This paper presents the experiences of educators at North Georgia College and State University while developing learning communities connecting the two disciplines of biology and English in the teaching of writing and editing within the scientific context. The paper states that for seven semesters English grammar and composition courses have been…

After an introduction by James L. Marra explaining the Intellectual Heritage Program at the College of Art and Sciences at Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), this paper presents four brief faculty essays describing various techniques that the writers use in their classes in the program. The techniques discussed in the paper are…

Teachers' responsibility to improve students' writing entails changes in the teacher, the students, and the school. First, commitment to improvement requires the attainment of new knowledge on the teachers' part. They must be familiar with current research on the writing process and with how to translate that research into classroom practice.…

Noting the growing interest in how writing activities might complement current teaching techniques and improve learning in mathematics, this paper presents a progress report on the use of writing assignments in freshman precalculus courses at a Minnesota university. The paper first presents a rationale for this teaching technique and the original…

A Texas high school has initiated a writing across the curriculum program in which an English instructor first taught the writing process to 10 colleagues from social studies and science. The first session brought out concerns, questions, and frustrations and laid the foundation for trust and understanding in the working relationship. Actual…

Concerned with improving text readability in the content areas, this report first draws upon Linda Flower's writing steps and strategies in its description of writing as moving from planning to generating ideas in words, designing for a reader, and editing for effectiveness. It also presents nine more precise steps in the writing process along…

In an attempt to contribute to the development of students' writing skills while helping them master basic psychology, a writing component was designed for a medium sized introductory psychology course. Its purpose was to aid in the mastery of course material and to contribute to the development of students' skill in written expression. In the…

Social workers write under many and varied pressures. A study examined the writing tasks and challenges facing social workers. An open-ended questionnaire was administered to 16 social workers in the Boston area--half were clinicians, and half were administrators/clinicians. The questionnaire was divided into three sections: a description of…

Fifty-five colleges that require graduating students to pass a writing proficiency examination were surveyed as to the form and nature of their examinations and the formal preparation and follow-up procedures offered to students taking the examinations. The examination formats fall into three broad categories: 62% are essay only, 31% are essay…

The low number of students who enroll in advanced courses at community colleges creates a number of problems, including cost inefficiency. One of the benefits derived from writing across the curriculum is the value writing provides in personalizing instruction. Writing is a way of activating passive students and encouraging student interaction…

A cross-disciplinary project at the University of South Alabama has been successful in improving the technical competence of undergraduate writers in all academic fields. For the geography department, this project has involved developing courses which teach writing as part of the thinking process and problem-solving method. While instructors have…

Although teachers are often told to use literature as models for students' writing, they are rarely provided with specific suggestions on how, when, and why to use literature, or trade books, in their curriculum. Yet there are many situations in which the use of literature can be helpful to the novice writer. With pre-kindergarten or kindergarten…

A study investigated the effectiveness of peer critiquing and the use of writing models in the preparation of scientific reports. Primary trait scoring was used to evaluate laboratory reports on exercise physiology written by four different groups of sophomore biology majors: (1) a reference (control) group that prepared for writing reports with…

One strategy used to improve teaching at Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland, is a six-year writing across the curriculum project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Faculty from 14 departments spend a year teaming with a member of the writing department; following that year of paired teaching, the content faculty become…

Adult basic education programs could teach writing by incorporating writing across the curriculum to learn as well as to communicate. Since expressive writing is a good way to encourage students to write without intimidating them, a free writing period genuinely could be productive if the teacher assigned a definite subject, such as a topic that…