Writing Across the Curriculum

The threat to Britannica from Wikipedia is not a matter of dueling methods of providing information. Wikipedia, if it works better than Britannica, threatens not only its authority as a source of information, but also the theory of knowledge on which Britannica is founded. On Wikipedia "the author" is distributed, and this fact is indigestible to current models of thinking. "Wikipedia is forcing people to accept the stone-cold bummer that knowledge is produced and constructed by argument rather than by divine inspiration.

If my point of view needn't immediately eradicate yours—if we are having not a contest but an ongoing comparison, whether in politics, art or literary criticism, if "knowledge" is and will remain provisional (and we could put a huge shout-out to Rorty here, if we had the space and the breath) what would this mean to the quality of our discourse, or to the subsequent character and quality of "understanding"?

Writing, then, is a profoundly active learning experience, for when people write, they identify and define problems, evaluate evidence, analyze assumptions, recognize emotional reasoning and oversimplification, consider alternative interpretations, and reduce their uncertainty (Wade, 1995). Indeed, in many cases writers do not understand a concept clearly until they must organize their thoughts on the topic and communicate those thoughts through composition. As a result, authors are often surprised by the ideas they themselves write, for understanding emerges during the struggle to make points clear to others (Murray, 1985).

Professors who wish to add just one element of student-centered instruction to an otherwise professor-centered approach should start by asking students to write. These writing assignments may include the traditional favorites-term papers and essay tests-but Walvoord (1982) wisely recommends giving shorter, but more varied and frequent, writing assignments.

When students write they are learning to use "the traditions of language to discipline their thinking and to make that thinking clear to others" (Murray, 1985, p. 52). Unfortunately, many students will need coaching on the process of writing and feedback about the quality of the writing they generate. The professor must, as Walvoord (1982, p. 3) suggests, "make writing assignments meaningful, establish a wholesome and stimulating writing environment for their students, coach pupils in the writing process, respond accurately and specifically to student papers, communicate clearly with students about their writing successes and failures, and help student improve writing as they learn and in order to learn."

Clarify the assignment. Nodine (1999) notes that students need to learn about writing assignments as much as they need to learn about writing per se. Telling the students to "write a 5-10 page paper on one of the topics covered in this unit" is likely to frustrate students and disappoint professors. Instead, the assignment should explain the paper's purpose, the audience for the paper, the genre, voice, typical length, style, degree of documentation expected, and deadlines.