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Designing Discipline-Specific Writing Assignments

Learn to write (ltw) activities.

Writing can help students learn and think critically about course content. When students are asked to write discipline-specific genres, they learn to think and write like professionals in those disciplines. Two approaches to integrating writing in courses include write to learn (WTL) and learn to write (LTW) activities; for more about WTL activities, see our Principles page . LTW activities are high-stakes writing in which students learn to think like and communicate as professionals in discipline-specific genres. 

Objectives for Learn to Write Activities

• Learn course content
• Practice disciplinary ways of thinking
• Learn about discipline-specific genres
• Practice writing discipline-specific genres
• Adapt one’s writing to a variety of audiences 

Which Genres Matter Most in Your Discipline?

Genres often vary by discipline and reflect what, how, and to whom the discipline communicates. Here are just some of the genres that we’ve seen in JYW courses at UMass: personal narratives about students’ disciplinary interests; critical responses to scholarship; analyses of images, texts, or other cultural artifacts; literature reviews; research proposals; research articles; lab reports; op-eds; oral presentations; informational videos on YouTube or other media; blog posts for public audiences; and more.

When thinking about the select disciplinary genres that you assign, consider the form, habits of mind, or audiences that professionals in your discipline recognize. By form, how is this particular genre often structured? When considering the habits of mind, ask what ways of thinking, kind of evidence and logic, and skills students might need to write successfully in disciplinary genres. Lastly, you’ll want to consider the intended audiences for the genre and assignment. 

It’s worth noting that some assignments may require similar content skills, but in terms of writing, they require different audiences and habits of mind. A lab notebook might be more about the detail and process, including some personal observations of the process, for an audience of the writer and perhaps few others. On the other hand, a lab report is more contained, focused on the findings, and the audience might be just the professor or possibly a lab group. Lastly, an article is a polished, finalized product of this research. The emphasis is on persuasive and strong evidence, with a much far-reaching audience. 

Sequence the Assignments

It’s important to consider in what order students should work through assignments. How can you require multiple occasions for writing? What might students need to practice in order to be successful on future writing assignments?  For example, the curriculum may sequence assignments along one or more of the following tracks:

• first, specialists; then, non-specialist scientists (e.g.: NSF); last, popular audience
• literature review, methodology, analysis of teacher-provided or new data; conclusions; new research proposal based on findings 
• literature review; lab report with teacher-provided methodology and data; research proposal to specialist audience; research proposal to funding agency

Designing Effective Assignments 

• Identify and communicate 3-4 learning goals for the assignment. 
• Make the prompt meaningful by helping students identify their purpose and intended readers.
• Create scaffolded activities to help students meet those learning goals. 
• Set a plan with clear expectations and deadlines.
• Be sure to include multiple opportunities for drafting, feedback (both  peer  and  instructor ), and revision throughout. 

Questions to Ask Yourself when Designing Assignments

• What are the main units (and associated assignments) in your course?
• What are the main learning objectives for each unit?
• What are the chief concepts or principles you want students to learn?
• What thinking skills or habits of mind are you trying to develop in your students?
• How should you write the assignment to convey the learning goals to students?
• Does the assignment clearly articulate the desired learning outcomes? 

Further Reading

• Bean, John C. “Designing and Sequencing Assignments to Teach Undergraduate Research.” Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom , 2nd Edition , Jossey-Bass, 2011, pp. 224-63. 
• –. “Part Two: Designing Problem-Based Assignments.” Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom , 2nd Edition , Jossey-Bass, 2011, pp. 89-145.
• Glenn, Cheryl and Melissa A. Goldthwaite. “Successful Writing Assignments.” The St. Martin’s Guide to Teaching Writing , 7th Edition , Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014, pp. 95-124. 
• UMass Amherst University Writing Program. “ Sourcebook for Junior Year Writing Courses .” 2007-2008. 

What is Writing in the Disciplines?

Getting Started

Why include writing in my courses?

What is writing to learn?

WTL Activities

What is writing to engage?

What is writing in the disciplines?

WID Assignments

Useful Knowledge

What should I know about rhetorical situations?

• Do I have to be an expert in grammar to assign writing?

What should I know about genre and design?

What should I know about second-language writing?

What teaching resources are available?

What should I know about WAC and graduate education?

Assigning Writing

• What makes a good writing assignment?

How can I avoid getting lousy student writing?

What benefits might reflective writing have for my students?

Using Peer Review

Why consider collaborative writing assignments?

Do writing and peer review take up too much class time?

How can I get the most out of peer review?

Responding to Writing

How can I handle responding to student writing?

How can writing centers support writing in my courses?

What writing resources are available for my students?

Using Technology

How can computer technologies support writing in my classes?

Designing and Assessing WAC Programs

What is a WAC program?

What designs are typical for WAC programs?

How can WAC programs be assessed?

More on WAC

Where can I learn more about WAC?

Writing assignments are often used to support the goals of Writing in the Disciplines (WID), also called writing to communicate. Writing assignments of this sort are designed to introduce or give students practice with the writing conventions of a discipline and to help them game familiarity and fluency with specific genres and formats typical of a given discipline. For example, the engineering lab report includes much different information in a format quite different from the annual business report.

Because WID is used by a large number of WAC programs, this guide presents a great deal of information on WID, including a detailed rationale, examples, and logistical tips.

A Fuller Definition of WID

WID assignments are typically, but not exclusively, formal documents prepared over a few weeks or even months. The final documents adhere to format and style guidelines typical of the professional genres they help students learn about and practice. Teachers comment primarily on the substance of these assignments, but teachers also expect students to meet professional standards of layout and proofreading (format and mechanical correctness).

Without doubt, the single most important reason for assigning writing tasks in disciplinary courses is to introduce students to the thinking and writing of that discipline. Even though students read disciplinary texts and learn course material, until they practice the language of the discipline through writing, they are less likely to learn that language thoroughly. In addition, teachers cite other specific advantages of WID tasks, large and small. Such writing helps students to:

• integrate and analyze course content
• provide a field-wide context to course material
• practice thinking skills relevant to analyses in the discipline
• practice professional communication
• prepare for a range of careers in the field

When to Choose WID, WTE, or WTL

Teachers need to decide which goals are most important for them and for the students they typically teach. For instance, if you ordinarily teach a freshman-level survey course that introduces students to the field, giving students practice in the conventions of writing for that field is generally inappropriate. Rather, you would probably want to give students opportunities to write about the new, foundational concepts they're being introduced to so that you can be sure they are learning the fundamental ideas they will need to take other courses in your discipline.

Teachers thinking about assigning writing in their courses also need to consider just how much time they'll have to review or respond to student writing. Assigning a 20-page term paper in a course with 200 students is unrealistic because teachers seldom have time to read and respond to such lengthy student writing.

Adjusting WID Tasks to Your Teaching Context

As teachers determine goals for writing and their time commitment, they discover an entire spectrum of writing they might assign in their classes. You will base your decisions on complex factors, but the simplified grid below can point you toward additional materials that might be most useful to you as you plan your writing component for each class.

Use this grid to suggest which kinds of writing might be most appropriate in your classes:

Alternate Forms/Formats that Mimic Professional Writing

Think of alternate forms/formats. Although the research essay is the most common kind of WID assignment, it's not the only format that students can use to learn about disciplinary writing conventions. If professionals in your field use any of these types of writing, consider using these formats to help students understand the thinking and writing of your discipline:

• Project or lab notebook
• Progress report
• Management plan
• Position paper
• Interpretive essay
• Review of literature
• Journal or professional article
• Project proposals
• Grant proposals
• Lab/field reports

Combining WTL and WTE with WID

In addition to discipline-specific formats, other kinds of writing assignments can help students learn the language and ways of thinking of a discipline, even though they may not mimic its professional writing. Any of these writing activities can provide the basis for a longer, more formal assignment, or can be used only to promote class discussion and/or thinking about course material:

Reading Journal

In a discipline-specific context, teachers using a reading journal ask students to write summaries, responses, and syntheses as appropriate for the field. "Readings" might include not only assigned textbook material, but also lectures and outside reading of professional or popular articles relevant to the course material. Teachers might want to assign specific questions to be answered in entries about each reading, or they might link readings in other ways.

Jargon Journal

When you introduce new terms in your lectures or when students see them in readings, ask students to jot the terms down in a notebook or electronic file. Periodically, students then return to the list of terms and fill in or revise working definitions of each term. (Some terms will be easy to define immediately after they are introduced in a course; other terms might take more familiarity with the complexity of a concept to define accurately.) Build in some incentive for keeping the jargon journal by pointing out that students can refer to the definitions as they prepare for—and perhaps write—exam responses.

Rhetorical Analysis

In addition to analyzing articles for content, as students might do in the reading journal, teachers can also ask students to look specifically at professional articles for rhetorical issues:

• Scope and focus
• Organization (conventional headings)
• Arrangement
• Level of detail
• Kinds of evidence required
• Uses of citations

Small-group or full-class discussion of these analyses will help students understand the critical approaches professionals in the field typically adopt as well as the writing conventions accepted by major journals in the field.

Analyze an Expert's Revisions

Bring in drafts of your own work or of someone else's professional work that you have permission to share with students. Show students:

• how professionals shape and revise research questions
• how professionals work from raw data to write sections outlining results and discussion
• how professionals move from draft to draft as they work through the entire writing project

Popular Article

Because the popular article is written to a general audience with little specialized knowledge, teachers often assign this writing task to be sure students understand material well enough to explain it in non-technical terms. If you're concerned about assigning a full-length article, you could assign this task as a group writing project, with different group members responsible for chunks of the final article. Or you might just assign the introduction and an outline for key ideas that would go into the remainder of the article.

Sequencing Tasks

One reason that students report feeling overwhelmed by WID tasks is that they aren't sure where to start and then how to proceed to produce a good project of the sort required by the assignment. You can help students—and get better final drafts to read—by setting up a sequence of tasks that build toward the final project.

Two approaches work well when designing a sequence:

• Break the large writing task into chunks so that students can tackle parts of the assignment and get feedback before moving to the next chunk. For an example, view the Ag Econ sample assignment.
• An alternative is to devise tasks that build on each other, known as scaffolding. For instance, if you hope to assign a professional review of literature as the final project, first have students write abstracts or summaries of articles, then ask for annotations, and finally ask for synthesis. At the same time, have students analyze published articles to determine what a review of literature typically looks like in your field. By giving students scaffolded writing and analytic tasks, they become more confident and more able to meet your criteria for the final writing task.

Responding to Student Writing

You'll find more detailed advice about feedback in the sections under

• How can I handle responding to drafts?

A few points bear repeating here:

• Responding to students' writing involves far more than simply marking errors in punctuation and mechanics. Most grading time, by far, is devoted to commenting on focus, development and arrangement of ideas, the quality of arguments, and other larger issues.
• Tell students in advance specifically what your expectations are for high-level writing skills. Then focus your commenting on how well students meet those specific criteria. Also consider developing a rubric or some other commenting guide to help you comment quickly but thoroughly on the points you decide are most important for a given assignment. (See the samples in "What makes a good writing assignment?" and "How can I handle responding to drafts?" )

Improving the Research Essay

When professors are reluctant to assign research essays, they often claim that students cannot write clearly and logically, synthesizing sources and evaluating data to draw closely argued conclusions. Most often, these weaknesses are not the result simply of poor writing skills, but also of poorly defined criteria that students don't grasp. Fortunately, teachers can improve the research essay by clarifying goals for the assignment and keeping students' resources in mind.

Excellent Goals for Assigning Research Essays

Most university professors agree that research-based writing in college classes can and should meet these goals:

• foster critical thinking about raw data and other people's conclusions
• give students an opportunity to work independently on a large project
• mimic behaviors that students must know if they pursue advanced academic degrees
• mimic behaviors that students will draw on in other aspects of their lives (examples range from buying cars to management decisions)
• familiarize students with major journals, research methodologies, and writing conventions of their major fields

Questions to Ask about how Students will Perceive your Goals

Students often view the research-based paper as an exercise in cutting and pasting rather than in carefully sifting and synthesizing key ideas that support their own thinking. So teachers get the best results from research-based assignments that they have revised after considering these questions:

• Have we, in teaching research rather than critical thinking about researched information, misled ourselves and our students into reducing this vital undertaking into a set of easily replicated steps?
• And then by focusing on the steps, do we give students the wrong message about what is important in doing research?
• When we give students 50 pages on documentation styles, are we telling them that format is more important than the critical synthesis of views and data?
• How, then, might we reorient students' thinking about research-based writing?
• Do students who see most of the grading criteria and weighting of the final grade devoted to the mechanics of finding and citing material believe in the goals we hope to foster with research-based writing?

Three Points to Consider

If you've decided that a traditional research essay best meets your teaching goals, please consider three ideas that might make this assignment more useful for students:

Find out what your students already know about using the library and the Internet for research

Most students in upper-level courses (and even most freshmen) know how to find general sources. But many upper-division students may not yet be familiar with specific sources in your discipline. Make sure they know how to find these, and even consider arranging a session in the library to go over search techniques for databases in your field.

Find out what your students already know about reading research-based articles in your discipline

Students are remarkably reluctant to admit they have a hard time reading research-based texts. But if they don't know how to read professional articles in your field, they certainly won't know how to evaluate the data and conclusions in those articles. You can tackle this problem with some sequenced "mini"-writing tasks (like those described in the Combining WTL and WID section ).

Give students a chance (or chances) to work on parts of the final assignment as separate tasks

The Ag Econ assignment is a good example of breaking down a larger writing task so that the teacher can see if students need help with key elements of the larger writing task. If students, for example, don't know how to frame an adequate research question, you can head off this problem if you give students a mini-task that asks for a research question long before students begin their source work.

Similarly, if your experience with this course in the past suggests that students often struggle to analyze or synthesize data, you might want to set up sequenced writing tasks that give them some practice—and feedback—on these key writing skills.

Beyond the Basics

The literature now available on writing in the disciplines or writing to communicate is deep and broad, encompassing far more than a brief bibliographic essay can accurately capture. Let me offer instead two pieces of advice—consult the general resources noted here and look at the journals in your discipline that take up teaching issues. Those journals are most likely to include articles that situate writing to communicate activities in the courses you might find yourself teaching. The articles themselves will glean from the robust resources to point you toward those titles that will best fill in background you might find helpful.

We collect below titles from across disciplines to offer some potential starting points. We have organized the resources in a table to cluster articles by discipline. Please note, however, that disciplinary titles here point to writing in the disciplines rather than writing to learn (or writing to engage) titles that are included in the WTL section of this resource. All titles refer to the list of Works Cited that follows the tables.

Titles sorted by broad disciplinary focus

Abbate-Vaughn, J. (2007). The graduate writing challenge: A perspective from an urban teacher education program. Action in Teacher Education, 29 (2), 51-60.

Addams, L.H., Woodbury, D., Allred, T., & Addams, J. (2010). Developing student communication skills while assisting nonprofit organizations. Business Communication Quarterly, 73 (3), 282-290.

Allwardt, D.E. (2011). Writing with wikis: A cautionary tale of technology in the classroom. Journal of Social Work Education, 47 (3), 597-605.

Bahls, P. (2012). Student writing in the quantitative disciplines: A guide for college faculty . Indianapolis, IN: Jossey Bass.

Bank, C. (2006). Reading and writing taught in a sophomore course on plate tectonics. Journal of Geoscience Education, 54 (1), 25-30.

Becker, S.F. (1995). Guest comment: Teaching writing to teach physics. American Journal of Physics, 63 (7), 587.

Beiersdorfer, R.E. (1991). An integrated approach to geologic writing for non-science majors based on study of a California river. Journal of Geological Education, 39 : 196-198.

Beins, B.C. (1993). Writing assignments in statistics classes encourage students to learn interpretation. Teaching of Psychology, 20 (3),161-164.

Blevins-Knabe, B. (1987). Writing to learn while learning to write. Teaching of Psychology, 14 (4), 239-241.

Bourelle, T. (2012). Bridging the gap between the technical communication classroom and the internship: Teaching social consciousness and real-world writing. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 42 (2), 183-197.

Bressette, A.R; & Breton, G.W. (2001). Using writing to enhance the undergraduate research experience. Journal of Chemical Education, 78 (12), 1626-1627.

Brumberger, E.R. (2004). The "corporate correspondence project": Fostering audience awareness and extended collaboration. Business Communication Quarterly, 67 (3), 349-358.

Buddington, A.M. (2006). A field-based, writing intensive undergraduate course on

Buzzi, O., Grimes, S., & Rolls, A. (2012). Writing for the discipline in the discipline? Teaching in Higher Education, 17 (4), 479-484.

Carlson, J.L., Chizmar, J.F., Seeborg, M.C., & Walbert, M.S. (1998). Using undergraduate journals and peer pressure to improve undergraduate writing in economics. The Journal of Economics, 24 (2), 77-86.

Carlson, P.A., & Berry, F. C. (2008). Using computer-mediated peer review in an engineering design course. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 51 (3), 264-279.

Carroll, F.A., & Seeman, J.I. (2001). Placing science into its human context: Using scientific autobiography to teach chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education, 78 (12), 1618-1622.

Carson, R.J. (1991). Land-use-planning writing assignment for an environment-geology course. Journal of Geological Education, 39 : 206-210.

Carter, M., Ferzli, M., & Wiebe, E.N. (2007). Writing to learn by learning to write in the disciplines. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 21 (3), 278-302.

Cass, A.G., & Fernandes, C.S.T. (2008). Simulated conference submissions: A technique to improve student attitudes about writing. 2008 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Vols. 1-3 ; pp. 1535-1540.   

Centellas, M. (2010). Pop culture in the classroom: "American Idol," Karl Marx, and Alexis de Tocqueville. PS: Political Science and Politics, 43 (3), 561-565.

Chamely,Wiik, D.M., Kaky, J.E., & Galin, J. (2012). From Bhopal to cold fusion: A case-study approach to writing assignments in honors general chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education, 89 (4), 502-508.

Cheng, C.K., Pare, D.E., Collimore, L., & Joordens, S. (2011). Assessing the effectiveness of a voluntary online discussion forum on improving students' course performance. Computers & Education, 56 (1), 253-261.

Chiang, C. D., Lewis, C. L., Wright, M. D. E., Agapova, S., Akers, B., Azad, T. D., Banerjee, K., Carrera, P., Chen, A., Chen, J., Chi, X., Chiou, J., Cooper, J., Czurylo, M., Downs, C., Ebstein, S. Y., Fahey, P. G., Goldman, J. W., Grieff, A., Hsiung, S., Hu, R., Huang, Y., Kapuria, A., Li, K., Marcu, I., Moore, S. H., Moseley, A. C., Nauman, N., Ness, K. M., Ngai, D. M., Panzer, A., Peters, P., Qin, E. Y., Sadhu, S., Sariol, A., Schellhase, A., Schoer, M. B., Steinberg, M., Surick, G., Tsai, C. A., Underwood, K., Wang, A., Wang, M. H., Wang, V. M., Westrich, D., Yockey, L. J., Zhang, L., & Herzog, E. D. (2012). Learning Chronobiology by improving Wikipedia. Journal of Biological Rhythms, 27 (4), 333-336.

Colabroy, K.L. (2011). A writing-intensive, methods-based laboratory course for undergraduates. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education: A Bimonthly Publication of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 39 (3), 196-203.

Collins, J. (2010). Engineers learn to write: Coaching the art of noticing with writing samples. 2010 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference ; 80-86. New York: IEEE Press.

Conrad, S.H. (1991). Balancing teaching and learning geology on the writing fulcrum. Journal of Geological Education, 39 : 230-231.

Craig, J.L., Lerner, N., & Poe, M. (2008). Innovation across the curriculum: Three case studies in teaching science and engineering communication. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 51 (3), 280-301.

Crisp, K.M., Jensen, M.M., & Moore, R.R. (2007). Pros and cons of a group webpage design project in a freshman anatomy and physiology course. Advances in Physiology Education, 31 (4), 343-346.

Cunningham, K. (2007). Applications of reaction rate. Journal of Chemical Education, 84 (3), 430-433.

Davis, L.E. (1991). Student abstract writing as a tool for writing across the curriculum in large introductory-geology courses. Journal of Geological Education, 39 : 178-180.

Deese, W.C., Ramsey, L.L., Walczyk, J., & Eddy, D. (2000). Using demonstration assessments to improve writing. Journal of Chemical Education, 77 (11), 1511-1516.

DeWolf, J.T. (2002). Incorporation of writing into a steel design course. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 128 (2), 71-74.

Dickovick, J.T. (2009). Methods in the madness: Integrative approaches to methodology in introductory comparative politics. Journal of Political Science Education, 5 (2), 138-153.

Doty, L.L. (2012). A mathematician learns the basics of writing instruction: An immersion experience with long-term benefits. Primus, 22 (1), 14-29.

Elberty, W.T., & Romey, W.D. (1991). "What are you interested in" as a writing assignment theme. Journal of geological education, 39 : 237-239.

Elliot, L., Daily, N.L., Fredricks, L., & Graham, M.S. (2008). Transitioning from students to professionals: Using a writing across the curriculum model to scaffold portfolio development. Teacher Educator, 43 (1), 46-58.

Falk, H., & Yarden, A. (2011). Stepping into the unknown: Three models for the teaching and learning of the opening sections of scientific articles. Journal of Biological Education, 45 (2), 77-82.

Fencl, H.S. (2010). Development of students' critical-reasoning skills through content-focused activities in a general education course. Journal of College Science Teaching, 39 (5), 56-62.

Ford, J.D. (2004). Knowledge transfer across disciplines: Tracking rhetorical strategies from a technical communication classroom to an engineering classroom. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 47 (4), 301-315.

Ford, J.D., & Newmark, J. (2011). Emphasizing research (further) in undergraduate technical communication curricula: Involving undergraduate students with an academic journal's publication and management. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 41 (3), 311-324.

Fredrick, T. (2008). Practicing professional communication principles by creating public service announcements. Business Communication Quarterly, 71 (1), 58-63.

Froese, A.D., Gantz, B.S., & Henry, A.L. (1998). Teaching students to write literature reviews: A meta-analytic model. Teaching of Psychology, 25 (2), 102-105.

Galer-Unti, R.A. (2002). Student perceptions of a writing-intensive course in health education. Health Educator: Journal of Eta Sigma Gamma, 34 (2), 35-40.

Gallavan, N.P., Bowles, F.S., & Young, C.T. (2007). Learning to write and writing to learn: Insights from teacher candidates. Action in Teacher Education, 29 (2), 61-69.

Goma, O.D. (2001). Creative writing in economics. College teaching, 49 (4), 149-152.

Goodman, R.E. (2005). Using letter-writing to enhance a calculus course. PRIMUS, 15 (4), 298-302.

Guildford, W.H. (2001). Teaching peer review and the process of scientific writing. Advances in Physiology Education, 25 (3), 167-175.

Halsor, S.P., & Faul-Halsor, C.L. (1991). Enhanced student learning through writing in a physical-geology class. Journal of Geological Education, 39 : 181-184.

Harding, B.A. (2005). "A simple mechanism to teach a complex practitioner knowledge set." Innovations in Engineering Education 2005 ; pp. 479-486. ASME.

Hocks, M.E., Lopez, E.S., & Grabill, J.T. (2000,. Praxis and institutional architecture: Designing an interdisciplinary professional writing program. Academic Writing . Accessed at https://wac.colostate.edu/aw/articles/hocks2000.pdf

Hosten, C.M., Talanova, G., & Lipkowitz, K.B. (2011). Introducing undergraduates to the role of science in public policy and in the service of the community. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 12 (3), 388-394.

Hotchkiss, K., & Hougen, M. (2012): Writing like a historian: What teacher candidates should know and be able to teach, The Social Studies, 103( 4), 149-157.

Howell, P.R. (2007). "Writing to specification: An approach to teaching scientific literacy, and a prelude to writing 'The World of Materials' essays." In J.E.E. Baglin (Ed.), Proceedings of the Symposium and Forum Education in Materials Science, Engineering and Technology ; pp. 247-289.

Irish, R. (1999). Engineering thinking: Using Benjamin Bloom and William Perry to design assignments. Language and Learning across the Disciplines, 3 (2), 83-102.

Jalali, H., Hanlan, L., & Canal, J.P. (2009). "The use of writing-intensive learning as a communication and learning tool in an inorganic chemistry laboratory course." In M. GuptaBhowon, S. JhaumeerLauloo, H.L.K. Wah, and P. Ramasami (Eds.), Chemistry Education in the ICT Age ; pp. 153-160.

Jebb, J.F. (2005). The crisis posting: Scenarios for class discussion and creation. Business Communication Quarterly, 68 (4), 457-478.

Kahn, J.M., & Holody, R. (2012). Supporting field instructors' efforts to help improve student writing. Journal of Social Work Education, 48 (1), 65-73.

Kasman, R. (2006). Critique that! Analytical writing assignments in advanced mathematics courses. PRIMUS, 16 (1), 1-15.

Kaufer, D., & Young, R. (1993). Writing in the content areas: Some theoretical complexities. In L. Odell (Ed.), Theory and practice in the teaching of writing: Rethinking the discipline . Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.

Kebede, A. (2009). Practicing sociological imagination through writing sociological autobiography. Teaching Sociology, 37 (4), 353-368.

Killingbeck, K. (2006). Field botany and creative writing: Where the science of writing meets the writing of science. Journal of College Science Teaching, 35 (7), 26-28.

Klein, B., & Aller, B. M. (1998). Writing across the curriculum in college chemistry: A practical bibliography. Language and Learning Across the Discipilines, 2(3), 25-35.

Kokkala, I., & Gessell, D. A. (2003). Writing science effectively: biology and English students in an author-editor relationship. Journal of College Science Teaching, 32 (4), 252-257.

Kroen, W. (2004). Modeling the writing process: Using authentic data to teach students to write scientifically. Journal of College Science Teaching, 34 (3), 50-53.

Kreth, M.L. (2005). A small-scale client project for business writing students: Developing a guide for first-time home buyers. Business Communication Quarterly, 68 (1), 52-59.

Lavelle, E. (2006). Teachers' self-efficacy for writing. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 4 (1), 73-84.

Lewis, M. (2004). Reflections: 'This class will write a book': An experiment in environmental history pedagogy. Environmental History, 9 (4), 604-619.

Libarkin, J., & Ording, G. (2012). The utility of writing assignments in undergraduate bioscience. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 11 (1), 39-46.

Lillig, J.W. (2008). Writing across the semester: A non-standard term paper that encourages critical data analysis in the upper-division chemistry classroom. Journal of Chemical Education, 85 (10), 1392-1394.

Linsdell, J., & Anagnos, T. (2011). Motivating technical writing through study of the environment. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 137 (1), 20-27.

Lord, S.M. (2009). Integrating effective "writing to communicate" experiences in engineering courses: Guidelines and examples. International Journal of Engineering Education, 25 (1), 196-204.

Luthy, K.E., Peterson, N.E., Lassetter, J.H., & Callister, L.C. (2009), Successfully incorporating writing across the curriculum with advanced writing in nursing. Journal of Nursing Education, 48 (1), 54-59.

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Teach Methods of Disciplinary Thinking Through Writing

Writing and thinking are closely intertwined, and we can help students develop their ability to think within a discipline not only by assigning formal papers, but also by having them write informally, and frequently, in and out of class. these informal assignments don’t need individual responses and don’t need to be time consuming for either faculty or students, but they can provide training in specific disciplinary ways of thinking, offer room for students to explore new and difficult material, and serve as a platform for richer class discussions., ideas for in-class writing:.

Have students write brief responses to discussion questions before the discussion begins. While class discussion might be dominated by a few talkative students, writing forces all the students to articulate an answer for themselves. The process of articulating and documenting this response will help them engage with, and remember, their thinking process, and it allows slower students or those less sure of their wording to participate more fully in the discussion afterwards.

Have students define new terms and complex disciplinary concepts in writing, with examples. This exercise takes only a few minutes of class time, and the ensuing discussion can help students come to a fuller understanding of the nuances of a new concept. If you collect the written definitions, you’ll be able to see what students don’t yet fully grasp, as well.

Give students a few minutes at the end of class to write a brief record of what they found significant about the material discussed in class; what insights it raised for them, and at least one question that they still have about the material. You can ask them to email the question to you after class, or you can ask them to share their questions on a class blog, or even to form a tentative answer there or to try to answer a classmate’s question. Asking students to articulate and share questions, rather than only more formal or polished responses, keeps them focused on the process of inquiry.

Ideas for informal before or after class writing:

Ask students to “flow chart” the logic of a reading, or to map its claims and reasoning. A flowchart [link] can be a useful visual shorthand for students that helps them to break down and engage the smaller claims and logical connections of a particular reading, as well as to learn to recognize the common argument structures of readings in the field. A claims map [link] works similarly, but is more abstract because it separates the underlying logical structure of the ideas from the order in which the ideas appear in the reading.

Ask students to choose a significant (but short) passage from a reading and paraphrase it, then discuss its significance to the reading as a whole. While paraphrase may seem simplistic, many students actually struggle to place new concepts or technical material into their own words, and when students find this difficult, it can often lead to inaccurate summary, over-reliance on sources, and even forms of plagiarism. Students need to literally “come to terms” with the material–that is, they need to be able to accurately reflect the meaning in language of their own. On a more advanced level, helping students begin to see the nuances in different paraphrases often leads them to critical insights and to begin to develop their own stance on or more formal argument with the source.

Have students write a description of their thinking process in solving a problem or interpreting results of an experiment. When students have to narrate the steps they’ve taken in questioning, hypothesizing about, reasoning through, and solving a problem, they become more aware of the methods they’re following. We all make many intuitive leaps as we work through problems, and while these are often great sources of insight, they can also be sources of logical error, faulty assumptions, or misinterpretation. Writing a narrative of the process can help reveal those assumptions and misinterpretations, as well.

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

This article provides a basic overview of how the reading and writing conventions for each field of study shape the way that readers read texts and writers create texts for academic purposes.

Joanne Baird Giordano

• A Quick Introduction to College Learning Strategies
• General Academic Literacy and Disciplinary Literacy
• Reading for Understanding
• Reading to Learn and Remember
• Adapting to Disciplinary Literacy Conventions
• What Are Academic Conventions?
• Reading Conventions
• Learning About Disciplinary Ways of Reading
• Disciplinary Writing Conventions
• Learning About Disciplinary Ways of Writing

WHAT ARE ACADEMIC CONVENTIONS?

Academic conventions are accepted (or usual) ways of doing academic literacy tasks. Some conventions like styles for citing sources, formatting guidelines for specific types of writing, and punctuation rules are clearly stated in textbooks. Students can find readings or online resources to help them understand, learn, and follow those conventions. Other types of conventions are more challenging to figure out. They include ways of reading, writing, and learning that professors have developed as experts in a field. Students are still learning to adapt to the expectations of college learning, and it takes time to learn and adapt to the many different conventions that professors expect students to follow in their courses. Professors may or may not directly teach students about the literacy conventions for their fields of study.

READING CONVENTIONS

Each academic and professional field of study has its own ways of reading. Disciplinary reading conventions are specialized ways that expert readers use written texts in a field of study. Reading conventions reflect how knowledge is developed and communicated to others within a community of experts. Disciplinary ways of reading are closely connected to conventions for writing and research that are unique to a field. Experts follow conventions for writing and research as they create written texts for an audience of readers in a field of study. Their texts are then read by members of the field who use an understanding of conventions to make sense of what they read.

As college readers become more experienced, they learn how to use and apply strategies for completing reading assignments within a field of study, especially for courses in their college major and minor degree programs. They learn how to read specific types of texts written for academic or professional purposes. Experienced college readers also figure out what their instructors’ expectations are for how assigned readings will be used in a course. They also adapt how they read texts and what they do with learning from reading assignments based on different purposes within the same class (for example, studying for an exam, looking for evidence for a writing project, or reviewing confusing concepts that they haven’t fully learned).

The National Council of Teachers of English describes this process of adapting reading strategies for different purposes:

The act of reading is always embedded in an activity, some purposeful act that makes a particular set of demands on the reader. … From this perspective, readers don’t learn to read once and for all as much as they learn to read particular texts, in particular ways, for particular purposes, and in particular contexts.

The process of learning how to read texts “in particular ways” that are unique to a field of study is one of the most important parts of developing college-level academic literacy and becoming an advanced reader.

LEARNING ABOUT DISCIPLINARY WAYS OF READING

Learning how to adapt reading strategies to different fields of study requires college readers to pay close attention to how readers and writers use written texts to develop and communicate knowledge within a field.

Here are some examples of the many factors that shape how experienced readers use knowledge about texts to adapt their learning strategies to the reading conventions of a field of study:

• the genres (or types of writing) used to create knowledge and communicate information within the field
• expectations for how writers communicate ideas to readers within the field
• standards that establish the credibility (trustworthiness) of texts that are appropriate to use as sources for writing and research
• what readers do with texts for specific disciplinary purposes
• the research methods that experts use to collect information and then report their findings to readers
• expectations for what students need to do with texts to successfully complete courses in a field of study
• expectations for what advanced students do with texts to move from novice to expert within a field of study

DISCIPLINARY WRITING CONVENTIONS

“Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing” (NCTE, CWPA, and NWP) defines writing conventions as “the formal rules and informal guidelines that define what is considered to be correct (or appropriate) and incorrect (or inappropriate) in a piece of writing” (NCTE, CWPA, and NWP 9). Some conventions (like spelling and punctuation) are part of general literacy. Other conventions are unique to an academic or professional field. Disciplinary writing conventions are the specialized standards and guidelines for writing within a field of study. Members of academic disciplines have shared expectations for how writers typically create texts for other members of the community. Professional communities and industries also have conventions for workplace writing, and some companies have their own guidelines conventions that employees should follow.

Disciplinary writing conventions are based on how expert readers expect a text to be written. Before academic articles and books are published, they are reviewed by professors or researchers in the field to make sure that the research and writing that the authors use follows the standards and guidelines for the field. Writing conventions are also closely linked to the values of a field and the methods that experts use to create and share knowledge with each other. “Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing” explains that conventions are based on shared understanding of how to communicate effectively:

Conventions arise from a history of use and reflect the collected wisdom of the relevant readers and writers about the most effective ways of communicating in that area. Conventions facilitate reading by making material easier to comprehend and creating common expectations between writer and reader. (CWPA, NCTE, and NWP 5)

LEARNING ABOUT DISCIPLINARY WAYS OF WRITING

College students need to learn about the unique conventions for writing within a field of study and then adapt their writing to the expectations of their professors. Disciplinary writing conventions include many different features of written texts, including

• the content of a text (the types of knowledge shared within a discipline)
• the purpose of writing assignments for learning in a discipline
• how to format specific types of writing (genres)
• how to organize ideas and structure texts
• writing style
• the level of formality and informality of specific types of texts
• the methods used for conducting and reporting on original research
• the types of sources that are acceptable to use as evidence
• conventions for documenting and citing sources
• guidelines for formatting documents
• strategies for analyzing sources
• differences between writing for experts and sharing disciplinary knowledge with non-experts.

Although adapting writing strategies to the different conventions used for college courses can be confusing for new college students, learning how to write within a field of study eventually makes writing easier. As you take courses in your selected field of study for a college degree, writing conventions will provide you with a framework for understanding how to organize your ideas, explain your thinking, and support your work with evidence.

Disciplinary Conventions: Questions for Reflection and Writing

Select one of the fields of study for a current or previous course. Then answer the following questions:

• What types of written texts are used for reading assignments? What do professors expect students to do with those texts? How are they used in courses within the field?
• What are some expectations for student writing in the field? How do those expectations help students learn about how to become more advanced writers in the field? (Keep in mind that writing includes test taking, doing lab reports, and other uses of writing in addition to essays and research papers.)
• What research methods are used by experts who belong to that field? What do those research methods suggest about how knowledge is produced in that field?

Resources for Further Study

• The Harvard Writing Project, Brief Guides to Writing in the Disciplines
• The Harvard Writing Project, Disciplinary Writing Guides
• University of Florida Cedar Center, “Disciplinary Literacy” 

Works Cited

Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, and National Writing Project. “Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing.” CWPA, NCTE, and NWP, 2011.

National Council of Teachers of English, “Understanding and Teaching Writing: Guiding Principles.” NCTE, 14 November 2018

Open English @ SLCC Copyright © 2016 by Joanne Baird Giordano is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Part 1: Thinking Through the Disciplines

Exploring academic disciplines.

Most college writing has some basic features in common: a sense of ethical responsibility and the use of credible and credited sources, critical thinking, and sound argumentation. In addition to these common features, each academic discipline, over many generations, has developed its own specific methods of asking questions and sharing answers. This chapter will show you how to use the lenses of various academic disciplines to develop your writing, reading, and thinking.

3.1 Exploring Academic Disciplines

Learning objectives.

• Survey the landscape of academic disciplines.
• Appreciate how academic disciplines help shape how we understand the world.
• Understand that academic disciplines are constantly in flux, negotiating the terms, conditions, and standards of inquiry, attribution, and evidence.

The following table shows one version of the main academic disciplines and some of their branches.

Since the makeup of the different branches is always in flux and since the history of any institution of higher education is complicated, you will likely find some overlapping and varying arrangements of disciplines at your college.

Part of your transition into higher education involves being aware that each discipline is a distinct discourse community with specific vocabularies, styles, and modes of communication. Later in your college career, you will begin your writing apprenticeship in a specific discipline by studying the formats of published articles within it. You will look for the following formal aspects of articles within that discipline and plan to emulate them in your work:

• Title format
• Introduction
• Overall organization
• Tone (especially level of formality)
• Person (first, second, or third person)
• Voice (active or passive)
• Sections and subheads
• Use of images (photos, tables, graphics, graphs, etc.)
• Discipline-specific vocabulary
• Types of sources cited
• Use of source information
• Documentation style (American Psychological Association, Modern Language Association, Chicago, Council of Science Editors, and so on; for more on this, see Chapter 22 “Appendix B: A Guide to Research and Documentation” )
• Intended audience
• Published format (print or online)

Different disciplines tend to recommend collecting different types of evidence from research sources. For example, biologists are typically required to do laboratory research; art historians often use details from a mix of primary and secondary sources (works of art and art criticism, respectively); social scientists are likely to gather data from a variety of research study reports and direct ethnographic observation, interviews, and fieldwork; and a political scientist uses demographic data from government surveys and opinion polls along with direct quotations from political candidates and party platforms.

Consider the following circle of professors. They are all asking their students to conduct research in a variety of ways using a variety of sources.

What’s required to complete a basic, introductory essay might essentially be the same across all disciplines, but some types of assignments require discipline-specific organizational features. For example, in business disciplines, documents such as résumés, memos, and product descriptions require a specialized organization. Science and engineering students follow specific conventions as they write lab reports and keep notebooks that include their drawings and results of their experiments. Students in the social sciences and the humanities often use specialized formatting to develop research papers, literature reviews, and book reviews.

Part of your apprenticeship will involve understanding the conventions of a discipline’s key genres. If you are reading or writing texts in the social sciences, for example, you will notice a meticulous emphasis on the specifics of methodology (especially key concepts surrounding the collection of data, such as reliability, validity, sample size, and variables) and a careful presentation of results and their significance. Laboratory reports in the natural and applied sciences emphasize a careful statement of the hypothesis and prediction of the experiment. They also take special care to account for the role of the observer and the nature of the measurements used in the investigation to ensure that it is replicable. An essay in the humanities on a piece of literature might spend more time setting a theoretical foundation for its interpretation, it might also more readily draw from a variety of other disciplines, and it might present its “findings” more as questions than as answers. As you are taking a variety of introductory college courses, try to familiarize yourself with the jargon of each discipline you encounter, paying attention to its specialized vocabulary and terminology. It might even help you make a list of terms in your notes.

Scholars also tend to ask discipline-related kinds of questions. For example, the question of “renewable energy” might be a research topic within different disciplines. The following list shows the types of questions that would accommodate the different disciplines:

• Business (economics): Which renewable resources offer economically feasible solutions to energy issues?
• Humanities (history): At what point did humans switch from the use of renewable resources to nonrenewable resources?
• Natural and applied sciences (engineering): How can algae be developed at a pace and in the quantities needed to be a viable main renewable resource?
• Social sciences (geography): Which US states are best suited to being key providers of renewable natural resources?

Key Takeaways

• Most academic disciplines have developed over many generations. Even though these disciplines are constantly in flux, they observe certain standards for investigation, proof, and documentation of evidence.
• To meet the demands of writing and thinking in a certain discipline, you need to learn its conventions.
• An important aspect of being successful in college (and life) involves being aware of what academic disciplines (and professions and occupations) have in common and how they differ.

Think about your entire course load this semester as a collection of disciplines. For each course you are taking, answer the following questions, checking your textbooks and other course materials and consulting with your instructors, if necessary:

• What kinds of questions does this discipline ask?
• What kinds of controversies exist in this discipline?
• How does this discipline share the knowledge it constructs?
• How do writers in this discipline demonstrate their credibility?

After you’ve asked and answered these questions about each discipline in isolation, consider what underlying things your courses have in common, even if they approach the world very differently on the surface.

Based on the example at the end of this section, pick a topic that multiple disciplines study. Formulate four questions about the topic, one from each of any four different disciplines. Ideally choose a topic that might come up in four courses you are currently taking or have recently taken, or choose a topic of particular interest to you. Here are just a few examples to get you started:

• Child abuse
• Poverty in developing nations
• Women in the workforce
• Drawing from the synopses of current research on the Arts and Letters Daily website (see the Note 2.5 “Gallery of Web-Based Texts” in Chapter 2 “Becoming a Critical Reader” ), read the article referenced on a topic or theme of interest to you. Discuss how the author’s discipline affects the way the topic or theme is presented (specifically, the standards of inquiry and evidence).

3.2 Seeing and Making Connections across Disciplines

• Learn how to look for connections between the courses you are taking in different disciplines.
• Witness how topics and issues are connected across disciplines, even when they are expressed differently.
• Understand how to use disciplines to apply past knowledge to new situations.

Section 3.1 “Exploring Academic Disciplines” focused on the formal differences among various academic disciplines and their discourse communities. This section will explore the intellectual processes and concepts disciplines share in common. Even though you will eventually enter a discipline as an academic specialization (major) and as a career path (profession), the first couple of years of college may well be the best opportunity you will ever have to discover how disciplines are connected.

That process may be a re discovery, given that in the early grades (K–5), you were probably educated by one primary teacher each year covering a set of subjects in a single room. Even though you likely covered each subject in turn, that elementary school classroom was much more conducive to making connections across disciplines than your middle school or high school environment. If you’ve been educated in public schools during the recent era of rigid standardization and multiple-choice testing conducted in the name of “accountability,” the disciplines may seem more separate from one another in your mind than they actually are. In some ways, the first two years of your college experience are a chance to recapture the connections across disciplines you probably made naturally in preschool and the elementary grades, if only at a basic level at the time.

In truth, all disciplines are strikingly similar. Together, they are the primary reason for the survival and evolution of our species. As humans, we have designed disciplines, over time, to help us understand our world better. New knowledge about the world is typically produced when a practitioner builds on a previous body of work in the discipline, most often by advancing it only slightly but significantly. We use academic and professional disciplines to conduct persistent, often unresolved conversations with one another.

Most colleges insist on a “core curriculum” to make sure you have the chance to be exposed to each major discipline at least once before you specialize and concentrate on one in particular. The signature “Aha!” moments of your intellectual journey in college will come every time you grasp a concept or a process in one course that reminds you of something you learned in another course entirely. Ironically the more of those “Aha!” moments you have in the first two years of college, the better you’ll be at your specialization because you’ll have that much more perspective about how the world around you fits together.

How can you learn to make those “Aha!” moments happen on purpose? In each course you take, instead of focusing merely on memorizing content for the purposes of passing an exam or writing an essay that regurgitates your professor’s lecture notes, learn to look for the key questions and controversies that animate the discipline and energize the professions in it. If you organize your understanding of a discipline around such questions and controversies, the details will make more sense to you, and you will find them easier to master.

• Disciplines build on themselves, applying past knowledge to new situations and phenomena in a constant effort to improve understanding of the specific field of study.
• Different disciplines often look at the same facts in different ways, leading to wholly different discoveries and insights.
• Disciplines derive their energy from persistent and open debate about the key questions and controversies that animate them.
• Arrange at least one interview with at least one of your instructors, a graduate student, or a working professional in a discipline in which you are interested in studying or pursuing as a career. Ask your interviewee(s) to list and describe three of the most persistent controversies, questions, and debates in the field. After absorbing the response(s), write up a report in your own words about the discipline’s great questions.
• Using a textbook or materials from another course you are taking, describe a contemporary controversy surrounding the ways a discipline asks questions or shares evidence and a historical controversy that appears to have been resolved.
• Using one of your library’s disciplinary databases or the Note 2.5 “Gallery of Web-Based Texts” in Chapter 2 “Becoming a Critical Reader” , find a document that is at least fifty years old operating in a certain discipline, perhaps a branch of science, history, international diplomacy, political science, law, or medicine. The Smithsonian Institution or Avalon Project websites are excellent places to start your search. Knowing what you know about the current conventions and characteristics of the discipline through which this document was produced, how does its use of the discipline differ from the present day? How did the standards of the discipline change in the interim to make the document you’ve found seem so different? Have those standards improved or declined, in your opinion?

3.3 Articulating Multiple Sides of an Issue

• Explore how to recognize binary oppositions in various disciplines.
• Learn the value of entertaining two contradictory but plausible positions as part of your thinking, reading, and writing processes.
• Appreciate the productive, constructive benefits of using disciplinary lenses and borrowing from other disciplines.

Regardless of the discipline you choose to pursue, you will be arriving as an apprentice in the middle of an ongoing conversation. Disciplines have complicated histories you can’t be expected to master overnight. But learning to recognize the long-standing binary oppositions in individual disciplines can help you make sense of the specific issues, themes, topics, and controversies you will encounter as a student and as a professional. Here are some very broadly stated examples of those binary oppositions.

These binary oppositions move freely from one discipline to another, often becoming more complicated as they do so. Consider a couple of examples:

• The binary opposition in the natural and applied sciences between empiricism (the so-called scientific method) and rationalism (using pure reason to speculate about one’s surroundings) originated as a debate in philosophy, a branch of the humanities . In the social sciences , in recent years, empirical data about brain functions in neuroscience have challenged rationalistic theories in psychology. Even disciplines in business are using increasingly empirical methods to study how markets work, as rationalist economic theories of human behavior increasingly come under question.
• The binary opposition between text and context in the humanities is borrowed from the social sciences . Instead of viewing texts as self-contained creations, scholars and artists in the humanities began to appreciate and foreground the cultural influences that helped shape those texts. Borrowings from business disciplines, such as economics and marketing, furthered the notion of a literary and artistic “marketplace,” while borrowings from the natural and applied sciences helped humanists examine more closely the relationship between the observer (whether the critic or the artist) and the subject (the text).

Of course, these two brief summaries vastly oversimplify the evolution of multiple disciplines over generations of intellectual history. Like the chart of binary oppositions, they’re meant merely to inspire you at this point to begin to note the connections between disciplines. Learning to think, write, and function in interdisciplinary ways requires practice that begins at the level of close reading and gradually expands into the way you interact with your surroundings as a college student and working professional.

For a model of how to read and think through the disciplines, let’s draw on a short but very famous piece of writing (available through the Avalon Project in the Note 2.5 “Gallery of Web-Based Texts” ), Abraham Lincoln’s “Address at the Dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery,” composed and delivered in November of 1863, several months after one of the bloodiest battles in the American Civil War.

• A military historian (red passages) might focus on Lincoln’s rhetorical technique of using the field of a previous battle in an ongoing war (in this case a victory that nonetheless cost a great deal of casualties on both sides) as inspiration for a renewed, redoubled effort.
• A social psychologist (blue passages) might focus on how Lincoln uses this historical moment of unprecedented national trauma as an occasion for shared grief and shared sacrifice, largely through using the rhetorical technique of an extended metaphor of “conceiving and dedicating” a nation/child whose survival is at stake.
• A political scientist (green passages) might focus on how Lincoln uses the occasion as a rhetorical opportunity to emphasize that the purpose of this grisly and grim war is to preserve the ideals of the founders of the American republic (and perhaps even move them forward through the new language of the final sentence: “of the people, by the people, for the people”).

Notice that each reader, regardless of academic background, needs a solid understanding of how rhetoric works (something we’ll cover in Chapter 4 “Joining the Conversation” in more detail). Each reader has been trained to use a specific disciplinary lens that causes certain passages to rise to prominence and certain insights to emerge.

But the real power of disciplines comes when these readers and their readings interact with each other. Imagine how a military historian could use social psychology to enrich an understanding of how a civilian population was motivated to support a war effort. Imagine how a political scientist could use military history to show how a peacetime, postwar governmental policy can trade on the outcome of a battle. Imagine how a social psychologist could use political science to uncover how a traumatized social structure can begin to heal itself through an embrace of shared governance.

As Lincoln would say, “It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.”

• Disciplines have long-standing binary oppositions that help shape the terms of inquiry.
• To think, read, and write in a given discipline, you must learn to uncover binary oppositions in the texts, objects, and phenomena you are examining.
• Binary oppositions gain power and complexity when they are applied to multiple disciplines.
• Following the Gettysburg Address example at the end of this section, use three disciplinary lenses to color-code a reading of your choice from the Note 2.5 “Gallery of Web-Based Texts” in Chapter 2 “Becoming a Critical Reader” .
• Find a passage in one of the textbooks you’re using in another course (or look over your lecture notes from another course) where the main discipline appears to be borrowing theories, concepts, or binary oppositions from other disciplines in order to produce new insights and discoveries.
• Individually or with a partner, set up an imaginary two-person dialogue of at least twenty lines (or two pages) that expresses two sides of a contemporary issue with equal force and weight. You may use real people if you want, either from your reading of specific columnists at Arts and Letters Daily or of the essayists at the Big Questions Essay Series (see the Note 2.5 “Gallery of Web-Based Texts” in Chapter 2 “Becoming a Critical Reader” ). In a separate memo, indicate which side you lean toward personally and discuss any difficulty you had with the role playing required by this exercise.
• Show how one of the binary oppositions mentioned in this section is expressed by two writers in a discipline of your choosing. Alternatively, you can come up with a binary opposition of your own, backing it up with examples from the two extremes.
• Briefly describe how an insight or discovery applied past disciplinary knowledge to a new situation or challenge. How might you begin to think about addressing one of the contemporary problems in your chosen discipline?
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Resource Guide for Teaching Writing Intensive Courses

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Teaching Writing in the Disciplines

The books listed here are about the concept of teaching writings in the disciplines generally, rather than about teaching writing in specific disciplines.

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OASIS: Writing Center

Common assignments: writing in the disciplines, basics of writing in the disciplines.

Writing is a form of communication between people in a shared community. In scholarly communities, writing takes on nuances depending on the particular discipline (psychology, education, nursing, etc.). In addition to learning the general conventions of scholarly writing and APA style, you should become familiar with the conventions of your particular discipline by reading widely in the published literature of that discipline. The following pages also provide some guidance for writing in a few of the disciplines covered by Walden University's programs.

• Writing in the Social Sciences
• Collaborative Writing in Business & Management
• Writing in Nursing

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Designing Effective Writing Assignments

Before designing any assignment, it is necessary to first assess the course objectives and what is the best way to meet those objectives. There are several important aspects to consider when creating assignments:

• Teacher’s assignment goals
• The writer’s purpose
• The context of the assignment
• The audience of the assignment
• Format and method
• Teacher’s response and evaluation
• Opportunities for revision
• Communicating expectations

Teacher’s assignment goals: To make a successful assignment, you must first be clear about what the assignment should accomplish. You may want to use some assignments to generate discussion in class or to give students the opportunity to present their ideas in class. Other goals are to give students the opportunity to express questions and confusion; to demonstrate understanding of course concepts and information; to respond to class readings and discussion; to prepare for other assignments or exams; or to clarify ideas for themselves.

There are two main kinds of writing assignments for content courses :

Writing to Learn assignments are usually short, informal assignments. The audience for such assignments can be the student herself, peers, or the teacher. These assignments can be in-class writing, or out of class writing. The primary purpose of writing to learn assignments is for students to grasp the ideas and concepts presented in the course for themselves.

Other writing assignments are used primarily to demonstrate knowledge . The audience for these assignments is most often the teacher. These are formal assignments written for a grade.

These two types of assignments are not mutually exclusive. An assignment can both aid students in the learning process and demonstrate a student’s knowledge and understanding. However, it is important to determine the primary purpose the assignment must serve in order to decide what kind of writing to assign.

Other things to think about in terms of your goals for the assignment: What part does this assignment play in the rest of the course? Is this assignment part of a sequence of assignments that includes both formal and informal writing? Sequenced assignments are helpful in incorporating informal writing to learn assignments with formal demonstrative assignments. For example, thesis writing, reading responses, and short microthemes or abstracts can lead to a formal essay or term paper.

The writer’s purpose: The writer’s purpose dictates what kind of product the students will end up with. There are a number of different purposes for assignments to fulfill; the purpose dictates the form and content of an assignment. For example, students might be asked to articulate questions they have about course content; compose an article explaining course concepts to peers; respond to course reading or discussion; or argue a position on an issue related to the field of study. Whatever the writer’s purpose, it will determine the context, audience, and format of the assignment as well.

The context of the assignment: Will this be an in-class or out-of-class assignment? Some assignments take place in the field of research. Will the students be working alone, or in groups or pairs? To what is the student responding – one or more readings, discussion, research? Will you assign a particular issue or allow students to identify the issues themselves? Part of determining context is deciding the audience the students are to address.

The audience of the assignment: The implied audience may be the same as or different from the real audience. Both the implied and real audiences influence the shape of the assignment. To whom are the students directing their writing? The implied audience can be the teacher, peers, scholars in the field, or the general public who is unfamiliar with the concepts of the discipline. Specifying the implied audience will help students determine what common ground is available in the form of shared assumptions or theoretical perspectives. Also important is the real audience. Who is actually going to read this assignment? The student only? The teacher only? Peers only? A small group of peers? The teacher and peers? Will there be multiple drafts? Will the student get comments from you or from peers before the final product is graded?

Format and method: What should the completed assignment look like? Is there a particular way students should go about fulfilling the assignment? Is there a particular field protocol? Are students expected to use research?

Teacher’s response and evaluation: Some writing to learn assignments are not graded or receive nontraditional grades. How will this assignment help fulfill course objectives, and how much of the course grade should be determined by this assignment? Will students get your comments before the final grade or after? What should students learn from your comments?

Opportunities for revision: Another important aspect to designing an assignment is deciding whether and how to incorporate revision. There are several ways to allow students to revise their work:

• Allowing students to revise after an assignment is graded for the possibility of raising their grade.
• Assigning multiple drafts as part of the final grade. Such an assignment would be graded as a process-based on how the student challenged her own ideas-rather than as a product. The student would receive either teacher comments, peer comments, or both on early drafts that will guide them in revision.
• Using peer evaluations on early drafts. Reading and commenting on fellow students’ work helps students learn to read critically and be responsible members of the discourse community of the classroom and of the field. If you are using peer response, what is the format? Students can respond to the writing of their peers in writing or orally, in groups or one-on-one. Will you provide detailed instructions and specific protocols for responding to student writing or allow them to develop their own format?

Communicating your expectations: Once you have determined the assignment objectives and how best to meet those objectives, you should give your assignment in writing to the students. Have you designed the assignment so that the students understand your goals and their purpose? Are the terms clear? Have you specified the audience, context, format, and means of evaluation? It is often helpful to get feedback on your assignments from colleagues who can tell you whether or not your expectations are totally clear.

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Writing in the Disciplines and Across the Curriculum

Each discipline has its own style, structure, and format when it comes to academic writing. This section provides resources on writing in specific disciplines, broken down into the following five general academic categories: Business and Communication, Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences and Mathematics.

The Humanities category is further broken down by subject and common rhetorical writing tasks in that discipline: analysis, argument and persuasion, cause and effect, classification, comparison and contrast, definition, description and narrative.

Also see: Citing Sources for discipline-specific citation styles | Professional Writing for common non-academic writing resources such as writing for email, for the web and for the job search.

BUSINESS AND COMMUNICATION

Business Writing (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “This handout will help you write business letters required in many different situations, from applying for a job to requesting or delivering information. While the examples that are discussed specifically are the application letter and cover letter, this handout also highlights strategies for effective business writing in general.”

Communication Studies (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “This handout describes some steps for planning and writing papers in communication studies courses.”

Montclair State University Databases: Business, Economics & Management (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access business related databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

Writing for a North American Business Audience (Purdue OWL) “This handout provides examples and information (written for non-North Americans) on how to write for a business audience. It includes information on getting to the point, keeping it simple, active and passive voice, nondiscriminatory language, and verb overgeneralizing.”

Writing for an Indian Business Audience (Purdue OWL) “This handout provides examples and information on writing for both domestic and international audiences doing business in India. It includes information on letters and memos, as well as important stylistic considerations. The handout concludes with comments on some important characteristics of English writing in India, and on the status of English in business writing compared with native Indian languages, such as Hindi and Bengali.”

Writing in Business (Writing@CSU) An online writing guide about writing for business. Sections address writing business letters , resumes , press releases and executive summaries .

Resources for writing in the Humanities are broken down into the following sections. See resources for each below.

• Art and Art History
• Rhetorical Tasks

HUMANITIES > GENERAL

Four Keys to Writing in the Humanities (Mark T. Unno, University of Oregon) “One of the challenges of writing papers in the humanities is that courses and instructors have different requirements and expectations. Nevertheless, there are certain things that tend to be consistent across the curriculum, such as focus and simplicity, basic forms of argument, documentation, and writing as a craft. When you begin to understand these basic elements, then the variety of requirements and expectations will actually become a source of inspiration and wisdom rather than confusion and frustration.”

Writing in the Humanities and Arts (UCLA Graduate Writing Center) “The books and articles below offer advice on writing dissertations, theses, articles, proposals, and abstracts in the humanities and arts (although some of these sources address a broader audience).”

HUMANITIES > ART AND ART HISTORY

Art History (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “This handout discusses several common types of art history assignments, and talks about various strategies and resources that will help you write your art history papers.”

Montclair State University Databases: Art and Design (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access art-specific databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

Writing Across the Curriculum: Writing About Art (Hunter College Writing Center) (PDF) This handout explains different types of art history papers and includes a series of rhetorical questions for analyzing paintings, portraits, figural scenes, landscapes, sculptures, and architecture.

Writing About Art (Marjorie Munsterberg) This page discusses the different ways to approach an art history paper and includes sample excerpts.

HUMANITIES > DANCE

Guidelines for Viewing Dance and Writing Critiques for Dance Performances (Myra Daleng, University of Richmond Writing Center) Ideas and suggestions for writing a critique of a dance performance. One of the most interesting sections of the handout is the “Dance Critique Pet Peeves” that lists words and phrases to avoid when writing a dance critique. There is also a checklist for writing a critique at the end. Also see: Research-Based Writing.

Montclair State University Databases: Theatre & Dance (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access theatre and dance specific databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

Writing a Dance Critique (Utah Tech University) This handout presents five steps to critiquing a performance and includes questions for evaluation.

HUMANITIES > DRAMA

Drama – UNC Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “This handout identifies common questions about drama, describes the elements of drama that are most often discussed in theater classes, provides a few strategies for planning and writing an effective drama paper, and identifies various resources for research in theater history and dramatic criticism.”

Drama Terms: Brief Definitions (Washington State University) A dictionary of drama terms.

How to Review a Play (University of Wisconsin – Madison, The Writing Center) Here are some tips to help you before you begin writing a play review. This page offers advice on what you can do to prepare before the play and what types of questions you should be asking yourself during the play.

HUMANITIES > FILM

How to Write About Film: The Movie Review, The Theoretical Essay, and The Critical Essay (University of Colorado, The Writing Center) (PDF) A guide to thinking critically about film using Timothy Corrigan’s three major genres.

Lights, Camera, Brainstorming: Writing About Film (Agnes Scott College, Center for Writing and Speaking) (PDF) This handout provides suggestions for what to do before, during, and after watching the film.

Montclair State University Databases: Film Studies (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access film-specific databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

The McGraw-Hill Film Viewer’s Guide (McGraw-Hill) (PDF) This PDF discusses the conventions of writing about film and includes sample student papers.

Writing About Film (Simon Fraser University Library) “This guide has been designed as a starting point for research into writing about films.”

Writing About Film (Duke University, Thompson Writing Program) (PDF) “This handout discusses ways to approach film as a visual medium. It offers suggestions for focus, prewriting tips, and guidance on how to think critically about a medium many of us think of as popular entertainment. It does not include a comprehensive list of technical film terminology, although it does provide links to several sources that do. This handout deals with decoding film as a viewer, considering how film appears rather than how it was made.”

HUMANITIES > JOURNALISM

Basics of News Writing ( Write Right: A Student Audio Podcast , Texas A&M University, University Writing Center) An interview with Dale Rice, Director of Journalism Studies, about how to write a news story.

Feature News vs. Hard News ( Write Right: A Student Audio Podcast, Texas A&M University, University Writing Center) An interview with “Dale Rice, Director of Journalism Studies here at Texas A&M, about the difference in hard news and feature news writing.”

Lives: Columns – The New York Times ( The New York Times ) “Since 1996, The Times Magazine has published the Lives column, a series of incisive, 800-word essays or as-told-to accounts that highlight small moments in real people’s lives. While a number of well-known writers have contributed to this column — including Nora Ephron, Michael Pollan, Karen Russell and others — some of the best submissions have been from nonprofessional writers, people who felt that they had a really good story to tell.”

How to Interview Sensitive Sources With Tips (Masterclass) “In the course of reporting, an investigative journalist may need to interview sensitive sources or anonymous sources to glean the most accurate information.”

Writing on Deadlines (Alaska Press Club) “Deadlines are the bane and lifeblood of reporting. New York Times reporter Sarah Mervosh has created several routines and checklists to help.”

HUMANITIES > LITERATURE

Book Reviews (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “This handout will help you write a book review, a report or essay that offers a critical perspective on a text. It offers a process and suggests some strategies for writing book reviews.”

Fiction Terms: 35 Brief Definitions (Washington State University) A dictionary of poetry terms.

Guidelines for Writing a Literature Review (Helen Mongan-Rallis, University of Minnesota Duluth) Mongan-Rallis uses Galvin’s Writing Literature Reviews: A Guide for Students of the Behavioral Sciences , 3rd ed., to reiterate and expand upon a step-by-step approach to writing a literature review. She mentions technology that is useful in composing/organizing a literature review and includes links to additional resources.

Introduction to Modern Literary Theory (Kristi Siegel, Mount Mary College) Siegel explains 18 literary theories and includes suggestions for further reading.

Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism (Purdue OWL) “This resource will help you begin the process of understanding literary theory and schools of criticism and how they are used in the academy.” The sections on this handout include:

• Critical Disability Studies
• Critical Race Theory
• Ecocriticism
• Feminist Criticism
• Gender Studies and Queer Theory
• Marxist Criticism
• Moral Criticism, Dramatic Construction
• New Historicism, Cultural Studies
• Post-Colonial Criticism
• Postmodern Criticism
• Psychoanalytic Criticism
• Reader-Response Criticism
• Structuralism and Semiotics

Literature (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “This handout describes some steps for planning and writing papers about fiction texts.”

Literature Reviews (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “This handout will explain what a literature review is and offer insights into the form and construction of a literature review in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.”

Montclair State University Databases: Literature (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access literature-specific databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

Writing About Fiction (Purdue OWL) “This handout covers major topics relating to writing about fiction. This covers prewriting, close reading, thesis development, drafting, and common pitfalls to avoid.”

• Close Reading a Text and Avoiding Pitfalls
• Developing a Thesis
• Pre-writing Activities and Drafting Your Essay

Writing About Literature (Purdue OWL) “This handout provides examples and description about writing papers in literature. It discusses research topics, how to begin to research, how to use information, and formatting.”

• Literature Topics and Research

Writing in Literature Overview (Purdue OWL) “These sections describe in detail the assignments students may complete when writing about literature.”

HUMANITIES > MUSIC

Montclair State University Databases: Music (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access music-specific databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

Writing about Music – Calgary (The University of Calgary, Robert M. Seiler) Dr. Seiler offers “hints on how to help the reader appreciate the complexities of the performance you plan to write about” focusing on “(a) getting ready to write and (b) writing the piece.”

Writing about Music – UNC (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “This handout features common types of music assignments and offers strategies and resources for writing them.”

HUMANITIES > PHILOSOPHY

A Brief Guide to Writing the Philosophy Paper (Harvard College Writing Center) An introduction to writing a philosophy paper, which includes useful examples.

How to Write a Philosophy Paper (David Clowney, Rowan University) Begins with general tips on writing a paper and then offers suggestions for writing interpretive, analytic, and exploratory papers.

Montclair State University Databases: Philosophy (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access philosophy-specific databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

Philosophy (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “This handout discusses common types of philosophy assignments and strategies and resources that will help you write your philosophy papers.”

Tips on Writing a Philosophy Paper (Douglas W. Portmore, Arizona State University) (PDF) This thorough handout discusses thesis statements, structure, content, rhetorical considerations, documentation, and style for a philosophy paper.

HUMANITIES > POETRY

Glossary of Poetic Terms (Poetry Foundation) A complete glossary of poetry terms. You can search for terms alphabetically or filter them by “Forms & Types,” “Rhythm & Meter,” “Schools & Periods,” “Techniques & Figures of Speech,” and “Theory & Criticism.”

How to Read a Poem (University of Wisconsin – Madison, The Writing Center) This source provides questions to help you identify a poem’s subject, context, form and language.

Image in Poetry (Purdue OWL) “This section covers images as they appear in poetry and covers related terminology, definitions and origins of images, uses of images, and several exercises.”

Poetry Explications (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “A poetry explication is a relatively short analysis which describes the possible meanings and relationships of the words, images, and other small units that make up a poem. Writing an explication is an effective way for a reader to connect a poem’s plot and conflicts with its structural features. This handout reviews some of the important techniques of approaching and writing a poetry explication, and includes parts of two sample explications.”

Poetry Terms: Brief Definitions (Washington State University) A dictionary of poetry terms.

Writing About Poetry (Purdue OWL) “Writing about poetry can be one of the most demanding tasks that many students face in a literature class. Poetry, by its very nature, makes demands on a writer who attempts to analyze it that other forms of literature do not. So how can you write a clear, confident, well-supported essay about poetry? This handout offers answers to some common questions about writing about poetry.”

HUMANITIES > RELIGION

Montclair State University Databases: Jewish Studies (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access Jewish Studies-specific databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

Montclair State University Databases: Religion (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access religion-specific databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

Religious Studies (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “This handout will help you to write research papers in religious studies.”

HUMANITIES > RHETORICAL TASKS

In academic writing, one can be asked to do many different types of writing. Some papers have you conducting research, while others require you to formulate an argument or write a critique, and some often have you do a combination of research and argument. This section includes resources on the following specific types of academic writing: analysis, argument and persuasion, cause and effect, classification, comparison and contrast, definition, description, and narrative. See Conducting Research for resources on writing research papers.

How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay (Bucks County Community College) (PDF) Breaks down the “elements of a solid essay” to guide readers in their own literary analyses.

Literary Analysis Guide (Goshen College English Dept.) Includes strategies and principles for analyzing a text, along with sample analysis paragraphs.

Argument and Persuasion

Argument (Writing@CSU) An online writing guide to “help writers better understand how to plan, organize, develop, support and revise a written argument.” Sections of the guide address the parts of an argument , the Toulmin Method and adapting the argument to the audience .

Argumentative Essays (Purdue OWL) An introduction to writing an argumentative essay.

Developing an Argument Handouts (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) These handouts support writers in developing an argument.

• Taking Inventory
• Checklist for Analyzing Research Material
• Evidence Analysis
• Thesis Analysis
• Focus Checklist
• Audience Analysis
• Revision Checklist

Developing Strong Thesis Statements (Purdue OWL) Tips for making your thesis statement debatable and narrow enough. It also includes definitions/examples of the four categories of thesis statements.

Montclair State University Databases: Research and Writing (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access research and writing-specific databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

Writing Tips: Thesis Statements (Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Center for Writing Studies) Definition of thesis statements including what questions to ask when formulating thesis statements and model examples of thesis statements.

Cause and Effect

Writing Cause and Effect Papers (Butte College, Center for Academic Success) This is a tip sheet on examining “the reasons for and the outcomes of situations.”

Classification

Writing a Classification Paper (Butte College, Center for Academic Success) This is a tip sheet on prewriting, developing a thesis, organizing and using effective language in a classification essay.

Comparison and Contrast

Compare and Contrast (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) (VIDEO) “Learn strategies for comparing and contrasting ideas—strategies that can also help you generate ideas for other types of writing.”

Comparing and Contrasting (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “This handout will help you first to determine whether a particular assignment is asking for comparison/contrast and then to generate a list of similarities and differences, decide which similarities and differences to focus on, and organize your paper so that it will be clear and effective. It will also explain how you can (and why you should) develop a thesis that goes beyond ‘Thing A and Thing B are similar in many ways but different in others’.”

How to Write a Comparative Analysis (Harvard College Writing Center) “To write a good compare-and-contrast paper, you must take your raw data–the similarities and differences you’ve observed–and make them cohere into a meaningful argument. Here are the five elements required.”

Description

Things to Consider as You Write Your Descriptive Essay (Masterclass) Considerations and conventions for writing a descriptive essay.

Narrative Essays (Purdue OWL) Outlines the conventions of a narrative essay.

SOCIAL SCIENCES

A Brief Guide to Writing the History Paper (Harvard College Writing Center) “A concise introduction to some of the basic conventions of writing in history. Intended for an undergraduate audience.”

Anthropology (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “This handout briefly situates anthropology as a discipline of study within the social sciences. It provides an introduction to the kinds of writing that you might encounter in your anthropology courses, describes some of the expectations that your instructors may have, and suggests some ways to approach your assignments. It also includes links to information on citation practices in anthropology and resources for writing anthropological research papers.”

History (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “This handout was written with several goals in mind: to explain what historians do and how they approach the writing process; to encourage you to think about your history instructor’s expectations of you; and to offer some strategies to help you write effectively in history courses.”

Montclair State University Databases: Anthropology (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access anthropology-specific databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

Montclair State University Databases: Political Science (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access political science-specific databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

Montclair State University Databases: Sociology (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access sociology-specific databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

Sociology (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “This handout introduces you to the wonderful world of writing sociology. Before you can write a clear and coherent sociology paper, you need a firm understanding of the assumptions and expectations of the discipline. You need to know your audience, the way they view the world and how they order and evaluate information. So, without further ado, let’s figure out just what sociology is, and how one goes about writing it.”

Writing in Political Science (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “This handout will help you to recognize and to follow writing practices and standards in political science. The first step toward accomplishing this goal is to develop a basic understanding of political science and the kind of work political scientists do.”

Writing in Political Science: An Introduction (Dave Roberts, University of Richmond Writing Center) A guide that dissects what is involved in writing in the field of political science.

A Brief Guide to Writing in Chemistry (Kenyon College) “This document is a guide to assist students in chemistry courses with writing and formatting laboratory reports and research reports.”

Chemistry Lab Resources (Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies) “Here you can find tips about organizing your lab notebook, how to effectively create graphs and table for lab reports, places to locate protocols and property information, and how to properly cite resources.”

Laboratory Report Instructions (Reed College, Doyle Online Writing Lab) A manual to writing each section of a lab report. The site also includes examples of well-written and poorly written lab reports.

Montclair State University Databases: Biology (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access biology-specific databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

Montclair State University Databases: Chemistry (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access chemistry-specific databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

Montclair State University Databases: Physics and Astronomy (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access physics and astronomy-specific databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

“Right your Writing: How to sharpen your writing and make your manuscripts more engaging” (Bob Grant with contributor Judith Swan, The Scientist Magazine) Free subscription required for access. Offers “ways to improve your writing practices and tips on how to align your writing to your readers’ expectations.”

Sciences (UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center) “Every element of style that is accepted and encouraged in general academic writing is also considered good practice in scientific writing. The major difference between science writing and writing in other academic fields is the relative importance placed on certain stylistic elements. This handout details the most critical aspects of scientific writing and provides some strategies for evaluating and improving your scientific prose.”

Scientific Writing Resource (Duke University) This resource covers lessons including: “Subjects and Actions”, “Cohesion, Coherence, and Emphasis”, and “Concision and Simplicity” with a focus on effective communication.

Writing Biology Lab Reports (University of Richmond Writing Center) A guide for writing biology lab reports with sections on writing the abstract , the introduction , materials and methods , results , discussion and citing sources .

Writing in the Sciences (Writing@CSU) An online writing guide that addresses the challenges and issues involved in scientific writing. Sections include Writing the Scientific-Format Paper and Achieving the Scientific-Voice.

Writing the Scientific Paper (Writing@CSU) A comprehensive guide to writing scientific papers. Be sure to click “Continue” on the bottom right of the screen to access all of the information.

MATHEMATICS

AMS Author Handbook (American Mathematical Society) This is the most widely recognized handbook for writing in mathematics.

AMS Author Resource Center (American Mathematical Society) Provides links and tools to assist in writing, editing, illustrating and publishing mathematical works.

Guide to AMS Editor’s Package (American Mathematical Society) This link from the AMS website covers formatting for papers/monographs using LaTeX software, a common program for setting math type used here at Montclair State. It also provides templates to create title pages, bibliographies, etc. for LaTeX users.

Montclair State University Databases: Math (Montclair State University, Sprague Library) Montclair State students and faculty can access math-specific databases through Sprague Library. You will need to enter your NetID and password.

MRef (American Mathematical Society) This is a citation generator for standard references that include links to the MathSciNet database.

Overview of AMS-LaTeX Software (American Mathematical Society) This is an overview of the AMS-LaTeX software.

Writing Resources: Writing in the Disciplines

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Writing in the Disciplines

Writing in the Disciplines teaches students how to write acceptably in their respective disciplines.   Writing in the discipline classes are commonly referred to as Writing Intensive courses.  The goal of WID is to allow students to demonstrate writing skills within the genres expected in academic and professional discourse communities.

The resources on the right are arranged by type: general collection books, eBooks, journal articles, videos, and websites. They all relate to writing in the disciplines in some way, though individual resources may cover other aspects of writing.

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• NoodleTools This link opens in a new window An online research management platform including a bibliography composer and note-taking features. more... less... What is it? NoodleTools is a resource that allows students to evaluate resources, build accurate citations, archive source material, take notes, outline topics, and prepare to write. it generates accurate MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian references with options to annotate and archive lists of documents. It offers a visual 'tabletop' to manipulate, tag and pile notecards, then connect them in outlines to prepare for writing. Why use it? Use this resource if you are looking for an all-in-one resource to assist with note-taking, citations, and pre-writing projects.
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• The business of writing to learn in business: Examining writing practices through the lens of practice architectures by Hager, G., Kitson, L., & Grootenboer, P. Australian Journal of Language & Literacy, (2019, October 1), 42(3), 195-205.
• Constructing an argument in academic writing across disciplines by Walková, M., & Bradford, J. Journal of English for Specific Purposes at Tertiary Level, (2022), 10(1), 22-42.
• Contemplative writing across the disciplines by Miller, M., & Kinane, K. Across the Disciplines, (2019), 16(1), 1-5.
• Instructor evaluation of business student writing: Does language play a role? by McDonough, K., Uludag, P., & Neumann, H. Business & Professional Communication Quarterly, (2021, June), 84(2), 116-134.
• Internalizing writing in the STEM disciplines by Sharma, G. Across the Disciplines, (2018), 15(1), 26-46.
• Promoting writing as a core competency for psychology majors: Challenges and opportunities by Chenneville, T., & Gay, K. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, (2021, June 22).
• Reflecting on the past, reconstructing the future: Faculty members' threshold concepts for teaching writing in the disciplines by Basgier, C., & Simpson, A. Across the Disciplines, (2020), 17(1/2), 6-25.
• Social media in practice: Assignments, perceptions, and possibilities by Kester, J., & Vie, S. Currents in Teaching & Learning, (2021, January), 12(2), 52-70.
• Understanding the challenges and needs of international STEM graduate students: Implications for writing center writing groups by Hambrick, K. M., & Giaimo, G. N. Across the Disciplines, (2022), 19(1/2), 7-26.
• Using shared inquiry to develop students' reading, reasoning, and writing in the disciplines by Egege, S., & Orr Vered, K. Across the Disciplines, (2019), 16(3), 66-79.
• Writing in the discipline and reproducible methods: A process-oriented approach to teaching empirical undergraduate economics research by Marshall, E. C., & Underwood, A. Journal of Economic Education, (2019), 50(1), 17-32.

• Brief guides to writing in the disciplines (Harvard University) The Writing Center's Brief Guides to Writing in the Disciplines provide concise introductions to the essential features of writing in several concentrations.
• Discipline-specific infosheets (York College / CUNY) These writing handouts guide students through the writing process in specific courses and disciplines including Health Education Program Planning.
• Overcoming obstacles: How WID benefits community college students and faculty (Colorado State University) While those teaching and learning at community colleges face challenges unique to their institutions, this article demonstrates how the theoretical concepts at the heart of WID programs—incorporating writing across all disciplines, writing-to-learn rather than learning-to-write exercises, low-and high-stakes writing assignments, and transparent rubrics—are particularly well suited to the needs of community college students and faculty members.
• Programs that work(ed): Revisiting the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, and George Mason University programs after 20 years (Colorado State University) The article explores three WAC/WID programs that were presented in 1990 inPrograms That Work: Models and Methods for Writing Across the Curriculumby Toby Fulwiler and Art Young.
• What is writing in the disciplines? (Colorado State University) Because WID is used by a large number of WAC programs, this guide presents a great deal of information on WID, including a detailed rationale, examples, and logistical tips.
• Writing in the disciplines (University of Tennessee, Knoxville) This guide aims to direct you to reputable resources that will help you to write in specific subjects rather than in particular courses, since writing expectations often vary according to the learning outcomes of specific courses.
• Writing in the disciplines (Excelsior Online Writing Lab) The teaching of writing in colleges and universities tends to focus on academic essays and research papers. Writing in the disciplines, on the other hand, refers to writing assignments tailored to the genres of a specific discipline or field.
• Writing in the disciplines, technology, and disciplinary grounding (Colorado State University) This essay examines the impact of WAC/WID methodology and technology in an Education Capstone Course for Childhood Education majors at LaGuardia Community College/CUNY.
• Writing is discipline specific (Purdue University) Sometimes when we think about writing, we think about the aspects that seem the same, no matter what we are writing—grammatical sentences or the use of paragraph divisions, for instance. Many aspects of good writing do transfer between different genres and audiences; however, different academic disciplines define good writing according to the presence or use of specific writing conventions which often arise from what the discipline values.

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What does "Writing in the Disciplines" mean?

Writing-in-the-Disciplines (WID) at CPP is an extension of the Graduate Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR) policy update (2023). Writing in the Disciplines is a model for writing instruction that teaches students how to write in their chosen disciplines. Writing is a tool; thus, students must be taught where that tool is best applied. One of the best places for students to begin practicing writing for their discipline, is within their discipline. Principles of the WID movement state that writing:

• is the responsibility of the entire academic community,
• must be integrated across departmental boundaries,
• must be continuous during all years of undergraduate education,
• must promote learning, and
• will be executed effectively within the disciplines, only when students practice the conventions of an academic discipline.

You can learn more about Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) and WID at Colorado State University’s Clearinghouse Website .

Dr. Karen Tellez-Trujillo, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Composition is the Writing in the Disciplines Coordinator at CPP and is advised by the University Writing Committee (UWC). Her position has been put in place to support departments as they identify GWAR courses and faculty as they prepare to teach these writing-enhanced courses.

Writing-in-the-Disciplines (WID) at Cal Poly Pomona will offer faculty and staff opportunities for support and professional development in core teaching strategies. By emphasizing what lies between writing and learning, professional development will introduce participants to classroom strategies that foster critical thinking and engagement with course material as you integrate WAC/WID strategies into the classroom. Future workshops will assist faculty and staff as they prepare to:

• draft informal, “ low stakes ” writing exercises,
• draft sequenced and scaffolded writing exercises leading up to a formal, “high stakes” writing assignment,
• build in revision and feedback of writing exercises,
• create ways for students to reflect on their writing and learning processes,
• find effective forms of responding to and assessing writing assignments,
• develop strategies to discourage plagiarism and use of written generated by AI programs,
• develop strategies to work with ELL students, and
• develop ways to teach discipline-specific writing guidelines.

WAC Pedagogy

Learning to write and writing to learn are at the core of WAC pedagogy. In order to become better writers, students must write. The same applies to writing about course material. The more students engage with the course material, the more likely they are learning and remembering what they have been taught. Writing-in-the-disciplines is a process and product of critical thinking, as well as of problem solving. In Engaging Ideas , a foundational text of WAC pedagogy, author John Bean explains that it is equally important for students to ask whether or not the writing is clear, as well as whether or not their writing is interesting. Students should use their writing to ask themselves if what they have written shows a mind actively engaged with the problem of which they write. It is imperative that writing brings something new to readers or makes an argument. Through this inquiry-based learning environment created by writing, student engagement and learning dramatically improves.

• https://wac.colostate.edu/repository/teaching/intro/wid/
• https://www.shsu.edu/pace/writing-in-the-disciplines-program.html
• https://library.daytonastate.edu/Professional_Development/WAC/WID
• https://tlc.commons.gc.cuny.edu/wacwid-pedagogy/

Resources and Readings

Where can i learn more about writing in the disciplines pedagogy.

• Bartholomae, David and Beth Matway.  University of Pittsburgh Study of Writing  (2009). Drawing on extensive surveys and interviews of students and faculty, this report gives a thorough picture of the factors influencing writing development at an urban university. Key elements are chances to discuss ideas before writing, timely and supportive feedback on written work, and chances for more creativity and personal expression than academic genres seem to allow.  
• Bean, John C.   Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom  (2001). Probably the best single book on this topic. A thorough and stimulating guide to the theory and practice of handling student writing: covers designing tasks, helping students read difficult texts, using peer groups for feedback, and handling the paper load.
• Bean, John C., David Carrithers, and Theresa Earenfight.  “Transforming WAC through a discourse-based approach to university outcomes assessment.”  WAC Journal  16 (2005): 5-21. Available  online . A good example of small-scale outcomes research in a writing initiative.
• Eisner, Caroline and Martha Vicinus , eds.  Originality, Imitation, and Plagiarism: Teaching Writing in the Digital Age  (2008). From a wide range of scholars, new ways to think about intertextuality in academic work. The final chapters offer well-grounded advice on designing assignments and handling plagiarism policies. See also Howard, below.
• Elbow, Peter .  Everyone Can Write: Essays Toward a Hopeful Theory of Writing and Teaching Writing  (2000). A persuasive account of an approach focusing on the writing process. As in his earlier books ( Writing with Power ,  Writing without Teachers ), Elbow sees writing as a way to develop ideas and to find personal voice. This book also deals with program issues such as portfolio assessment (with Pat Belanoff).  
• Elbow, Peter. “ High Stakes and Low Stakes in Assigning and Responding to Writing .”  New Directions for Teaching and Learning  69 (1997).   This article describes the importance of assigning low- and middle stakes writing assignments and gives tips on how to respond to what may feel like an insurmountable amount of student writing.
• Howard, Rebecca Moore .  Standing in the Shadow of Giants: Plagiarists, Authors, Collaborators  (1999). An important re-thinking of the way writers use texts. Points out the relatively new idea of plagiarism as an offence; shows how student infractions are often a matter of “patchwriting” or faulty paraphrasing rather than summarizing.
• Light, Richard J .  Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds  (2001). Drawing on extensive qualitative research, Light shows that Harvard students highly value the chance to work with professors and each other on developing writing competencies. He advises timely feedback, chances for oral discussion, and concentrating instruction in upper years.
• Russell, David R.  Writing in the Academic Disciplines: A Curricular History , 2nd ed. (2002). Russell outlines the history of US writing programs since the 1870s in terms of social change and the development of academic specialization. He shows the theoretical and practical fallacies of reliance on first-year composition courses and makes the case for integrated writing instruction as a way to support student development and involve faculty in examining their own specialized discourses.
• Shaughnessy, Mina. Errors and Expectations: A Guide for the Teacher of Basic Writing .  (1977).  In this seminal work, Shaughnessy explores the writing problems of underprepared freshmen and offers solutions on how to teach basic writing.
• Stanford Study of Writing .  Led by Andrea Lunsford, this  multi-year longitudinal study  (2000-2005) combines survey results, video interviews, and analyses of writing samples to depict the factors affecting students’ development as writers. Paul Rogers’ dissertation study emphasizes the importance of personal contact for learning.The website is replete with quotable student comments.
• Sternglass, Marilyn S .  Time to Know Them: A Longitudinal Study of Writing and Learning at the College Level  (1997). An excellent example of case-study research grounded in educational theory and personal experience. Shows the social and intellectual challenges of multilingual students at City College, New York, and their various kinds of success—not always a straight path.
• Stevens, Dannelle D. and Antonia J. Levi.  Introduction to Rubrics: An Assessment Tool to Save Grading Time, Convey Effective Feedback and Promote Student Learning  (2005).   The title says it all! See also Walvoord and Anderson. 
• Strachan, Wendy.   Writing-Intensive: Becoming W-Faculty in a New Writing Curriculum  (2008). An account of the challenges in creating a writing initiative at Simon Fraser University: outlines many successes at the course level, though the initiative has since faltered after Strachan’s retirement. Includes faculty voices, samples of teaching material, and methods for program assessment.
• Thaiss, Chris and Terry Myers Zawacki .  Engaged Writers, Dynamic Disciplines: Research on the Academic Writing Life  (2006). Drawing on interviews with faculty members and students, this book reflects experiences in learning and teaching writing across the range of disciplines. The final chapter summarizes implications for teaching and program building.
• WAC Clearinghouse: A National Journal for Writing Across the Curriculum   This is a great resource for all things WAC. The WAC-journal is an annual collection of articles by educators about their WAC ideas and experiences.
• Walvoord, Barbara E. and Virginia Johnson Anderson .  Effective Grading: A Tool for Learning and Assessment  (1998). Lively readable examples and practical advice on the full range of classroom and administrative practices to make grading a worthwhile part of teaching: many sample assignments, marking guides (rubrics), and comments.  
• Walvoord, Barbara E. and Lucille P. McCarthy .  Thinking and Writing in College: A Naturalistic Study of Students in Four Disciplines  (1990). Readable research reports on the results for both faculty and students of integrating writing into four different classrooms (business, history, psychology, and biology).
• Wright, W. Alan and Eileen M. Herteis, eds.   Learning Through Writing: A Compendium of Assignments and Techniques , 2nd ed. (2001). A collection of practical and inventive assignments from various disciplines. Amusing, stimulating, and Canadian. 
• Zamel, Vivian and Ruth Spack, eds.   Crossing the Curriculum: Multilingual Learners in College Classrooms  (2004). Insightful accounts of the experiences of second-language learners from a range of perspectives.  
• Zinsser, William.   Writing to Learn  (re-issue, 2005). An inspirational account of Zinsser’s visits to outstanding teachers at American liberal arts colleges who use writing in their courses.
• https://writing.utoronto.ca/teaching-resources/readings-writing-disciplines/

NROC Developmental English

Unit 6: learning across disciplines, writing assignment and rubric, writing assignment.

Discuss the three reading selections on the use of camouflage in a multi-paragraph analysis essay, choosing three of the following six elements to incorporate in your analysis:

writer’s purpose

writing tone and style

reader’s goal

discipline-specific language

discipline-specific features

organization

For this writing assignment, your response should be convincing, thoughtful, and detailed, showing various points that support your beliefs on the impact of discipline-specific features on these three readings. Logical evidence that backs up your opinion should be used throughout.

The analysis essay should clearly explain how you think at least three of the following features impact each of the readings from this unit: writer’s purpose, writing tone and style, reader’s goal, discipline-specific language, discipline-specific features, and organization. The first paragraph will offer an interesting introduction of the topic and present your particular view of it. The next three or four paragraphs need to include main points that develop your claim, evidence to support them, analysis explaining how the evidence supports the main point, and transitions (links) connecting one paragraph to the next. Your final paragraph should consist of concluding remarks that effectively offer some memorable thoughts on your topic that push readers’ understanding and challenge them to look at this topic in a new way. The grading rubric below will help you develop your paper.

Your essay will be graded using five separate categories: Purpose, Thesis Statement, Supporting Ideas, Paragraph Development, and Grammar & Punctuation. Each of these five categories will be rated as Proficient, Developing, or Needs Improvement.

Proficient means that you have met the standards of an effective analysis essay. Developing means you have partially met the standards of an analysis essay, but it needs some revision. Needs Improvement means you did not meet the standards of an analysis essay.

Multi-Paragraph Analysis Essay

Developed by The NROC Project. Copyright ©2014 Monterey Institute for Technology and Education

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Southwestern University announces its 2021–2026 Tactical Plan.

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Student bridges theater and technology to create an automatic spotlight tracker.

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Sophomore students participate in a three-day professional development summit.

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Effective Writing Assignments

Writing guides.

In our earlier sections, we discussed the usefulness of providing students with writing guides, short descriptions of the way that writing functions in your discipline. Although prompts provide only the information necessary for a particular assignment, writing guides provide students with transferable information and skills that they can apply across your course and your discipline. We’ve divided our discussion of writing guides into two sections:  disciplinary writing guides  and  genre writing guides. 

Disciplinary Writing Guides

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that when students come to us from high school, many of them have never written a paper for a class other than English. Because the conventions for writing vary dramatically from one discipline to the next, providing students with a disciplinary writing guide for your field can be very useful.

The DEWC is currently collaborating with faculty members in each department to produce a set of disciplinary writing guides that might be used across the university. Eighteen of these guides are available here .  

There are many ways to organize a disciplinary writing guide. Generally, however, these guides cover the following points: 

Common approaches to disciplinary writing

Conventions of evidence use.

• Common genres (assignment types) in the discipline

Style guidelines for usage of language

• Style guidelines for formatting and citation

Common errors to avoid

Below, we include some questions and elaborations that may be helpful as you develop disciplinary writing guidelines for your students.

What types of thinking will your discipline ask writers to do?

You might consider:

• What types of evidence are used in your discipline?
• How is information drawn from outside sources incorporated?
• When, if ever, should students quote instead of paraphrase?
• How should quotations be introduced?
• How should they be cited?
• How should students include data?
• How can students best avoid plagiarism?

Common assignment types 

These can be more fully addressed in genre writing guides, but it’s helpful to provide students with a brief overview of the types of writing associated with your discipline.

• What pronouns should students use? (I/we/no personal pronouns?)
• Are bullet points expected?
• Should students use active or passive voice?
• Is tense an issue? (history papers, literary present)
• Should sentence structure be complex or simple? Should students write short, subject-verb-object sentences, or should they try to write more complex sentences?
• Should language be concise, or is there room for metaphor?
• Is there a style guide for your discipline? (AIP, APA, Paramedic)
• Should students not include their own opinions?
• Are there other conventions (people-first language) that students should be aware of?

Providing a few short models in this section can be particularly helpful.

Style guidelines for formatting and citation 

• What citation style is most commonly used in your discipline?
• How are tables, graphs, and charts formatted?
• Should students use footnotes or endnotes? How should they appear?
• Are there conventions for quotations (like poetry, or block quotes)?

Again, here models are helpful.

Common errors to avoid 

Do students frequently begin arguments with the phrase, “Since the dawn of time, humans have…”? Do they often include value judgments in their formal analyses? Here’s a moment to warn them off.

Again, this is just one possible organization for writing guides; we encourage you to adapt this template to best fit your needs.

Genre Writing Guides 

Genre Writing Guides  explain the purposes and conventions of a particular type of writing, like a research paper or lab report. They can be distributed any time during the semester when you are modeling writing, or they may be distributed with the first prompt. Genre writing guides can also present students with skills and knowledge that can transfer across assignments, courses, and even disciplines.  We’d love to build a bank of genre guides developed by Southwestern professors, so if you have one you’d be willing to share, please  let us know .  In the meantime, we’ve assembled a list of links to online genre guides for the most common assignments, available here .

These guides to include the following information:

• name and purpose of the genre
• general guidelines on length
• suggestions for approaching writing
• suggestions for organization
• citation guidelines
• common errors to avoid  

Below, we expand a bit on each of these sections of the guide.

Name and purpose of the genre

It may be easiest to draw these directly from your prompt, where you articulate the learning goals of the assignment and the assignment type.

General guidelines on length 

Although this is certainly flexible, it’s useful for students understand to understand that research summaries are generally limited to one or two pages, while journal articles run more like 25 to 30 pages (depending, of course, on your discipline). 

Suggestions for approaching writing

Will students need to conduct ethnographic research? Will they need to attend a performance? Are there certain tips you can offer about brainstorming, outlining, or other prewriting? This information can be helpful to include in your assignment guide.

Suggestions for organization  

Generally, this will be the bulk of the genre writing guide.

Models are particularly helpful in this section.

Citation guidelines

Often, students are unsure which citation style to use and where they can find more information on that style (DEWC’s Student Resources for Writing  page provides links to style guides for APA, MLA, CMS, ASA and Turabian style guides). Models here can be helpful as well.

As in the disciplinary writing guides, this is a section in which you can ward off possible student missteps.

Helping Writers Become Authors

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How to Get Some Writing Done: Discipline vs. Enthusiasm

One of the best bits of advice I ever received, years ago when I began taking my writing seriously, was to “treat it like a job.” I memorized Peter de Vries great quote and then posted it above my desk for good measure:

I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.

Enthusiasm may have prompted an interest in this approach, but really what we’re talking about is discipline, pure and simple. And yet as important as discipline may be in keeping us at the desk, it isn’t enough. When life gets real, discipline may (or may not) bring us to the desk, but it can’t always make the words flow. A couple weeks ago, @Amira568 tweeted me the following:

I think it’s because writing requires such concentration–it’s almost a meditative state. I suggest starting small–maybe a journal entry or just fifteen minutes at a time. — K.M. Weiland (@KMWeiland) March 30, 2020

During this COVID-19 quarantine, many people are trying to take the opportunity to learn new skills, further creative desires, and write. New Wordplayer Matthew Zweig wrote me from China:

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your awesome work, site, free content (ebooks yay!) and advice! Your site has been a source of guidance, inspiration, and knowledge! Thank you!

I’m an ex-pat, living in China, on … day 69(?) of “lockdown” since the COVID19 broke out here in January—and while a lot of folks are struggling with, what I am calling, Stuckhome Syndrome (Stuckhome… Stockholm… get it? Very punny haha) I have been using the time to get stuck into writing and doing a ton of writing prompts and exercises.

I never truly appreciated how intimidating writing can be! I’ve always wanted to be a writer, a novelist—it was only when I sat down to write that it hit home. Writing is scary! Putting your inner thoughts and experiences and stories down on paper and making them “real”… truly scary stuff! But your site has given me structure, calmed me down, pointed me in the right direction. So THANK YOU!

I do hope that you and yours keep safe during this interesting time!

Matthew nailed it. Writing is scary , even at the best of times! While discipline can help us construct structures and systems to help us work through fear and resistance, the discipline will eventually run dry if we’re not also cultivating sheer unadulterated enthusiasm for our work (which I think you can feel radiating from Matthew’s email!).

How to start (and keep) writing even when it’s really hard is an evergreen subject among writers. But it’s particularly pertinent right now, in part because more people than ever are exploring those stories they’ve always wanted to tell. This is a great time to explore our enthusiasm for writing, both because enthusiasm can be harder to access in times of stress and also because enthusiasm is a powerfully positive emotion that, in itself, can bring much good into your life.

Today, let’s look at the subjects of discipline and enthusiasm—and how a proper balance between them will help you get some writing done during the quarantine and after.

Top 5 Tips for Cultivating the Discipline of a Daily Writing Practice

I used to say discipline in writing came down to “willpower, old boy, willpower.” And it does—to an extent. But willpower is a limited resource. If you don’t support it with good habits, it will eventually run out. If you’re consistent in disciplining yourself to show up at the desk for at least a month, your habitual brain will take over and you’ll find you need to employ less and less willpower.

There will still be days (and whole periods) when those habits are challenged by outside circumstances, but showing up at your desk for the 30th day in a row (or, even better, the 6,000th—which is approximately where I’m at after 18+ years of regular writing) is a whole lot easier than showing up sporadically for 30 days spread out over a longer period of time.

Discipline is directly linked to motivation. If your motivation for sitting down to write is strong, then the discipline will follow. By the same token, if you’re struggling with discipline, check your motivation. How bad do you really want to write this story? To be a writer? To have a daily writing practice?

There are no wrong answers. But honesty will either prepare you to better meet your goals—or save you a lot of trouble if it turns out you have different desires.

Assuming you  do want to cultivate the habit of discipline in your writing life, here are my top five tips.

1. Build a Writing Session Into Your Daily Schedule

I’ve talked about this in several different posts, but recently in this one: “ 8 Challenges (and Solutions) When Writing From Home .” If writing is truly going to happen for you on a regular basis, then you must build it into a larger schedule. This schedule must not only make  time for your writing, but also support you physically, mentally, and energetically so you have the necessary resources when you do show up at the desk. A good daily writing session, done regularly, is what will build those muscles of habit.

2. Create a Warm-Up Routine

Writing requires deep levels of concentration from both our logical brains and our imaginative brains. It’s difficult to cold-start either. Although you can absolutely train yourself (habits again!) to sit down, switch gears, and start writing like a mad person at the drop of the hat, you’ll probably encounter less inner resistance if you ease into full-blown writing with a few warm-ups . This is a build-your-own-burrito exercise, but tricks I’ve used in the past include:

• Journaling about your goals for the writing session.
• Brewing coffee and preparing a light snack.
• Re-reading what you wrote the day before.
• Reviewing research or outline notes.
• Watching a thematically appropriate music video.

Wordplayer Eric Troyer commented a few weeks ago that:

I also do 10 minutes of meditation right before starting my morning fiction writing. I found that helps me focus.

3. Be Realistic About Necessary Preparation

One of the biggest reasons writers freeze when they sit down to write is that they’re not actually ready to write . If you find yourself revved up and willing but still unable to get started, you may need any of the following to provide the necessary resources for a full-blown writing session:

• Outline/plot preparation .
• Further understanding of story theory and writing techniques.

People often ask if “writing every day” literally means writing . I say, no. For my money, any necessary writing task, including all those mentioned above, counts. When I’m in research phase, I don’t write at all but spend my entire writing session reading and/or transcribing notes.

4. Set the Timer

When you are ready to write, you may find yourself with your fingers hovering over the keyboard: hovering, hovering, hovering. Before you know it, thirty minutes have passed. I’ve found that setting a short time limit, such as fifteen minutes, and then just diving in and writing like crazy will get me going and keep me going. Writing for fifteen minutes doesn’t seem as intimidating as writing for an hour or two. When the fifteen minutes is up, I start another round.

5. If You’re Struggling, Ask Why

Sometimes, no matter how much willpower you’re churning out, the words just won’t come. At this point, you have to ask yourself why. The reason you’re struggling to write almost certainly is  not because you’re a lazy bum who lacks discipline. Something’s wrong. Something’s difficult. So be kind to yourself. But also be smart and look deeper. What’s the real hang up here? Maybe you need some time off to care for your physical and emotional health. Or maybe… you’re running low on enthusiasm…

Top 5 Tips for Renewing Your Enthusiasm for Writing

Another recent email, from Colleen Janik, addressed the essential nature of enthusiasm in any act of creativity:

The problem is, really, that people SAY that if you sit in that chair in front of your computer long enough and WRITE, that the Muse will obediently appear…. The truth is, as far as I have experienced, writing is partially a matter of willing the muse to come and pull up a chair next to you, sip tea and chat while you wildly type all the brilliant ideas about all the great characters and conflicts. The trick, I believe is, to set up a place that is quite comfortable for the Muse and to invite him/her very cordially and wait very patiently for that presence and then don’t EVER EVER EVER rush him/her out the door before the visit is over. We CANNOT artificially create the magic of writing without the Muse.

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (affiliate link)

The inimitable Julia Cameron went even farther in her classic  The Artist’s Way (which is, in my opinion, the one book every writer should read during this quarantine—as you’ve probably guessed, since I think I’ve talked about it in every single post I’ve written this past month):

Over any extended period of time, being an artist requires enthusiasm more than discipline. Enthusiasm is not an emotional state. It is a spiritual commitment, a loving surrender to our creative process, a loving recognition of all the creativity around us. Enthusiasm (from the Greek, “filled with God”) is an ongoing energy supply tapped into the flow of life itself. Enthusiasm is grounded in play, not work. Far from being a brain-numbed soldier, our artist is actually our child within, our inner playmate. As with all playmates, it is joy, not duty, that makes for a lasting bond. True, our artist may rise at dawn to greet the typewriter or easel in the morning stillness. But this event has more to do with a child’s love of secret adventure than with ironclad discipline. What other people may view as discipline is actually a play date that we make with our artist child: “I’ll meet you at 6:00 A.M. and we’ll goof around with that script, painting, sculpture…”

When your enthusiasm is on tap, no one needs to tell you how to find it. It’s just  there , an effervescent well of life bubbling up from deep inside. But when it goes missing, it can be difficult to relocate it, and in my experience, the steps usually aren’t directly related to writing . In fact, if you’re  really struggling with enthusiasm, whether in general or for writing in particular, you may want to relent on your discipline and give yourself the permission for a break.

If you’re striving to access your enthusiasm, here are a few exercises you can play with to cultivate it (and don’t be mistaken: healing tapped-out enthusiasm requires a discipline all its own).

 1. Reconnect With Your Inner Child

I love Cameron’s emphasis that creativity is inherently linked to one’s inner child. There are many things we can do to rediscover this most playful part of ourselves, including some of the following:

• Reflect on childhood memories , using photos, home movies, and old journals as aids. Try to remember what it  felt like to be enthusiastic and creative when you were young.
• Interview your inner child. Just as if he or she were a character in a story, start asking questions and seeing what answers you find. Particularly, ask about things your inner child might be afraid of or areas in which your inner child may not trust you. Visualize what he or she may look like (mine came to me as a wary, feral “wolf girl,” a la Princess Mononoke).

Princess Mononoke (1997), Studio Ghibli.

• Go have fun. Do things that are just for the wonder of it . Try to think of things that will get you off the couch and into your body. Build things. Make crafts. Play games. Roll down a hill.

2. Work Through Painful and Repressed Emotions

Enthusiasm is a flow of joy. But if other, less pleasant emotions are dammed up, eventually joy won’t flow either. If you feel disconnected from your enthusiasm, consider whether you’re disconnected from other emotions as well. If you carry a lot of tension in your body, this is often a sign of bottled-up emotions.

Particularly in an emotional and anxious time, there is tremendous value in working through backed-up emotions. Once the tears finish flowing, joy will flow again too. There are many resources available for this (including Cameron’s morning pages ), but one of the most helpful to me has been yoga. Getting “into my body” and feeling my emotions physically was and is key.

3. Reconnect to Nature

All of my most vivid childhood memories take place outside—running around my childhood neighborhood, building mud forts, digging tunnels, riding horses, climbing trees. Not only is nature a powerful source of healing and inspiration, for many of us it is also a direct line to our freewheeling childhood enthusiasm. Insofar as you’re able, immerse yourself in nature. Even just filling your house with plants and streaming nature videos on your TV can be powerful.

4. Seek Gratitude Every Day

Enthusiasm and joy fade away when we’re full of tension and fear. One of the most powerful responses to fear is gratitude. Every time you think of something you hate or fear, try to also think of something you love and are grateful for. I thought this meditation from Simple Habit was especially good for balancing painful realities with accessible joys:

(If you’d like to give guided meditations a try, Simple Habit is offering free premium access to their app  for one month in response to the anxiety and mental health needs caused by the pandemic.)

Even on days when my writing isn’t going well, I can be grateful for the stories I’ve already written, for the time I’m able to devote even to just sitting at the desk and staring at the blinking cursor, for the stories of others which make me happy even when my own are MIA.

5. Return to Stories That Stir You—Yours and Other People’s

Writers are notorious for suffering from Imposter Syndrome. At this point I’ve been writing for two decades, I’ve written countless stories, and I’ve published five novels among other things—and I still regularly forget that I’ve done this before, I can do this again. 

Sometimes going back to read my own stories is enough to re-spark my enthusiasm. Other times, I need to revisit the stories, written by other authors, that inspired me in the first place. Stories beget stories, just as enthusiasm begets enthusiasm and joy begets joy. If you can find even just a small seed, sometimes that’s all it takes to get the garden blooming all over again.

Writers will always require  both discipline and enthusiasm to keep the words flowing. Discipline is the  how ; enthusiasm is the  why . If you find yourself struggling to get the words down at any point, take a moment to consider which of these might be tripping you up—and how you can move yourself back into alignment with your creativity in a healthy way.

Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! Which do you find it harder to maintain—discipline or enthusiasm? Tell me in the comments!

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K.M. Weiland is the award-winning and internationally-published author of the acclaimed writing guides Outlining Your Novel , Structuring Your Novel , and Creating Character Arcs . A native of western Nebraska, she writes historical and fantasy novels and mentors authors on her award-winning website Helping Writers Become Authors.

Just yesterday, I found a video on youtube about “dopamine detox” – how to regain your ability to find joy in things after having been numbed by activities that abuse this reward mechanism in your brain. Turns out you can desentisise yourself to the point where nothing seems worthwhile anymore. The video suggests one day per week to go on a “dopamine fast,” where you abstain from anything that would trigger the release of dopamine, such as junk food, social media, or drugs (even soft drugs like caffeine).

IIRC, Julia Cameron has a WHOLE WEEK of this in her program where you aren’t even allowed to read books – and it serves the same purpose: to “re-sentisise” yourself for the wonders of the world around you, to regain your enthusiasm for things that seemed boring during that numbed state.

Unplugging from the internet seems to be a good idea, especially now – and if it helps to renew one’s enthusiasm for writing, too, all the better. I’ll try it out, in any case.

I have to admit I couldn’t convince myself to do Cameron’s book detox. 😕 :p

Me neither 😀 and I guess today it’d be even more difficult than it was back when I first bought her book. Today, we can’t even go one day without internet. To go without it for a whole week, AND without reading, too? Unthinkable! LOL

Thank you, Athaia, for that snippet about a dopamine detox. As someone with chronic, decades-long depression, much of this advice on discipline and motivation felt pretty hollow. (Sorry, Ms. Weiland!) I will give some thought to a dopamine detox!

On a separate note, I would love to see a book filled with advice ONLY from depressed writers, telling what techniques they use to combat utter lack of motivation, brain too tired to develop ideas, Don’t Feel Like It Syndrome, etc. I think that would be a bestseller in a week!

I admit I have yet to try it – Saturday sounds like a good day, because I schedule all my chores for that day anyway. Right now, I’m applying good old discipline (sigh) and a low daily wordcount goal.

The Preparation has been the sticking point for me. I’m coming to this post having just worked out my “Eureka!” moment, the last bit of nitty gritty for my worldbuilding. I needed for a particular aspect of the world to make sense to me, and because it didn’t, I knew it wouldn’t make sense to a reader. It was going to fuel a big chunk of story, so I needed to nail it down, really nail it down.

I just did, five minutes ago. It took me a while to get there, which had me gnashing my teeth, because I couldn’t finish the story without clarity in my own mind. It took weeks of rumination, which I helped by doing more research. The first part of the breakthrough came just by “writing out the problem,” the way I would back in my tech support days. “Rubber duck debugging” is a practice in software coding, and it helps with story debugging, too.

Enthusiasm was another issue, though smaller. I felt that with several scenes I was “burying the lede.” That means I was taking too long to get to the meat; the thing the reader wants — and that I would want as a reader. I’m trying to cut that out, and one part of doing that is keeping in mind what stories moved me, what inspired me to begin with.

Going through your series on scene structure helped me realize I was getting heavy on the “Incidents and Happenings.” The outsized I&H’s were dragging down my enthusiasm, which isn’t surprising given their lack of tension or conflict or suspense. Duh!

Back to basics. And I’ve got to move up “The Artist’s Way” in my To Buy queue now that I can devote time to reading it.

It’s great to see you mentioning the overuse of Incidents and Happenings. I often refer people to that article because they’re wanting to create these types of “non-scenes” (which is fine), but it’s very important not to overuse them, as you mention.

One thing that really helped me with my writing is, I read a book on acting. It’s amazing how closely the two subjects are related. I wish I had that book here now. Keep up the good work, girl, you are helping a lot of people!

Do you remember the name of the book?

One of the classics is The Technique of Acting by Stella Adler.

Acting is literally about showing and not telling. The Method, which Adler famously was, is probably the predominant technique in America.

Technique enables the actor to get in touch with what the character is feeling and, most importantly for writing, how they express it physically.

Thinking how a character is feeling and how a person who was acting that out would express the feeling/subtext is a fantastic writing tip. I wish I’d thought of it myself!

Thanks! I’ll check it out.

Excellent points, as usual. Katie at her best. Keep going, your help is invaluable. BTW, just bought The Artist’s Way. Can’t wait to read it. Connecting to your inner child is vital. The key requirement for success is indeed playing. All animals know this and never stop playing, even as adults.Look at a cat that’s just caught a bird.

That’s great! I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.

Great post, Katie. I’ve got an idea for getting the proper writing attitude. When you start your writing session, just program your computer or smart speaker to play “Hail to the Chief.” That oughta make you feel like you’re doing something important!

There ya go. 😉

So helpful! Thanks for these reminders and tips!

Thanks for reading!

“I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.” Ha!

This was a great post, Katie. It hit home. You said, “Particularly, ask about things your inner child might be afraid of…”

A memory from my young teen years returned, full-blown, and socked me in the mouth. Mom and Dad out running errands, leaving the four of us home alone. We were all teens and were perfectly capable of surviving on our own for a couple of hours. But I’d find myself checking the driveway every few minutes. I realized this morning that I was always afraid they wouldn’t come back. Every time.

And now I’m working on the MS that I’ve identified as the story that must be told. If a wicked genie told me I had only one more story to write, this is the one. Working title “No Tomorrows”. I’ll pull the curtain there.

I think this story was dragged right out of the bottom of the well…

How fascinating! Memories like that can be so revealing–things we’ve never thought twice about consciously in our adult lives and yet which have been formative.

What about when the enthusiasm is high and the muse herself has no discipline? Is this due to a lack of discipline in myself? Will she behave and constrain herself to a set time if I commit to being there at the desk at an appointed time every day or will she still whisper distracting bits of genius in my ear at 2am or while I’m driving or in the shower or at some other inopportune moment when I haven’t got time to play? She’s very devious. I think she wants me to crash my car trying to write things down with the center of my steering wheel as a writing desk!

Although I will say, following your blog and learning how to outline stories has helped a TON with the discipline I have previously lacked in sticking with ONE story. When the muse tries to distract with juicy new plot bunnies, I just take a day or two, or a week or whatever to write up an outline and get it out of my head and then go back to my main WIP. It’s been very liberating in a way to be able to have at least that kind of discipline.

I’d say a surplus of the muse is always a blessing. 🙂

Right now it’s enthusiasm. My lack of enthusiasm is cause by my not knowing what to do with the plot that would would be logical. When I over come this barrier I will then over my laziness. I found in the past once I get started It’s hard for me to stop.

I hear you. This is currently what I’m stalled on as well. Everything’s a go except for certain crucial aspects of the fantasy system that just won’t make sense no matter how I juggle them.

I find voice recognition helpful. I can’t type like I used to, make many mistakes and must go back and correct.Tricks help, like pretending to tell a story to a bedridden friend or relative who depends on the daily dispatch. I suffer from depression and can barely summon enough enthusiasm to get up in the morning. Discipline is also lacking, but I find I can trick myself into doing things I don’t want to do. Thank you for your good advice.

I’ve not quite mastered on-the-spot dictation, but I use Dragon Naturally Speaking when transcribing outline notes. Saves my wrists.

This was perfect timing. I’ve worked 5+ years on a YA novel with an NA Elder. Two months ago, lost all enthusiasm and ability to write…the Virus and concern for family, friends and hourly wage-earnings …and frontline workers. My two adult children are frontline. Have been dinging around about getting going again on the novel. Spoke with my co-author. His fiancee is awesome about putting edits into words. He, himself, is a storyteller for the flavor, insights of the novel I wrote. So, setting my timer. Printed out your info and scheduling. Made coffee. Isolated into a chair in a corner upstairs while our spring snowstorm rages.

I hear you. There’s a lot more distraction right now than ever before. But I love writing during snowstorms. I find them so grounding and comforting. They’re isolating–in a good way. I hope you find your words during your storm!

Well, I started writing a reply and it ended up so long, I made it a blog post! Thank you! *blush* If you want to see what you generated, here’s the link: https://eugeniaparrish.blog/2020/04/13/discipline-schmiscipline/

*goes to read*

So very true!! I haven’t written anything since November. I keep making excuses, but it’s about avoidance. LOL Although, as an artist, I have been painting a lot, so at least I’m doing something creative. BUT I need to get into my WIP and start revising. Ugh!! You provided some excellent strategies. I think I will schedule some time to just start small. That way I won’t feel so overwhelmed.

I’d say any creative outlet counts! But, yes, I know that for myself if I start small and get consistent with that, it helps me feel less overwhelmed.

Perfect post for a perfect time in my writing journey. I often blame not writing on lack of discipline– and that’s certainly a large part of it, so your tips will definitely come in handy. But I also think it’s a lack of motivation. I often interchange the two as if they’re the same thing, but they’re not. Discipline can get me to the chair, but it’s another thing for me to engage my mind to type something meaningful. Motivation is what tells me that my effort and time is worthwhile. Otherwise, it’s easy to say, “Oh– I can approach this again tomorrow. What’s the rush?” I do have a deadline in my head– have a manuscript draft completed so I have something to pitch at a conference in September. But the deadline is far enough away it doesn’t drive me. So still, consistent motivation escapes me.

Of course, it’ doesn’t help that I have two bored teenagers up my rear end 24/7! Ha!

Motivation is what makes discipline fun. Otherwise, it’s just a slog. :p

Great post here. I foolishly assumed the writing was going to come easy during our lockdown period… but I’ve been distracted and it shows. Really it’s old habits that need to come back. Thank you Katie!

It’s not an easy time, but it’s a good time to build habits.

I’m not a terrifically disciplined / ambitious person by nature. But my enthusiasm for writing comes partly from having grown up the “middle child” and partly from the conviction that writing is a gift from God. My fountain of enthusiasm, like an artisan well, has two feeder streams. If I don’t discipline myself and channel the stream, then it’s that much water under the bridge that is lost into the sump in the back of my head. How much more satisfying to put a mill in it, to dam it up, and harness its power?

When a “middle child” finds her voice – look out, world! Growing up, we were overshadowed by the family showboats. I don’t mean that in a hateful way, or even as an across the board generalization, but it’s simply one of those things. And I’m proud of what the showboats in my family have accomplished. But tell me, what other middle children feel more like observers than participants?

I’ve had three different teachers (two in high school and one at college) praise my writing. Talents are from the Creator, so since I’ve received it, then it’s my job to make myself the most intelligible mouthpiece that I can. I’ve a long way to go, but it’s an adventure worth taking.

Time to set sail! Thank you KMW for sharing your writing journey with us. Stay healthy!

What you say about middle children is interesting. I can see that emergence with my middle siblings as well.

One thing that I think helps me is giving myself permission to have a bad day and write anyway. A session of bad writing can be fixed, and sometimes that bad session surprises me. A session of no writing just makes me feel guilty. I’m actually very good about writing every day. For me, I don’t need a set time or anything like that – I get “twitchy” as the day goes on and I haven’t written. What I have found is that I can get distracted by editing, world building, outlining, critting other writers, … and not get in the time drafting.

Absolutely. Sometimes it’s better just to show up, rather than to insist on perfection and not show up at all.

“What other people view as discipline is actually a play date that we make with our artist child.”

I love that. I read The Artist’s Way years ago, then gave it to my mom, who now lives on the other side of the country, so thank you for including Cameron’s quotes!

I love the idea of the warm-up routines and preparation. I’ve got into the habit of brewing a pot of tea and going over what I want to do today. And I have favorite childhood photos on my desk to keep me from taking things too seriously.

Discipline and enthusiasm have always come in bursts for me. This month I’ve been working on daily discipline. I signed up for Camp Nanowrimo, which has helped a lot, primarily because of the playful attitude of being at camp, even being in a writers cabin to share challenges and triumphs with my fellow cabin-mates. I’m enthusiastic to check in every day.

This was a wonderful and well-timed post for me. I’ve realised that discipline and enthusiasm work best together. Or play best together. In my current girl scout camp-mindedness, I would extend the scout motto to, Be Prepared (in order) to Have Fun!

Thank you for all the great tips, Katie!

“Play best together”–yes, I love that!

Two lists in one post – bonus! I like the link between enthusiasm and discipline focused on here. It fits with much or our endeavors!

. . . with many of our endeavors.

Indeed! All of life ultimately rests on this fulcrum.

Great post, as always!

Regarding the enthusiasm, I picked up an insight in 2018 while coaching another screenwriter: I kept force-feeding her the necessity of outlining rather than diving into writing “unsanctioned” scenes. She was so excited about screenwriting that she would sometimes ignore my advice to map out which scenes really belong in the outline. Instead, she’d polish to a bright luster whatever scenes gave her goosebumps only to discover during our next outlining session that we would have to cut these scenes out completely! That was, of course, disheartening for her and an “I told you so” moment for me. I would say, “See? You’ve wasted all that time polishing something that would ultimately end up in the trash. Let’s avoid that with proper outlining.”

Later on, however, something unexpected emerged for me: I reached a writing slump in my own outline for my work in progress. The work had gotten dry. And slow. She, on the other hand, had written several new scenes on her piece and was excited to show me.

That moment brought the revelation: those unsanctioned scenes she was writing weren’t a waste. They brought her joy and kept her energized on her project. Sure, some of the writing went in the trash, but she remained fresh and engaged.

I’ve now been employing a similar technique for myself. When the outline gets dull, it’s because I’m usually looking at it like a theoretical analyst. The emotion dissipates. Sometimes I do need to dive in and flesh out a scene, hear the dialogue, see the characters interacting, and then I fall in love with them all over again.

Then it’s back to the outline.

And I suppose you could file this under the joy of pantsing. 🙂

(I’m NOT a pantser, but I’ll make an exception to restore the joy!)

Totally agree. I tend to err on the side of logic as well. For me, going back into a dreamzone space, a fire night or some such, is usually the key to reignite enthusiasm.

Thank you for your awesome content. I’m legit beaming that I’ve actually been quoted in a blog! This has made my day – and I’m sharing this with every human I’ve ever met … or will meet. Haha.

Thanks so much for the email! I found it encouraging and inspiring. 🙂

KM ~ . A few quick comments… . My biggest obstacle (even in March/April 2020) is work. My employer is essential and the issues surrounding work take me away from “my desk” (what’s that?) more than I wish, but I wish to affirm a couple of your points. . I remember my Professor speaking to me about my thesis saying something like what you mention. Paraphrasing, reading & research are writing your thesis. So, a little tongue in cheek, I say, reading your posts are research. . A second point, as it relates to my WIP, being unable to immediately continue the actual narrative work (play?) can be replaced by short times or efforts for background details. These have included creating a full descriptive of a dragon or actually drawing out (mapping) certain scenes. This more, shall I say, visual writing preps me for the time when I can tackle narrative. . That’s all ~ . ~ P

I agree: even one short burst of creative work can change the whole tenor of the day.

Discipline for sure is hard for me. I never thought about enthusiasm before, but I’ve noticed that ever since I passed into adulthood, became married, and had my first child, that child-like enthusiasm has become illusive. I’m interested to see how my daughter will help rekindle that enthusiasm as she grows.

My biggest enemy, however, is fear and I go for long stretches of time without writing. Impostor syndrome is real, so reading my past writing helps a great deal. I’ve often felt stupid for not understanding how plot works, so this website has been a life-saver for me! To share a bit of a horror story: When I was in grad school for writing, I had a writing mentor who actually told me point-blank that I don’t have what it takes to be a writer. I know this deep within me to be untrue, and I’ve written things since then, but her words still haunt me, especially on those bad days when fear wins out. At times, though, it can also be a great motivator, a desire to prove her wrong.

One thing that helps me in my dry spells is watching movies about writers. Nim’s Island and Stranger Than Fiction are fun with eccentric writers who are easy for me to relate to. The 1994 version of Little Women is also a good one to help get the motivation moving–at the end when Jo gets the idea to write about her family, I can practically feel the creative wheels turning, and it makes my fingers just itch to write (not to mention the soundtrack is wonderful to write along to).

Just from the style of your comment, I see *nothing* that would make me think you can’t develop (or don’t already have) the ability for an effective writing style. So much of writing is a learned skill that as long as you’re willing to do the learning, there’s absolutely no reason to believe a point-blank declaration that you don’t “have what it takes,” all the more so if it was made when you were still a young writer. Good for you for keeping at it.

Wow, this is such a great post! I’ve only been a Wordplayer for a few months but I think this is my favorite post you’ve ever written. Great job!

Thanks! Great to hear you’re enjoying the blog. 🙂 Welcome aboard!

Since finding myself in creative burnout after finishing a brutal series in December, I’ve struggled more with the enthusiasm aspect. I’ve got nothing. (In fact I wrote a poem about this yesterday). The creative well is abysmally dry, still, and this pandemic and the furor surrounding it are inhibiting my ability to “store up” pennies in that soul space dedicated to imagination and creativity. This post has given me some realistic measures to try. Thanks for that. You’ve been a help to many many times during my author journey.

Finishing even one book, let alone a series, can be brutal. I’d say you deserve a good long break if that’s what you’re feeling like!

Thank you for a majorly helpful post (again). I cannot tell you how much your books and blog posts have helped me figure out this really odd compulsion I have to write. I want to write, I day-dream about my story scenes, characters, world, some action bits, BUT I still struggle with ACTUALLY writing it down even after figuring out some of my sticking point. UGG!

So overly long story short, THANK YOU for the sweetest kick in the butt I’ve ever had =)

I hear you! Sometimes it’s helpful to think of the actual writing like going to the gym. It takes a lot of effort and discipline to create that habit–even if you really enjoy working out. But you *never* regret doing it.

loved this: Discipline is the how enthusiasm is the why.

I have a kind of mission statement describing why I write and the feeling I’m reaching for in writing, that is always good to reconnect me to enthusiasm. The statement is list-like but these are the words that produce an effect on me.

PASSION and meaning, purpose, poignancy, irony and archness this is what I’m looking for. The sublime, the otherworldly, spooky, slant, strange. The mythic. The Avatar in character. The quality in/of life. The journey. Passionate examination of words. reflection on meaning and truth, resistance and arising thought.

I love it–especially “archness.” We don’t hear that word enough anymore.

Thanks for the terrific post. Now, to get down to writing.

Thanks for this awesome post. Clearly stated my problem: I struggle to begin even though I really want to. But it seems to me now I have to bring back enthusiasm and joy. Once again thanks for redirecting me through your impacting posts.😉

Thank you for writing such helpful content! I was able to happily point my blog readers back to your site. Most definitely grateful to be able to have awesome resources to lead them to!

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Gen ed writes, writing across the disciplines at harvard college.

• Types of Assignments

Gen Ed courses transcend disciplinary boundaries in a variety of ways, so the types of writing assignments that they include also often venture outside the traditional discipline-specific essays. You may encounter a wide variety of assignment types in Gen Ed, but most can be categorized into four general types: 

• Traditional academic assignments include the short essays or research papers most commonly associated with college-level assignments. Generally speaking, these kinds of assignments are "expository" in nature, i.e., they ask you to engage with ideas through evidence-base argument, written in formal prose. The majority of essays in Expos courses fall into this category of writing assignment types.  
• Less traditional academic assignments include elements of engagement in academia not normally encountered by undergraduates. 
• Traditional non-academic assignments include types of written communication that students are likely to encounter in real world situations. 
• Less traditional non-academic assignments are those that push the boundaries of typical ‘writing’ assignments and are likely to include some kind of creative or artistic component.

Examples and Resources

Traditional academic.

For most of us, these are the most familiar types of college-level writing assignments. While they are perhaps less common in Gen Ed than in departmental courses, there are still numerous examples we could examine.

Two illustrations of common types include: 

Example 1: Short Essay  Professor Michael Sandel asks the students in his Gen Ed course on Tech Ethics to write several short essays over the course of the semester in which they make an argument in response to the course readings. Because many students will never have written a philosophy-style paper, Professor Sandel offers students a number of resources—from a guide on writing in philosophy, to sample graded essays, to a list of logical fallacies—to keep in mind. 

Example 2: Research Paper In Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Cares?, a Gen Ed course co-taught by multiple global health faculty members, students write a 12–15 page research paper on a biosocial analysis of a global health topic of their choosing for the final assignment. The assignment is broken up into two parts: (1) a proposal with annotated bibliography and (2) the final paper itself. The prompt clearly outlines the key qualities and features of a successful paper, which is especially useful for students who have not yet written a research paper in the sciences. 

Less Traditional Academic

In Gen Ed, sometimes assignments ask students to engage in academic work that, while familiar to faculty, is beyond the scope of the typical undergraduate experience. 

Here are a couple of examples from Gen Ed courses: 

Example 1: Design a conference  For the final project in her Gen Ed course, Global Feminisms, Professor Durba Mitra asks her students to imagine a dream conference  in the style of the feminist conferences they studied in class. Students are asked to imagine conference panels and events, potential speakers or exhibitions, and advertising materials. While conferences are a normal occurrence for graduate students and professors, undergraduates are much less likely to be familiar with this part of academic life, and this kind of assignment might require more specific background and instructions as part of the prompt. 

Example 2: Curate a museum exhibit In his Gen Ed class, Pyramid Schemes, Professor Peter Der Manuelian's final project offers students the option of designing a virtual museum exhibit . While exhibit curation can be a part of the academic life of an anthropologist or archaeologist, it's not often found in introductory undergraduate courses. In addition to selecting objects and creating a virtual exhibit layout, students also wrote an annotated bibliography as well as an exhibit introduction for potential visitors. 

Traditional Non-academic

One of the goals of Gen Ed is to encourage students to engage with the world around them. Sometimes writing assignments in Gen Ed directly mirror types of writing that students are likely to encounter in real-world, non-academic settings after they graduate.

The following are several examples of such assignments: 

Example 1: Policy memo In Power and Identity in the Middle East, Professor Melani Cammett assigns students a group policy memo evaluating "a major initiative aimed at promoting democracy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)." The assignment prompt is actually structured as a memo, providing context for students who likely lack experience with the format. It also outlines the key characteristics of a good memo, and it provides extensive advice on the process—especially important when students are working in groups. 

Example 2: Letter In Loss, Professor Kathleen Coleman asks students to write a letter of condolence . The letter has an unusual audience: a mother elephant who lost her calf. Since students may not have encountered this type of writing before, Professor Coleman also provides students with advice on process, pointing to some course readings that might be a good place to start. She also suggests a list of outside resources to help students get into the mindframe of addressing an elephant. 

Example 3: Podcast  Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular in Gen Ed classes, as they are in the real world. Though they're ultimately audio file outputs, they usually require writing and preparing a script ahead of time. For example, in Music from Earth, Professor Alex Rehding asks students to create a podcast in which they make an argument about a song studied in class. He usefully breaks up the assignments into two parts: (1) researching the song and preparing a script and (2) recording and making sonic choices about the presentation, offering students the opportunity to get feedback on the first part before moving onto the second. 

Less Traditional Non-academic

These are the types of assignments that perhaps are less obviously "writing" assignments. They usually involve an artistic or otherwise creative component, but they also often include some kind of written introduction or artist statement related to the work.

The following are several examples from recently offered Gen Ed courses: 

Example 1: Movie Professor Peter Der Manuelian offers students in his class, Pyramid Schemes, several options for the final project, one of which entails creating a 5–8 minute  iMovie making an argument about one of the themes of the course. Because relatively few students have prior experience making films, the teaching staff provide students with a written guide to making an iMovie as well as ample opportunities for tech support. In addition to preparing a script as part of the production, students also submit both an annotated bibliography and an artist’s statement. 

Example 2: Calligram In his course, Understanding Islam and Contemporary Muslim Societies, Professor Ali Asani asks students to browse through a provided list of resources about calligrams, which are an important traditional Islamic art form. Then they are required to "choose a concept or symbol associated with God in the Islamic tradition and attempt to represent it through a calligraphic design using the word Allah," in any medium they wish. Students also write a short explanation to accompany the design itself. 

Example 3: Soundscape In Music from Earth, Professor Alex Rehding has students create a soundscape . The soundscape is an audio file which involves layering sounds from different sources to create a single piece responding to an assigned question (e.g. "What sounds are characteristic of your current geographical region?"). Early on, as part of the development of the soundscape, students submit an artist's statement that explains the plan for the soundscape, the significance of the sounds, and the intention of the work. 

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