Writing in the Academic Disciplines, : A Curricular
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Russell, David R., PUBLISHER: Southern Illinois University Press, In this singular study, David R. Russell provides a history of ong>writingong> instruction outside general composition courses in American secondary and higher education, from the founding of public secondary schools and research universities in the s through the spread of the ong>writingong>-across-the-curriculum movement in the s. Russell's task is to examine the ways ong>writingong> was taught in the myriad curricula that composed the varied structure of secondary and higher education in modern America. He begins with the assertion that, before the s, ong>writingong> was taught as ancillary to speaking. As a result, formal ong>writingong> instruction was essentially training in handong>writingong>, the mechanical process of transcribing sound to visual form. From this point, Russell carefully examines academic ong>writingong>, its origins and its teaching, from a broad institutional perspective. He looks at the history of little-studied genres of student ong>writingong> such as the research paper, lab report, and essay examination. Tracing the effects of increasing specialization on ong>writingong> instruction, he notes how two ong>newong> ideals of academic life, research and utilitarian service, shaped ong>writingong> instruction into its modern forms. Finally, he contributes the definitive history of the current ong>writingong>-across-the-curriculum movement, providing a study of the long tradition of other WAC efforts with an analysis of why they have waned.