Communication Across the Disciplines

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Communication Across the Disciplines

• Karla Saari Kitalong, CAH
• Beth Rapp Young, CAH
• Houman Sadri, COS

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One Minute Paper

• What writing activities have you tried in your
  classes?
• What would you like to do better?

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CxD AssumptionsWriting is

• a complex activity or practice
• a process as well as a product
• a learning activity
• a communications activity

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Basic Principles of Written CxD

• Writing
• promotes learning
• is the responsibility of the entire academic
  community
• must be integrated across departmental boundaries
  
• Effective writing instruction
• is continuous throughout undergraduate education
• Effective writing within a discipline
• requires practicing the conventions of that
  discipline.

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Writing to Perform/Communicate(Transactional
Writing)

• Assignments are typically formal papers prepared
  over a few weeks or months.
• Final papers model format and style of
  professional papers in the discipline.
• Teachers comment on content, but expect to see
  professional standards of format and mechanical
  correctness.
• Often involves peer review and one or more
  interim drafts or other stages.

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Writing to Learn

• Informal (short, impromptu) writing tasks that
  help students think through key concepts or
  ideas.
• Often limited to five minutes of class time or
  assigned as out-of-class assignments.
• Active learning, sometimes collaborative.
• One minute paper think-pair-share.

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Effective Writing Assignments Getting Started

• Start with a clear goal that YOU can express.
  What does this writing task do for students?
• Visualize the final product and think backwards.
  "What do I want to read at the end of this
  assignment?
• Map the path.

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Written Assignment Sheet

• Tie the writing to specific course goals
• Note rhetorical aspects of the task (audience,
  purpose, situation)
• Make all elements of the task clear
• Include grading criteria
• Break the task into manageable steps and allow
  for multiple drafts.

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Unnecessary Challenges

• Incomplete assignments (dont specify deadlines,
  format, etc. not written down)
• Complex assignments (give too many questions to
  consider hard to find the question overly
  detailed structure)
• Vague assignments (provide general imperatives
  such as discuss, analyze instead of focused
  questions)

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Focus the Question

• CONFUSING In the graveyard scene of Hamlet,
  Shakespeare alters his sources by adding the
  clownish gravediggers. How does the presence of
  the gravediggers influence your interpretation of
  the scene? Do you think they are funny? Absurd?
  Blasphemous? How does Hamlets attitude toward
  the gravediggers affect the scene? Do you think
  it is appropriate to sing while digging a grave?
  What about the jokes they tell? Do you think
  that Yorick was more like the gravediggers or
  more like Hamlet? Do you think it is appropriate
  to have a lighthearted moment like this in the
  middle of a tragedy? Is the scene really
  lighthearted?

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Focus the Question

• BETTER In the graveyard scene of Hamlet,
  Shakespeare alters his sources by adding the
  clownish gravediggers. How does the presence of
  the gravediggers influence your interpretation of
  the scene?

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Focus the Question

• LESS EFFECTIVE Pick one of the following and
  write an essay about it (a) Gothic cathedrals
  (b) Charlemagne (c) the Black Death.
• MORE EFFECTIVE There is a connection between
  the worldview of a culture and the kind of
  architecture it produces. To what extent does
  this quotation explain the differences between
  Romanesque and Gothic churches?

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Focus the Question

• LESS EFFECTIVE Discuss the use of pesticides
  in controlling mosquitoes.
• MORE EFFECTIVE What are the pros and cons of
  using pesticides to control mosquitoes?
• Or
• Which pesticides (if any) would you recommend
  using to control pesticides in the attached case,
  and why?

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Focus the Question

• LESS EFFECTIVE Analyze the influence of
  Platonic thought on Christianity.
• MORE EFFECTIVE The otherworldly focus of
  twentieth-century fundamentalist Christianity
  owes more to Plato than to Jesus. Agree or
  disagree with this proposition.

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Suggest a Proposition

• This proposed bridge design does / does not meet
  the criteria set forth by the city in its request
  for proposal. civil engineering
• The path to holiness lies through questioning
  everything. Agree or disagree. religious
  studies
• Based on the attached case, the nurse supervisor
  should/should not honor the husbands request
  that his wife (a stroke victim) be assigned a new
  nurse. nursing
• Global warming is / is not a significant
  environmental threat at this time. environmental
  biology
• When the tablecloth was pulled from underneath
  the dishes, the dishes stayed on the table. Why?
  physics exam

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Guide Them to a Proposition

• Write an essay of no more than two double-spaced
  pages answering the following question Is a
  skilled trout fisher on a variable interval or a
  variable ratio schedule or reinforcement?
  Imagine that you are writing to a classmate who
  has missed the last week of lectures and finds
  the textbook explanations of variable interval
  and variable ratio confusing. Psychology
• Gausss law relates the field at the surface to
  the charge inside the surface. But surely the
  field at the surface is affected by the charges
  outside the surface. How do you resolve this
  difficulty? Physics
• Choose a question that Plato answers in one way
  and Aristotle answers in a different way (for
  example, How do things change?) Then, in the
  first part of your paper, explain to your reader
  the differences in these two theories. In the
  second part of your paper, evaluate the two
  positions, arguing that one position is stronger
  than the other. In this section, specifically
  answer the following question What situation or
  thing does one theory explain well that the other
  cannot explain adequately? Philosophy

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They Choose a Proposition

• Write an essay of X pages on any topic related to
  this course. Use the introduction of your essay
  to engage your readers interest in a problem or
  question that you would like to address in your
  essay. Show your reader what makes the question
  both significant and problematic. The body of
  your essay should be your own response to this
  question made as persuasive as possible through
  appropriate analysis and argumentation, including
  effective use of evidence. Midway through the
  course, you will submit to the instructor a
  prospectus that describes the problem or question
  that you plan to address and shows why the
  question is (1) problematic and (2) significant.

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Challenges of Teaching Writing Outside of
Disciplinary Context

• Writing problems are numerous and varied.
• Solutions may be discipline specific.
• Much of what an accomplished writer knows about
  writing remains tacit.
• Tacit knowledge is (arguably) best communicated
  through apprenticeship.

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Resources

• Writing Across the Curriculum Clearinghouse
  http//wac.colostate.edu/index.cfm
• Bedford/St. Martins Professional Resources
  (http//bedfordstmartins.com)
• Hedengren, B. A TAs Guide to Teaching Writing in
  All Disciplines. 2004.
• Gottschalk, K. and K. Hjortshoj. The Elements of
  Teaching Writing A Resource for Instructors in
  All Disciplines. 2004.
• University Writing Center www.uwc.ucf.edu
• Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas The Professors
  Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking,
  and Active Learning in the Classroom.
  Jossey-Bass, 2001 (www.josseybass.com).