrics may be used to compare writing instruction at universities, to facilitate state-wide transfer agreements, and to certify students’ degree completion. In so doing, much of the original value of the rubric for writing studies is lost. When used on a national scale, it is impossible to modify for local context. I argue experts in writing assessment need greater awareness of the impact on these large-scale movements on the use of rubrics for writing instruction in higher education.

Keywords: rubrics, competency-based education, advocacy-based philanthropy, AAC&U, VALUE rubrics

18. Gunter, Kimberly. (2019). Advocacy, independence, and the painful kairotic moment for rhetoric and composition. Writing Program Administration 43.1, 54-72. http://wpacouncil.org/aws/CWPA/pt/sp/journal-archives

Keywords: writing program administration, advocacy, non-tenure-track, disciplinarity

19. Hall, Johnathan. (2006). Toward a Unified Writing Curriculum: Integrating WAC/WID with Freshman Composition. The WAC Journal, 17(1), 5-22. https://doi.org/10.37514/WAC-J.2006.17.1.01

Annotation: Identifies points of contention between WAC and composition studies. Argues that instructors of both freshman composition and WAC should think in terms of the development of writing in the larger frame of students’ academic careers. Proposes a Unified Writing Curriculum to reflect the trajectories of students as writers from freshman composition through senior year. In this curricular approach, all instructors will have a unified and coherent approach to writing and writing competency as featured course goals. The intended outcome of this approach is a smooth succession of experiences with writing instruction for students rather than a disjunctive collection of writing pedagogies. Concludes that the focus of freshman composition should be assisting students with the transition to discipline-specific writing at the introductory level and that faculty in the disciplines should recognize the needs of post-composition students making this transition, all of which can be facilitated by the common approach to writing pedagogy of the Unified Writing Curriculum. [Lauren Williams]

Keywords: WAC, FYC, WID, curriculum, sequence, advanced, integrated, career, college-span, objectivve, 'unified writing curriculum', disciplinary, integrated

20. Hamilton, Sam, and Anastasiya Kalyuk. (2022). Understanding self-efficacy in FYW: Students' belief in their own ability to succeed in postsecondary writing classrooms. Composition Forum 50. https://compositionforum.com/issue/50/self-efficacy.php

Keywords: elf-efficacy, first-year writing, success, habits of mind, metacognition, reflection

21. Harding, Lindsey; Robby Nadler; Paula Rawlins; Elizabeth Day; Kristen Miller; Kimberly Martin. (2020). Revising a Scientific Writing Curriculum: Wayfinding Successful Collaborations with Interdisciplinary Expertise. College Composition and Communication 72.2, 333-368.

Annotation: Interdisciplinary collaborations to help students compose for discipline-specific contexts draw on multiple expertise. Science, technology, education, and mathematics (STEM) programs particularly rely on their writing colleagues because 1) their academic expertise is often not writing and 2) teaching writing often necessitates a redesigning of existing instructional materials. While many writing studies scholars have the expertise to assist their STEM colleagues with such tasks, how to do so—and, more fundamentally, how to begin such efforts—is not commonly focused on in the literature stemming from these collaborations. Our article addresses this gap by detailing an interdisciplinary Writing in the Disciplines (WID) collaboration at a large, public R1 university between STEM and writing experts to redesign the university's introductory biology writing curriculum. The collaborative curriculum design process detailed here is presented through the lens of wayfinding, which concerns orientation, trailblazing, and moving through uncertain landscapes according to cues. Within this account, a critical focus on language—what we talk about when we talk about writing—emerges, driving both the collaboration itself and resultant curricular revisions. Our work reveals how collaborators can wayfind through interdisciplinary partnerships and writing curriculum development by transforming differences in discipline-specific expertise into a new path forward.

Keywords: science-writing, interdisciplinary, WID, WAC, STEM, collaboration, curriculum design

22. Haring-Smith, Tori. (1992). Changing students' attitudes: Writing fellows programs. In McLeod, Susan H.; Margot Soven (Eds.), Writing across the curriculum: A guide to developing programs; Newbury Park, CA: Sage [ERIC Document Reproduction Service, ED 350 622] (pp. 175-188).

Annotation: A landmark article on Brown's WF program. Available now at Academic.Writing Landmark Publications in Writing Studies. [WAC Clearinghouse]

Keywords: WAC, program, change, Brown University, tutoring, peer, teaching fellow

23. Henry, Jim; Lehua Ledbetter. (2011). Teaching intellectual teamwork in WAC courses through peer review. Currents in Teaching and Learning 03.2, 4-21. http://www.worcester.edu/Currents/default.aspx

Annotation: Because faculty outside of composition studies may be less familiar with teaching techniques for peer review, this teaching report provides an introduction to the literature on peer review and a review of WAC sources supporting its use. Against the backdrop of this introduction, we offer a case study of our own approach when teaching introductory composition, with excerpts from students' written performances to illustrate the processes and to support our claims about its efficacy. An appended table offers our step-by-step process for positioning students to review their peers' writing; this process can be adapted to other disciplines and other goals [author abstract]

Keywords: peer-review, WAC, cooperative learning, response, modeling, metacognition, teamwork

24. Johnson, Andrew. (2019). On the Borderline: Writing about Writing, Threshold Concepts of Writing, and Credit-Bearing Academic Writing Subjects in Australia. Across the Disciplines, 16(3), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.37514/ATD-J.2019.16.3.12

Annotation: Johnson explores the applicability of WAW and threshold-concept approaches to reshaping Australian college writing instruction. With a tradition of linguistics-based scholarship including rhetorical genre studies, English for Specific Purposes, English for Academic Purposes, and disciplinary perspectives on literary learning, Australia has long preferred embedding literacy-learning support staff in disciplinary subject matter courses to the U.S. rhetoric and composition model of credit-bearing, stand-alone writing courses. The U.S. approach has historically presented the problems of 1) reducing literacy instruction to basic skills practice and 2) content—what students should write about while they practice skills. Using a case study of his own university’s experimental standalone writing course, Johnson demonstrates how these problems emerged there too, and theorizes that the value of a WAW approach lies not only in its ability to address these difficulties, but also in its reduction of the marginalization that skills- and transfer-oriented literacy instruction have encountered in both U.S. and Australian contexts. [John Whicker and Doug Downs, Writing-About-Writing Curricula: Research on Effectiveness and Applications, WPA-CompPile Research Bibliographies, No. 12 (2nd ed.)]

Keywords: Australian writing instruction, WAW, threshold concepts, FYC, WAC, WID

25. McLeod, Susan H. (Ed.). (2000). Strengthening programs for writing across the curriculum [digital reprint of 1988, Jossey-Bass]. Fort Collins, CO: WAC Clearinghouse. https://wac.colostate.edu/books/mcleod_programs/

Annotation: Available online as part of the Academic.Writing series, Landmark Publications in Writing Studies, this important collection addresses the design, funding, operation, and underlying pedagogical principles of WAC programs. [WAC Clearinghouse]

Keywords: WAC, program

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