Writing Across the Curriculum Newsletter
Editor:
Daiva Markelis E-mail: cfdmm@eiu.edu
Assistant Editors:
Sue Ellen Francis
Rachel Heicher
We all have them as teachers, those defining
moments in the classroom that make us think about what we're doing and
how we're doing it, that change forever the assumptions we hold about
our profession, our discipline, and ourselves. I had one of these moments
two and a half years ago during my first semester teaching here at Eastern
Illinois University. The class was English 3001, Advanced Composition,
a course required by several majors in addition to English. It was mid-semester,
and the students were beginning work on their final projects--research
papers focusing on a topic relevant to their discipline and/or future
profession. About a third of the students were special education majors;
the rest came from English, journalism, physical education, and music.
We were discussing introductions. Having recently finished a Ph.D. program
in composition and rhetoric that stressed innovation, I encouraged the
class to experiment: "You might want to begin your paper with a personal
anecdote about the topic. You might even use a poem." While a few
of the students nodded their heads enthusiastically, about half looked
at me as if I were suggesting that they all drop out of school to take
up interpretive dance.
"I'm using APA style," a young
woman finally said. "We can't begin with stories."
"Our special education professor
would kill us if we began with a poem," someone else added.
I stammered something like, "Okay,
no poems, then."
Although one of the common writing myths
floating about in the academic arena as well as in the so-called "real
world" is that good writing is good writing is good writing, as a
composition specialist I should have known better. Differences in academic
writing go way beyond the methods used for citing sources, important as
these methods are. They include differences in tone and levels of formality
(including use of "I"), sentence style (including use of subordination
and the passive voice), paragraphing, vocabulary, and visual appearance.
While standards of grammatical correctness may remain fairly fixed (though
even these change over time and sometimes even from discipline to discipline--think
of the last comma-in-a-series issue in journalism), academic writing practices
vary widely. The conventions governing business writing, for example,
are different from those controlling laboratory reports, which, in turn,
are distinct from those found in art criticism.
One of the goals that the Writing Across
the Curriculum Committee hopes to accomplish with this newsletter is to
get faculty to think more deeply about what constitutes effective writing
in their own as well as in other disciplines. We also hope to share our
expertise in constructing and evaluating writing assignments, as well
as to serve as a resource for faculty teaching Writing Intensive and/or
Writing Centered courses here at Eastern Illinois University, especially
for the first time.
Our inaugural issue includes suggestions
for writing in the classroom in informal ways, an interview with Dave
Arseneau about business writing, a short section on the Electronic Writing
Portfolio, and an advice column on grammar (because, heck, grammar can
be fun). Possible future topics include using writing to improve learning,
assessing student papers, and plagiarism.
