Introduction to Writing in the Disciplines (WID)
Spring 2025: Monday January 27, February 3, February 10, and February 24, 3:30-4:30 on Zoom. Please sign up here or email dshawn@bu.edu for the Zoom link.
This faculty seminar, “Introduction to Writing in the Disciplines,” will consider scholarship on theory, pedagogy, practices, and the history of WID (Writing in the Disciplines) and its counterparts WAC (Writing Across the Curriculum) and WEC (Writing Enriched Curriculum). Participants will also explore specific examples of WID, both here at BU and in other higher ed institutional settings.
Session 1--Definitions
Readings for this session focus on definitions, histories, and conceptual frameworks of both writing across the curriculum (WAC) and writing in the disciplines (WID). Outside of general writing programs, these movements have shaped how writing pedagogy has been undertaken and institutionalized within higher education.We explore the pedagogical advantages, challenges, and problems associated with these approaches to writing outside of writing programs. The short encyclopedic and keyword entries by Anson and Thaiss raise important questions about the ways that these movements have influenced writing studies and pedagogy in American higher education. David R. Russell’s introduction to his book on writing in academic disciplines, a frequently-cited source within WAC/WID scholarship (initially published in 1991 with a 2nd edition in 2002), provides a broader and deeper dive into this history. Michael Carter’s 2007 essay from CCC — building on claims by Russell — offers a conceptual way of understanding the relationships between disciplinary writing and the ways that disciplines approach knowing and doing. Please email dshawn@bu.edu for copies of the Anson, Russell, and Thaiss readings.
- Anson, Chris. “Writing Across the Curriculum.” Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition. Ed. Theresa Enos. Routledge, 1996. (pp. 773-774).
- Carter, Michael. “Ways of Knowing, Doing, and Writing in the Disciplines.” WAC: A Critical Sourcebook. (originally in College Composition and Communication 58.3 (2007): 385-418.
- Russell, David R. “Introduction” Writing in the Academic Disciplines – A Curricular History. 2nd ed. Southern Illinois UP, 2002. Pages 3-34.
- Thaiss, Chris. “Writing Across the Curriculum/Writing in the Disciplines.” Keywords in Writing Studies. 182-187.
Session 2--WID in the Disciplines - Transfer OUT
This session will explore both the University of Minnesota WEC approach and BU’s WID’s program. The chapter by Pamela Flash both explains the premises for the Writing-Enriched Curriculum that she implemented at the University of Minnesota. Using departmental case studies, Flash explains the WEC approach to “engaging academic faculty groups in creating, implementing, and assessing locally relevant undergraduate writing plans.” BU’s WID program has adapted the WEC model in working with CAS departments, and we will discuss our program’s distinctive approach to bringing the insights of writing studies into distinct disciplines. Participants will also select and read one of the disciplinary writing plans from the Univ. Minnesota WEC site.
- Flash, Pamela. “Writing-Enriched Curriculum: A Model for Making and Sustaining Change.” Writing Enriched Curricula: Models of Faculty-Driven and Departmental Transformation. Eds. Chris Anson and Pamela Flash. WAC Clearinghouse and University Press of Colorado. 2021.
- Please select ONE (or more) of the disciplinary writing plans that are available from Minnesota’s WEC site. You should be able to find your discipline or a related one represented. Of the fifty-plus plans, examples include plans from Sociology, Political Science, Art History, Philosophy, and more. For other examples, see the University of Minnesota’s WEC site.
- Read through Boston University’s Writing in the Disciplines site, particularly its focus on Writing Plans.
Session 3--WID and First-Year Writing - Transfer IN
- Brandt, Marisa et al. “First Year Writing for STEM Students: Promoting Awareness Between Writing and Science” Composition Studies Vol. 52, Iss. 1, (Spring 2024): 103-116. https://www.proquest.com/indexingvolumeissuelinkhandler/26283/Composition+Studies/02024Y04Y01$23Spring+2024$3b++Vol.+52+$281$29/52/1?accountid=9676
- Moscovitz, Cary and David Kellogg. “Primary Communication in the First-Year Writing Course. College Composition and Communication Dec. 2005. Vol. 57 No. 2: 307-334.
- Optional readings:
- “Mapping the Relationship of Disciplinary and Writing Concepts: Charting a Path to Deeper WAC/WID Integration in STEM”
- “Writing with Research: Understanding How Students Perceive Sources in the Sciences”
- “Locating Visual Communication across Disciplines: How Visual Instruction in Composition Textbooks differs from that in Science-writing Textbooks”
- Kao, Vivian. “Object Encounters: First-Year Composition in the Art Museum” Pedagogy. Vol. 24, No. 1, January 2024: 117-136
- Jensen, Erin. “Creating Digital Research Posters in First-year Writing Classes. Teaching English in the Two-Year College. Vol. 51. Issue 3. March 2024: 241-253.
Session 4--WID & Current Issues In & Beyond the Classroom
- AWAC Statement on Artificial Intelligence Writing Tools in WAC Curriculum Settings https://wacassociation.org/resource/statement-on-ai-writing-tools-in-wac/
- Hall’s “WAC/WID in the Age of Trans-: Crossing and Re-crossing Borders of Discipline, Language, and Identity” from Hall, Jonathan, & Bruce Horner (Eds.). (2023). Toward a Transnational University: WAC/WID Across Borders of Language, Nation, and Discipline. The WAC Clearinghouse; University Press of Colorado.
- Optional readings:
- Reeves, C., & Sylvia, J. J. (2024). Generative AI in Technical Communication: A Review of Research from 2023 to 2024. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 54(4), 439-462. https://doi-org.ezproxy.bu.edu/10.1177/00472816241260043 “Generative AI in Technical Communication: A Review of Research from 2023 to 2024.”
- Mathison, Maureen A. & DeGrauw, Alexandria. “Leveraging grant-writing for transforming students’ normative views of STEM.” Across the Disciplines, 21(1), (June 10, 2024,). 43-59. https://doi.org/10.37514/ATD-J.2024.21.1.05 “Leveraging Grant-Writing for Transforming Students’ Normative Views of STEM”