S5. Teaching Writing in Many Disciplines and Fields

"Teaching" Section Home

            WAC means "Writing Across the Curriculum."  WID means "Writing in the Disciplines."  WAC is the general movement to develop more writing in classrooms, a movement often led by people in English and composition programs.  WID is the work of developing appropriate writing activities in each discipline, often spearheaded by instructors in a wide variety of academic fields.  The two movements, while somewhat different, are deeply and intricately connected.  

            The bibliography below lists both classroom textbooks and pedagogical resources for teaching writing in a number of disciplines.  It was developed with the assistance of several national and regional experts.  The "4 Rubrics" discussion below also was developed from national and regional resources.  

WID Textbooks/Guides for Students

     
WAC Pedagogy          Web Site Resources

 A Bibliography for Writing in the Disciplines (WID) 

 and Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) (8/05)  

Richard Jewell, Inver Hills College
Cindy Moore, St. Cloud State University

            This annotated bibliography is primarily for instructors in many fields who wish to teach writing in their courses.  The first section offers several categories of student textbooks, handbooks, and readers for a variety of disciplines.  The second section offers a list of highly recommended instructor resources.  The third section provides several URLs of helpful WAC, WID, and writing-intensive Web sites.  

 Student Textbooks for Writing in the Disciplines 

Handbook/Guide Series for Specific Disciplines

Textbooks in Specific Disciplines          General Handbooks and Readers

General Handbooks and Readers:

General WID Reference Books: All three of these "grammar handbooks" are very useful, spiral-bound grammar and style references for general writing instruction and general research in all disciplines with index and quick-access pages.  Harris' is distinguished by its brevity, Fulwiler and Hayakawa's by its orientation to the workplace, and Faigley's by its emphasis on graphic design.  All three also offer the four major documentation styles: MLA, APA, Chicago, and CBE/CSE (Council of Science Editors--formerly Council of Biology Editors), along with electronic and online documentation.  

Faigley, Lester. The Brief Penguin Handbook. New York: Longman, 2003. 540 pp. Ppr. Includes such sections as "Composing in the Digital Era," "Visual Rhetoric," and "Writing for the Web."

Fulwiler, Toby and Alan R. Hayakawa. The College Writer's Reference. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002. 492 pp. Ppr.  Includes such WID-oriented chapters as "Principles of Design" and "Writing for Work."

Harris, Muriel. The Writer’s FAQs: A Pocket Handbook. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2004. 261 pp. Ppr.  A small, easy-to-carry book with just the basics--short, simple, and straightforward. 

General WAC Reader:  Brown, Stephen, Ed. Writing Across the Curriculum. 2006. 183 pp.  Ppr.  This "Pocket Reader" in narrow trade format contains two dozen short essays for students to read, divided into chapters on the environment, media, arts, technology, gender and race, and literature and language.

General WID Reader: Journet, Debra, and Julie Lepick Kling. Readings for Technical Writers. Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman, 1984. 227 pp. Ppr. A very useful set of thirty-five professional examples of business, engineering, health, science, and technical papers of many kinds.

General WID/WAC Student-Samples Reader: Ferster, Judith. Papers Across the Curriculum. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006. 183 pp. Ppr. A very practical set of fifteen student papers in manuscript style on subjects in the humanities, arts, social sciences, business and science, and English.

General WID Composition Textbook: Fulwiler, Toby and Alan R. Hayakawa. The Blair Handbook. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000. 960 pp. Ppr. This textbook well covers modern, practical strategies for introductory composition and research writing, including chapters on writing in five major disciplinary areas.

General WID Research Handbook: Tensen, Bonnie L. Research Strategies for a Digital Age. Boston: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2004. This timely guide combines traditional research-writing advice with numerous strategies for finding, evaluating, using, and documenting on-line source material.  

Handbook/Guide Series:

While the handbooks focus on the mechanics of writing in particular disciplines (e.g., essay structure, sentence construction, punctuation, documentation), the guides typically cover a broader range of writing issues including understanding issues/concepts, approaching typical assignments, and undertaking research projects in respective fields.  Both handbooks and guides tend to be small (200-300 pages), useful, and student friendly.

Addison-Wesley Company Short Guide Series: http://longman.awl.com:
   
A Short Guide to Writing about Art    Sylvan Barnet
A Short Guide to Writing about Biology     Jan Pechenik
A Short Guide to Writing about Chemistry    Herbert Beall & John Trimbur
A Short Guide to Writing about Film     Timothy Corrigan
A Short Guide to Writing about History    Richard Marius
A Short Guide to Writing about Literature    Sylvan Barnet
A Short Guide to Writing about Music  Jonathan Bellman
A Short Guide to Writing about Psychology    Dana Dunn
A Short Guide to Writing about Science    David Porush
A Short Guide to Writing about Social Science    Lee J. Cuba
   
Allyn and Bacon Publishing: http://www.abacon.com:
   
How to Write Psychology Papers   Les Parrott III
Researching and Writing in the Humanities   Christine Hult
Researching and Writing in the Sciences and Technology   Christine Hult
Researching and Writing in the Social Sciences   Christine Hult
Writing for Law Enforcement    Christopher Thaiss & John Hess
Writing for Psychology     Christopher Thaiss & James Sanford
Writing about Theatre   Christopher Thaiss & Rick Davis
   
 Bedford/St. Martins Publishing: www.bedfordbooks.com:
    
A Pocket Guide to Writing in History    Mary Lynn Rampolla
A Short Guide to Writing in the Sciences   Ann Penrose & Steven Katz
A Student's Guide to History    Jules R. Benjamin
Writing Papers in the Biological Sciences (A Guide)    Victoria E. McMillan
    
Houghton Mifflin (D.C. Heath) Publishing: http://college.hmco.com/flash.html:
    
Writers Guide: History    Steffens, Dickerson, Fulwiler, & Biddle
Writers Guide: Life Sciences    Biddle & Bean (D.C. Heath, 1987; may be out of print)
Writers Guide: Political Science    Biddle, Holland, & Fulwiler
Writers Guide: Psychology   Bond & Magistrale (D.C. Heath, 1987; may be out of print)
    
Prentice-Hall Publishing: http://www.prenhall.com/:
    
The History Student Writers Manual     Mark Hellstern, et al.
The Political Science Student Writers Manual    Gregory Scott & Stephen Garrison
The Sociology Student Writers Manual    William Johnson, et al.
Thinking and Writing About Art History    Donna K. Reid
Writing about Art    Henry Sayre
Writing about the Humanities     Robert DiYanni
Writing and Thinking in the Social Sciences    Sharon Friedman
    
Thomson/Wadworth Pocket Handbook Series: http://www.wadsworth.com:
     
The Pocket Handbook for Biology                 Laurie Kirszner and Stephen Mandell
The Pocket Handbook for History                  Laurie Kirszner and Stephen Mandell
The Pocket Handbook for Psychology           Laurie Kirszner and Stephen Mandell  

Textbooks in Specific Disciplines: 

            Most of the books in this section are full textbooks appropriate to courses in which a variety of writing assignments, often formal, are required.   

Health Sciences

Huth, Edward J. How to Write and Publish Papers in the Medical Sciences. Baltimore: William & Wilkins, 1990. 252 pp. Hrdb.  Designed for majors and graduate students, this is a very practical guide for developing several types of medical sciences papers for journals.

Polit, Denise F., Cheryl T. Beck, and Bernadette P. Hungler. Essentials of Nursing Research. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 422 pp. Ppr.  A thorough, accessible, and highly practical manual that subsumes writing to the overall process of developing a research project.

Political Science

Scott, Gregory M., and Stephen M. Garrison. The Political Science Student Writer’s Manual. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998. 337 pp. Ppr.  A good introduction for undergraduate majors to ten types of political science writing, research, documentation, typing, and style.

Professional and Business Writing

Brereton, John C., and Margaret A. Mansfield. Writing on the Job. A Norton Pocket Guide. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. 217 pp. Ppr.  A very useful, spiral-bound grammar and style handbook for all post-secondary students and working professionals. It also offers help for writing letters, memos, news articles, releases, flyers, proposals, minutes, etc.

Dugger, Jim. Business Letters for Busy People. Hawthorne, NJ: Career, 1993. 210 pp. Ppr.  A practical, easily accessible book for all post-secondary levels of students and professionals with a wide variety of short lessons, formats, and examples.

Pearsall, Thomas E., and Donald H. Cunningham. How to Write for the World of Work. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1994. 559 pp. Ppr.  A general and very accessible undergraduate introduction to general business and professional writing methods with a variety of examples and of basic and advanced forms.

Sciences

Day, Robert A. How to Write & Publish a Scientific Paper. Phoenix: Oryx, 1998. 275 pp. Ppr.  A very practical guide for graduate students and undergraduate majors that offers help in developing an IMRaD research paper.

Montgomery, Scott L. The Chicago Guide to Communicating Science. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2003. Helps science students at all levels to think and write as a member of the scientific community. Encourages a wide variety of scientific communication tasks, e.g., grant proposals, reports, review articles, speeches, interviews, and e-mail. Many sample texts.

Penrose, Ann M., and Steven B. Katz. Writing in the Sciences. New York: St. Martin ’s, 1998. 321 pp. Ppr. A good introduction for undergraduate majors to the methodologies and varieties of science writing, with a number of examples.

Social Sciences

Friedman, Sharon, and Stephen Steinberg. Writing & Thinking in the Social Sciences. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1989. 192 pp. Ppr.  A very accessible book for students in social sciences majors, with a variety of disciplinary forms of writing.

Technical Writing (for Engineers, Technology Writers, et al.)

Riordan, Daniel G., and Steven E. Pauley. Technical Report Writing Today. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. 576 pp. Ppr.  A thorough and accessible introduction for technical-writing courses or majors, one that covers audience, groups, style, and a variety of technical documents.

----------

 WAC General Pedagogical Resources--for Teachers   

Good Starter Readings    Other Starters by Toby Fulwiler    Starters for WAC Coordinators

            Many of the books in this section are suitable as introductions to WAC, while several are a little more advanced or specialized.  Many are typically available in college and university library systems.  Two national experts and one Minnesota state expert on WAC—Chris Anson, Toby Fulwiler, and Phil Keith—assisted in developing this section.  Anson is Director of the campus-wide writing-and-speaking program at North Carolina State University and considered one of the top national experts in the field.  Fulwiler, Professor of English at the University of Vermont, once was called "Mr. WAC" by writing expert Peter Elbow at a joint national presentation in recognition of the major role Fulwiler played in helping to start the WAC movement.  He is perhaps the best known expert in the field.  Keith is Professor of English and former Director of Composition at St. Cloud State University, where he was one of the first teachers in Minnesota to receive training in WAC and develop WAC training programs for his own campus faculty. 

Highly Recommended Starter Readings:

Anson, Chris M., John E. Schwiebert, and Michael M. Williamson. Writing Across the Curriculum: An Annotated Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1993.

Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas: The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996. 304 pp.  "A good, basic intro to the principles of WAC" —Chris Anson 

Fulwiler, Toby. The Journal Book. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook-Heinemann, 1987. 402 pp.  "Toby's books on journal writing are really important to help faculty think more strongly about the relationship between writing and learning." —Chris Anson 

Fulwiler, Toby, and Art Young, eds. Language Connections: Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1982. 192 pp.  "There are some earlier books that are still pretty relevant (Toby [Fulwiler] and Art Young's, e.g.)." —Chris Anson.  (Also recommended by Phil Keith; out of print)

Fulwiler, Toby, and Art Young, eds. When Writing Teachers Teach Literature: Bringing Writing to Reading. Co-ed. Art Young. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook-Heinemann, 1996. 338 pp. 

Fulwiler, Toby, and Susan Gardner, eds. The Journal Book for Teachers of Technical and Professional Programs. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook-Heinemann, 1999. 184 pp. "Toby's books on journal writing are really important to help faculty think more strongly about the relationship between writing and learning." —Chris Anson 

Hedengren, Beth Finch. A TA's Guide to Teaching Writing in All Disciplines. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004. 160 pp.  This highly accessible paperbound handbook for TAs in all disciplines is a thorough distillation of several decades of best methods of writing instruction.  It is suitable for any instructor of undergraduates who wants to teach writing.

Perl, Sondra, ed. Landmark Essays on the Writing Process. Davis, CA: Hermagoras, 1994.  "Contains the real grounding material for such programs" —Toby Fulwiler

Sorcinelli, Mary Deane and Peter Elbow, eds. Writing to Learn: Strategies for “Assigning and Responding to Writing Across the Disciplines. New Directions for Teaching and Learning 69. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997.  (Recommended by Chris Anson & Toby Fulwiler)

Stock, Patricia, ed. Fforum: Essays on Theory and Practice in the Teaching of Writing. Upper Montclair , NJ : Boynton/Cook, 1983.  (Phil Keith) 

Walvoord, Barbara, et al. In the Long Run: A Study of Faculty in Three Writing-Across-the-Curriculum Programs. NCTE, 1997.  (Chris Anson & Toby Fulwiler; out of print)

Walvoord, Barbara. Helping Students Write Well. MLA, 1986.

Other Good Starter Books and Articles about WAC by Toby Fulwiler:

Fulwiler, Toby. "Evaluating Writing across the Curriculum Programs." Strengthening Programs for Writing Across the Curriculum. Ed. S. Mcleod. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1988. 61-75.

Fulwiler, Toby. Teaching with Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1987. 158 pp.  (A process-writing manual for non-English instructors.)

Fulwiler, Toby. "Writing: An Act of Cognition." Teaching Writing in All Disciplines. New Directions for Teaching and Learning 12. Ed. C.W. Griffin. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1982. 15-25.

Fulwiler, Toby and Arthur W. Biddle, eds. Community of Voices: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines. New York: Macmillan, 1992. 974 pp. (A WAC textbook)

Good Starter Books for WAC Coordinators:

Anson, Chris, ed. The WAC Casebook: Scenes for Faculty Reflection and Program Development. Oxford UP, 2001. Ppr. "Designed for workshops and brown bag meetings, but could also be read solo for purposes of reflection" —Chris Anson.  (Contains bibliography of URL and non-URL sources) (Chapters for non-Composition disciplines: Mechanical Engineering, 12; Mathematics, 16; Economics, 32; Chemistry, 33; and Social Psychology, 37.)

Bazerman, Charles, and David R. Russell, eds. Landmark Essays on Writing Across the Curriculum. Davis, CA: Hermagoras, 1994. 242 pp. (Chapter 1 contains a history of WAC.)

Fulwiler, Toby, and Art Young, eds. Programs That Work: Models and Methods for Writing across the Curriculum. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook-Heinemann, 1990. 327 pp. 

Fulwiler, Toby, and Art Young, eds. Writing across the Disciplines: Research into Practice. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1986. 254 pp. (Chapters for non-Composition disciplines: Engineering, 9, 12, & 13; Psychology and Poetry, 10; Biology, 11; Mathematics, 14; and Literature, 15.)

Herrington, Anne, and Charles Moran. Writing, Teaching, and Learning in the Disciplines. New York: MLA, 1992. 265 pp.  (Recommended by Toby Fulwiler)  (Part one contains histories of WAC.)

----------       

 WAC/WID/WI Web Sites

General Resources               Exemplary Programs

General Resources

CollegeWriting.info: Go http://Richard.Jewell.net and click on “CollegeWriting.info.”  A free Web composition textbook. On the home page, click on "S. Teachers," then "Many Disciplines."  Also, on the home, click on "Writing in Many Fields."

CompPile: http://comppile.tamucc.edu. An expanding database of publications in composition and rhetoric. Nearly 60,000 citations for writing-related articles and essays that have appeared in journals, book series, and edited collections.

George Washington University "WID Bibliography," 2004: http://www.gwu.edu/~uwp/wid/WIDFacultyResources.htm

The Ohio State University Center for Writing Excellence and Writing Across the Curriculum: http://www.ohiou.edu/writing/teaching_resources.htm. 

Northern Illinois University English Department "WAC Bibliography," 1997: http://www.engl.niu.edu/wac/wacbib.html.

University of Hawaii at Manoa Writing Program: http://www.mwp.hawaii.edu. Click on “Faculty Resources and Information” to find links to criteria for the university’s WI (Writing Intensive) courses and various teacher resources (e.g., information on assignment design, responding to student writing, the reading/writing connection, critical thinking, and evaluation). The main-page side bar provides links to fifty other writing centers and writing-across-the-curriculum programs across the country.

University of Minnesota Writing Intensive requirements for its writing-in-the-disciplines courses: http://cisw.cla.umn.edu/faculty/requirements/index.htm.  

University of Minnesota Composition Program’s Online Grammar Handbook: http://umn.edu/home/jewel001/grammar or http://composition.cla.umn.edu/student_web/grammar_handbook.htm.  

WAC Clearinghouse: http://wac.colostate.edu. This comprehensive site includes links to many helpful WAC resources, including major WAC programs, bibliographies, conferences, teaching ideas, and journals. Clearinghouse “members” can submit information and ideas to the web site and participate in on-line discussions about WAC-related issues.

Writing Across the Curriculum Program at George Mason University: http://wac.gmu.edu. A good site for administrators wishing to launch WAC initiatives. Includes information on program history, program assessment, and writing-intensive course requirements, as well as links to back issues of the WAC-program news.

Writing Across the Curriculum at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: http://mendota.english.wisc.edu/~WAC.  Designed especially for faculty outside of English, this site offers information from faculty across the disciplines on how to design writing-intensive courses. Sample teaching materials and assessment guides are also included.  
     

Exemplary WID/WAC Programs in Universities and Colleges [from Bernhardt, Stephen A. "Thriving in Academe: Writing To Learn; Learning To Write." Advocate.  National Education Association.  Vol. 21, No. 3 (Feb. 2004): 8.]

Clemson University: www.clemson.edu/caah/Pearce/.  "This program integrates written, oral, visual, and digital communication into courses throughout the curriculum."   

Cornell University: www.arts.cornell.edu/knight_institute/index.html.  "The John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines combines first-year seminars, advanced courses..., and various seminar and outreach activities.  It also sponsors an innovative consortium that brings together various universities to collaborate on development of writing in the disciplines' programs.    

George Mason University: http://wac/gmu.edu/program/program.html.  "George Mason features writing-intsive requirements in the major and...has developed an extensive set of guides for faculty in various disciplines...and an extensive assessment initiative."    

Hostos Community College: www.hostos.cuny.edu.  "The college uses writing fellows who work with faculty to transform courses and instruction at this diverse, urban community college...."    

Mount Holyoke College: www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/programs/wcl/saw/index.shtml.  "The Speaking, Arguing, and Writing Program...embeds opportunities to practice goal-oriented communication throught the entire college experience....  

North Carolina State University: www2.chass.ncsu.edu/CWSP/.  "NCSU boasts a mature program [led by Chris Anson], where individual departments define the outcomes they want to see for writing and communication skills, and consultants from the Campus Writing and Speaking Program help them...."  

Return to beginning.

[For an introductory discussion, see "Rubrics."]

            A “rubric” is a set of guidelines used for clear, consistent evaluation.  It also is an explanation offered to those being evaluated.  The four rubrics on this sheet represent four systems for evaluating formal written papers.  They may be used as they are, or as examples to help you develop your own. 

 A “Qualifiable KPI [Key Performance Indicator]” Rubric  --Brenda Wentworth  

(Wentworth, Brenda, Assessment Coordinator, College
of Fine Arts and Humanities. St. Cloud State University . 2003.)

·        In writing the student will have one voice that unifies the writing style of the document.

·        The document presents a clear, concrete, focused, narrow hypothesis or assertion.

·        Students will support assertions with direct evidence from disciplinary sources, mostly primary source readings (give examples), from secondary sources (give examples), and from a few tertiary sources (give examples or exclude tertiary sources if appropriate)

·        The document uses sources of knowledge that are credible.

·        The audience for the document will be (clearly identify the appropriate audience).

·        The organizational structure is clear (introduction-body-conclusion or problem-solution or question-answer or explanatory outline with links, etc.).

·        The document is free of mechanical errors.

“The high achieving or excellent student will be able to accomplish everything in the rubric that is at the level of magazines or journals in the discipline (give examples).  They will be prepared for graduate level work or research but not able to write above master’s degree level.  Their work may contain some new knowledge or draw new conclusions based on the knowledge.

“The average student will be able to accomplish all but one or two of the standards.  Their work will not be at a publishable level in disciplinary magazines or journals.  Their research will be adequate but will contain no new knowledge or reach any new conclusions.

“The low achieving student will be able to accomplish at least four of the standards adequately.  They will minimally accomplish the other standards but their work will be below the average of most college students.  Their writing will be technically imperfect, may contain mechanical errors, and their conclusions may be weak.”

-----

    
-----

 An Interdisciplinary Rubric for Grading a Paper  --Richard Jewell

(Jewell, Richard. Inver Hills Community College. 13 Feb. 2004.)

1.   CONTENTS: Are ideas well developed and applied?  Are the ideas sufficiently original?  Is there a central purpose?  Are concepts and terminology appropriate and clear?  Are the critical thinking functions of the field or discipline used well?
     

2.   SUPPORTING DETAILS: Are there adequate and appropriate details (e.g., quotations, paraphrases, examples, stories, statistics, graphics, or a bibliography)?  Do they support the paper’s central concepts?  Are the details well explained and connected to the concepts? 
 

3.   AUDIENCE/STYLE: Does the paper show evidence of consideration of its audience?  Does it use an appropriate academic or professional tone?  Does it speak in an appropriate voice to its audience?
  

4.   ORGANIZATION: Does the paper have a central subject or argument? Are there clear, separate topics and/or sections that start with appropriate topic sentences or subtitles?  Are there clear, developed paragraphs?
 

5.   PROFESSIONAL APPEARANCE: Are mechanics—e.g., grammatical usage, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, graphics/illustrations, and typing—sufficiently correct?

            You may offer the above to students as general guidelines, or you may score each guideline using letters or points with equal weighting (e.g., “C B A C A” or “2 3 4 2 4” = overall “B”) or unequal weighting (e.g., “C C C” for #1, “B B” for #2, and “A C A” for #3-5 = overall B-).  The best-case scenario is to use guidelines such as these to develop your own specific rubric.     
                  
-----

 Four-Point Web-Design Rubric  --Kathleen Blake Yancey

[Yancey, Kathleen Blake. Computers and Composition 21:1 (2004): 96.]

1. What arrangements are possible?

2. Who arranges?

3. What is the intent?

4. What is the fit between the intent and the effect?

Return to beginning.

----------

Most recent update: 8-27-05
     

Contents © 2004 by Richard Jewell and Cindy Moore.  Nonprofit copying for education is allowed. Page Design © 2002-2004 by Richard Jewell.   Images courtesy of Barry's Clip Art, Clip Art Warehouse, The Clip Art Universe, Clipart Collection, Microsoft Clip Art Gallery and Design Gallery Live, School Discovery, and Web Clip Art Home page:  http://collegewriting.info   Contact the author by going to www.Richard.Jewell.net.  I welcome questions, suggestions, and notes about links.

 - End -

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.