Office of Interdisciplinary Studies, Writing Studies
WRS 604:
Roger Graves, Professor, English and Film Studies roger.graves@ualberta.ca
Director, Writing Across the Curriculum
1-34 Assiniboia Hall
Office hours:
Wed. 12-2 and by appointment
780.492.2169 http://www.ualberta.ca/~graves1/index.html
This course poses the general problem: “what is the connection between writing and disciplinarity?” One of your tasks as a student in this course is to pose a generative subquestion of that main question. I thought I’d start with this, the big picture, to explain why I thought of offering this course at all and why the answer to this question is important to me and my work. I hope that by deciding to take this course or to at least drop in for the first class or two you can find something of value in this general inquiry into disciplinarity and the role of writing in constructing it.
One way we’ll approach an answer to the connection of writing and disciplinarity is to read what others have said about this. Our main book will be Writing in the Academic Disciplines: A
Curricular History (2 nd ed) by David Russell, an American scholar in writing studies/composition. We’ll add to this with some Canadian history, most notably Henry
Hubert’s Harmonious Perfection: The Development of English Studies in Nineteenth-Century
Anglo-Canadian Colleges (Chapters 4, 5 and the conclusion; pp. 89-184). Nan Johnson and
Kevin Brooks’ articles fill in more of the historical story in Canada. The Hubert historical articles speak specifically to the development of English studies in Canada—that is, the teaching of literature in the English language, a practice that began in the late 19 th century, and the role of writing in those practices. If you are a student in English and Film Studies, you should know this history because it explains much of what goes on in that department. But
English studies is only one of many disciplines, and Brooks and Russell give us ample reading to consider the relationship of writing to other disciplines, historically.
Much research in writing studies of the last 30 years or so considers the role of writing in contexts beyond English studies: other departments at universities, for example; the workplace; in scientific research; in medical contexts; and so on. So the next segment of the course will focus on writing in a discipline: economics, history, law, engineering, and so on.
You will identify a discipline—and if several of you want to work together, you may decide to work as a group or on different aspects of one discipline—and we’ll focus on those examples for considering the role of writing. When we look at what constitutes these disciplines, though, we should reach for evidence of disciplinarity not just in academic articles but also in textbooks written for students in these disciplines, advice provided on websites, and social practices that students in these disciplines engage in as part of their work as members of the discipline. In short, we’ll take what in writing studies is called a “genre” approach to studying

these disciplines. We will understand the documents we encounter in the context of the social activities that produce and sponsor them.
Of course, once we consider disciplines in isolation from each other we’ll find that, in fact, they socialize and mingle. One of the key figures in this work in Canada is Anthony Paré, author of the lead chapter in Interdisciplinarity: Thinking and Writing Beyond Borders. We’ll then consider the ways disciplines work together and the role of writing in faculties such as
Physical Education, Recreation, and Leisure Studies (PERLS) where qualitative meets quantitative, where PhD students need to learn to write for audiences familiar with statistical measurements, ethnography, and post-modern theory. Michael Carter, in his article “Ways of
Knowing, Doing, and Writing in the Disciplines,” identifies four “meta-disciplines,” those governed by:1. Problem solving; 2. Experimenting; 3. Library researching; and 4. Performing.
Discplines, according to Carter, are more likely to form around declarative knowledge about some area whereas meta-disciplines form around processes or procedural knowledge.
What we study and find in our reading and writing this term should benefit you in several ways. Your understanding of your own discipline should increase greatly, if only by comparison to others. Your understanding of what makes a group of people into a discipline— and an inter-discipline—should help you understand both the core of your own department and the fringes or multi-disciplinary organizations, conferences, and research groups at all universities. Finally, you should be able to activate this knowledge or connect it to your own work as a graduate student by creating texts that respond well to the demands of what is perhaps the most challenging document you will ever write: your dissertation.
Contribution to class project—bibliography of disciplinary resources
Leading the discussion of readings (Nov. 3-Dec. 1)
Problem statement proposal
Term document: as defined in proposal
20
20
10
50
A note on texts: Articles are cited to the original journal so that students can find them online; copies of the relevant book chapters will be made available for students to copy and read.
Some books in the reading list are on reserve at Rutherford Library.
Bazerman, C., Little, J., Bethel, L., Chavkin, T., Fouquette, D. & Garufis, J.
(2005). Reference Guide to Writing
Across the Curriculum (Eds.). Anderson, SC: Parlour Press.. Ch. 7, On-Going Concerns: The Particularity of
Disciplinary Discourses.
Brooks, K. (2002). National culture and the first-year curriculum: An historical study of composition in Canadian universities. The American Review of Canadian Studies , 32, 673-694.
Carter, M. (2007). Ways of knowing, doing, and writing in the disciplines. College Composition and
Communication 58, 385-418.

Graves, H. & Graves, R. (2010). Interdisciplinarity: Thinking and Writing Beyond Borders. Edmonton: Canadian
Association for the Study of Discourse and Writing.
Graves, R. & Graves, H. (2006). Writing Centres, Writing Seminars, Writing Culture: Writing Instruction in Anglo-
Canadian Universities. Winnipeg: Inkshed Publications.
Hubert, H. (1994).
Harmonious Perfection: The Development of English Studies in Nineteenth-Century Anglo-
Canadian Colleges. East Lansing: Michigan State UP.
Johnson, N. (1988). “Rhetoric and belles lettres in the Canadian academy: An historical analysis.” College English ,
50, 861-73.
Landry, D. (2010). Writing Studies’ Room of Its Own. In Graves & Graves (2010).
Paré, A. (2010). Interdisciplinarity: Rhetoric, reasonable accommodation, and the Toto effect. In Graves & Graves
(2010).
Russell, D. (2002). (2 nd ed).
Writing in the Academic Disciplines: A Curricular History.
Carbondale and
Edwardsville: Southern Illinois UP.
Segal, J. Z., Paré, A., Brent, D., & Vipond, D. (1998). The researcher as missionary: Problems with rhetoric and reform in the disciplines. College Composition and Communication 50, 1 , 71-90.
Segal, J. Z. (2005). Interdisciplinarity and Bibliography in Rhetoric of Health and Medicine. Technical
Communication Quarterly , 14, 3, 311 – 318.
Sept. 8
Sept. 15
Sept. 22
Sept. 29
Writing, English, and the Emergence of Disciplines
Writing in the Academic Disciplines, 1-69
Johnson, N. (1988). “Rhetoric and belles lettres in the Canadian academy:
An historical analysis.” College English, 50, 861-73.
Hubert, H. (1994). “Anglo-Canadian developments, 1853-1884” in
Harmonious Perfection: The development of English studies in Nineteenth-
century Anglo-Canadian colleges. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University
Press.
Guest: Dr. Cheryl Glenn
Writing in the Academic Disciplines, 70-235
Writing in the Academic Disciplines, 239-307
Hubert, H. (1994). “Specialization, idealism, and British literature in Canada:
1884-1900” in Harmonious Perfection: The development of English studies in
Nineteenth-century Anglo-Canadian colleges. East Lansing, MI: Michigan
State University Press.

Oct. 6
Oct. 13
Oct. 20
Oct. 27
Nov. 3
Nov. 10
Brooks, K. (2002). National culture and the first-year curriculum: An historical study of composition in Canadian universities. The American
Review of Canadian Studies, 32, 673-694.
Workshopping:
Student project proposal drafts
Discussion:
Course project progress
Writing in the Disciplines
Ch. 7, On-Going Concerns: The Particularity of Disciplinary Discourses.
Reference Guide to Writing Across the Curriculum. Eds. Charles Bazerman,
Joseph Little, Lisa Bethel, Teri Chavkin, Danielle Fouquette, and Janet
Garufis. Anderson, SC: Parlour Press. 2005.
Discussion: Progress and shape of class project
Guest: Dr. Heather Graves
Writing in the sciences
Rhetoric of Science
Readings to be announced
Interdisciplinary writing
Paré, A. (2010). Interdisciplinarity: Rhetoric, reasonable accommodation, and the Toto effect. In Graves & Graves.
Carter, M. (2007). Ways of knowing, doing, and writing in the disciplines.
College Composition and Communication 58, 385-418.
Segal, J. Z., Paré, A., Brent, D., & Vipond, D. (1998). The researcher as missionary: Problems with rhetoric and reform in the disciplines. College
Composition and Communication 50 (1), 71-90.
Landry, D. (2010). Writing Studies’ Room of Its Own. In Graves & Graves.
Readings from this point in the term will reflect the interests of students in the course
Medical rhetoric
Segal, J. Z. (2005). Interdisciplinarity and Bibliography in Rhetoric of Health and Medicine. Technical Communication Quarterly, 14, 3, 311 – 318.
Nelson, S. (2001). From salvation to civics: service to the sick in nursing discourse. Social Science & Medicine 53, 1217–1225.
Student selected reading 3 & 4
Geology discourse
Rahman, M. (1995). A Comparative Study of Native and Pakistani Geology
Research Articles. Dissertation University of Edinburgh , Centre for
Cognitive Science.

Nov. 24
Dec. 1
Nov. 17
Fratesi, S. E. (2010). The virtual landscape of geological information: Topics, methods, and rhetoric in modern geology. University of South Florida, 2008,
274 pages; 3376239.
Runquist, M. (1992). The Rhetoric of Geology: Ethos in the Writing of North
American Geologists, 1823-1988. Journal of Technical Writing and
Communication, 22, 387 – 404.
Wickliff, G. A. (1997). Geology, Photography, and Environmental Rhetoric in the American West of 1860-1890. Technical Communication Quarterly, 6, 41
– 75.
Student selected reading 5 & 6
Educational psychology rhetoric
Howe, K. R. (2009). Positivist Dogmas, Rhetoric, and the Education Science
Question. Educational Researcher, 38, 428-440.
Petralgia, J. (1998). Reality by design: the rhetoric and technology of
authenticity in education. Mahwah NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum.
Student selected reading 7 & 8
Review of Draft of Course Project
Student selected reading 9 & 10
Final edits of Course Project

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Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of
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2003)
Plagiarism and Cheating
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