"Sustainable WAC: A Whole Systems Approach to Launching and Developing Writing Across the Curriculum Programs" (Cox, Galin, & Melzer, 2018a) lays out a systematic whole systems approach to program development that draws on complexity theories and integrates the use of sustainability indicators (SIs) for monitoring and assessing…

Although writing is well established as a high-impact educational practice, scaling that practice is challenging. Writing is a mode of engaged learning, and teaching it requires providing careful attention informed by expertise. These conditions are labor-intensive and expensive, even as public universities are hardly awash in funds. Writing…

This article explores how Ms. Ford, a first-grade teacher, integrated literary tools to engage students in higher-level thinking and meaning making. Through the use of teacher talk, eliciting responses, asking for clarity, and expanding on student responses, she utilized discourse to support students in making meaning. Ms. Ford's first-grade…

A commonly used method for supporting the writing of students with learning disabilities (LD), graphic organizers have been shown to effectively support instruction for students with LD in a variety of content areas (Dexter & Hughes, 2011). Students with LD often struggle with the process of developing their ideas into organized sentences; the…

Writing in plain language aims to help users find what they need and ensures that the information is both useful and understandable. This is key for distance students whose primary library interaction may be with the library Website. A mix of user research and readability scores can be used to measure whether content is findable, useful, and…

In this article, Christine Donahue describes how her experiences as a scholar, a member of multi-country European research projects, university research laboratories, and as an invited professor in multiple institutions, have transformed her life and her approach to writing research. Donahue notes that human instinct when encountering the new, the…

Composition researchers have become increasingly concerned with the issue of knowledge transfer: the use of knowledge and skills learned in one setting to complete tasks in a different setting. In terms of writing-related knowledge transfer, research suggests that rigid rules and formulas for writing do not transfer as successfully as flexible…

Consistent with common core state standards and recent legislation such as the Every Student Succeeds Act, middle level teachers are establishing high expectations for all students. Middle level students are expected to make connections among topics, cite evidence from text, and engage in higher level thinking skills across subject areas. Often,…

This paper describes the development of a software program that supports argumentative reading and writing, especially for novice students. The software helps readers create a graphic organizer from the text as a knowledge map while they are reading and use their prior knowledge to build their own opinion as new information while they think about…

Since writing in the disciplines (WID) is focused on learning how to write formal documents of a professional register, it is important to note that each field or discipline has its own style, structure, and format when it comes to writing, and most composition courses seldom facilitate the transfer of these specialized skills in the classroom.…

In his work as an instructional coach for Houston Independent School District, Stephen Winton has experienced the power of Kylene Beers and Bob Probst's seminal texts "Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading" (2012) and "Reading Nonfiction: Notice & Note Stances, Signposts and Strategies" in exploring author's craft…

After having published more than 400 refereed journals in the past three decades, I have learned from my mistakes in writing and in submitting manuscripts for review. As such, in this article, aspiring writers are provided with suggestions that they may find helpful in improving their ability to get their research manuscripts published in…

This paper describes several strategies for organizing, collaborating on, persisting in, and funding professional writing activities that can benefit new tenure track faculty members. Establishing and maintaining a regular program of academic writing is essential to a successful career in higher education, but initiating and maintaining a program…

In this interview, Susan Wells discusses the teaching of public writing and the work of public rhetoric as they respond to both shifting and recurring political and social contexts. Drawing on insights from her extensive and current work on public rhetoric, including her foundational essay "Rogue Cops and Health Care: What Do We Want from…

Writing and Rhetoric 3326: Legal Writing is an introduction to legal analysis and writing. It is offered at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, a Holy Cross liberal arts university of approximately 4,300 students, mostly undergraduates. This course focuses on applied rhetoric, and is designed to give undergraduate students experience in…