Writing in the Disciplines:

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Do you know any good places to eat? Whats on the
agenda today?
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Writing in the Disciplines

• Conceiving, Planning, and Revising 300-level
  Writing Classes

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Okay, so Ill give you the benefit of the doubt.
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Our purpose today is to

• give general background information
• stimulate thinking about teaching writing in the
  disciplines
• invite participation in planning and advising
  groups

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Sounds like they want to pick my brains
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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.

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

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Lets see now . . What was that first point?
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Let me think about this again. Project cycles?
Yes, I think I had one of those once.
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If you want to be involved in planning and
revising WID courses

• Send an email to dale.sullivan_at_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 the Design Professions
• Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences
• For more information, go to
• http//www.ndsu.nodak.edu/cfwriters/VWCurriculum/V
  erticalWritingCurriculum.htm

I suppose I should write this down
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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 purposesit
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 writers 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
  _____________________________