Writing in the Disciplines: Planning and Advising for Better Writing Classes

1. Do you know any good places to eat? What’s on the agenda today?

2. Writing in the Disciplines: Conceiving, Planning, and Revising 300-level Writing Classes

3. Okay, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.

4. Our purpose today is to: • give general background information • stimulate thinking about teaching writing in the disciplines • invite participation in planning and advising groups

5. Sounds like they want to pick my brains

6. The new general education vertical writing requirement • What? 9 credits: Engl 110, 120, and upper division WID or WI course • When? Fall 2007 WID (writing in the disciplines) is our shorthand for classes English develops. WI (writing intensive) is our shorthand for classes other departments develop.

7. Did he say 9 credits of writing? WID or WI? hmmm

8. What we need to know to build better writing classes • typical project cycles in your field • where writing enters into these project cycles • what functions writing performs in these various parts of the cycle • the typical “simple” genres in your field • the typical “complex” genres in your field • the component parts of each of these “complex” genres

9. Let’s see now . . What was that first point?

10. Let me think about this again. Project cycles? Yes, I think I had one of those once.

11. If you want to be involved in planning and revising WID courses Send an email to dale.sullivan@ndsu.edu & indicate what field you are in and which WID course you would like to work with. WID courses • Business & Professional Writing • Writing in the Technical Professions • Writing in the Sciences • Writing in the Health Professions • Writing in Architecture • Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences For more information, go to http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/cfwriters/VWCurriculum/VerticalWritingCurriculum.htm I suppose I should write this down

12. Key Concepts Project Cycles: the work cycle involved in completing a typical major project in your field. The Purposes of Writing: Writing in work environments has instrumental purposes—it gets work done. These purposes are tied to the intentions of the writer, including announcing, informing, teaching, documenting, persuading. The Functions of Writing: Instrumental writing functions within a community of interacting workers. When we talk about the functions of writing, we refer to the way it facilitates cooperation and understanding among members of that interacting group, e.g., informs, reassures, records, authorizes . . . The Genres of Writing: Genres in rhetoric are “typified responses to recurrent situations.” In other words, at certain points in project cycles, certain situations recur each time. Over time, written documents crafted to address these situations take on recognizable features and become somewhat predictable in their sense of audience, their sense of the writer’s role, and their sense of typical rhetorical moves. They are usually referred to by common names, and when they are they are “defacto genres.” Simple and Complex Genres: Simple genres have only one rhetorical movement in them. Complex genres orchestrate several rhetorical movements to form a unified text with a single objective. Simple Genres: Request for information or action; simple response to request (many emails) Complex Genres: Formal reports or proposals consisting of sections that perform different functions. Crib sheet Work Sheet • Exploring Writing in Your Field • Name your field ______________. Describe a typical project cycle in your field. • Where in these project cycles does writing usually enter in to facilitate work? What is the purpose of these documents? • What functions does writing perform in these various parts of the cycle? Examples? • What are the typical “simple” genres employed in your field? Where do they come into play in project cycles and what functions do they perform? • What are the typical “complex” genres in your field? When, in the life of a project cycle, are they written? • What are the component parts of each of these “complex” genres? • -------------------------------------------- • I want to participate in a planning group for____________________________________. • Name: ____________________________ Email: ______________________________ • Phone: ____________________________ Signed: _____________________________