Topic: Form in Professional Writing

10-second review: Book analyzes the texts in some of the NCTE’s professional journals and concludes that they are conventional.

Title: Review of Knowledge and Reflexivitiy: New Frontiers in the Sociology of Knowledge. Ed. Steve Woolgar. (London and Beverly Hills: Sage. 1988, 214 pages.) Reviewed by Greg Myers. College Composition and Communication (December 1988), 465-474. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary: “We specialize in analyzing textual forms, but as far as I can see our own texts in College Composition and Communication, College English, Research in the Teaching of English, and Written Communication are entirely conventional.” p. 473.

Comment: For all those who think the model of the five-paragraph essay that represents the “3T” formula, “Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them and tell them what you told them,” is outmoded, NCTE’s professional articles follow the conventional format. They introduce, state their thesis, use topic sentences and summarize what they have said. If you don’t want to call it the five-paragraph essay, then call it, the “ITTS” model: “Intro, Thesis, Topic Sentences and Summary paragraph.” RayS.