Topic: Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)

10-second review: “Rather than assuming writing instruction to be a ‘transient’ need that could be met for all time for all students in pre-college or first-year courses…these teachers understood that writing instruction would continue as genres and demands became more specialized.”

Title: “The State of WAC/WID [Writing in Disciplines] in 2010: Methods and Results of the U.S. Survey of the International WAC/WID Mapping Project.” C Thaiss and T Porter. College Composition and Communication (February 2010), 534-570.

Summary: The article focuses on WAC as an organized program with a central committee and a leader. Further questions need to be answered about how the committee operates and how the leader is changed. Many courses are labeled “writing intensive.” The heart of WAC programs is faculty workshops.

Comment: The majority of this article, summary of a response to a survey, is reported in statistics. The results are so general that  I could gain little information on how the programs really work. Is the writing in the disciplines based on genres needed in specific disciplines? If it is not, then what types of writing are required in the disciplines? RayS.