Notes Toward a Working Definition of
"Writing Studies"
updated September 2009
The
Emergence of "Writing Studies"
So what
exactly is "writing studies"? The term is fairly recent; a decade
ago one would be hard put to find it used in conjunction with any
academic program. But today there are a growing number of
undergraduate and graduate programs that use this term in
describing their mission. Below is a brief overview of how other
programs and scholars have recently interpreted the concept of
"writing studies," followed by an explanation of how we at the
Institute for Writing Studies are interested in further expanding
the scholarly and pedagogical implications of what "writing
studies" might entail.
Writing
Studies programs have their origins in the field of composition
studies, commonly referred to as composition-rhetoric or comp/rhet.
Composition studies is a broad and multi-faceted discipline, home
to a variety of research areas including first-year writing
instruction, "basic" or developmental writing, multilingual writing
instruction, computers and composition, writing center research,
writing across the curriculum, writing program administration,
rhetorical studies, discourse studies, literacy studies,
professional and technical writing, creative writing pedagogy, and
more. Scholars in comp/rhet specialize in all manner of research
areas, including working class rhetorics, vernacular Englishes,
writing and service-learning, multigenre or multimodal writing,
ecocomposition, critical race theory, visual literacy, and so on.
One can get a sense of the diversity of scholarship conducted by
composition scholars by looking at the annual program from the
Conference on College Composition and Communication, held annually
and attended by thousands of specialists in composition and
rhetoric. Research in the field finds its way into a number of
journals, among them Assessing Writing, College Composition and
Communication, College English, Composition Forum, Composition
Studies, Computers and Composition, JAC, Journal of Basic Writing,
Pedagogy, Reflections, Rhetoric Review, Teaching English in the
Two-Year College, The WAC Journal, Writing Center
Journal,andWriting on the Edge.
But despite
the breadth of research in composition studies, many unfamiliar
with the field tend to associate it with little more than freshman
composition. In an attempt to convey the wider variety of
scholarship found in composition/rhetoric, the term "writing
studies" has begun to surface, shifting the focus from (first-year)
composition to an identification with writing more broadly. As a
result, new "writing studies" programs are appearing that offer
courses in such areas as writing and science, professional writing,
writing for digital media, environmental communication,
professional writing, and discourse studies.
"Writing Studies" at St. John's
One of the
interesting characteristics of many writing studies programs is
that they distinguish themselves from English Studies. The history
of English Departments in America is one marked by tensions between
the study of literature and literary theory on one hand, and
attention to composition pedagogy and rhetoric on the other (with
creative writing often located somewhere off to the side). As a
result some writing studies programs are comprised of faculty who
left English departments in order to establish their own
programs.
We at the
Institute for Writing Studies take a different approach. We have no
desire to separate ourselves from areas of research associated with
English studies, literary studies, or literary theory. In fact, our
understanding of "writing studies" can be very closely connected to
literature, poetics, or theory. All four directors in the Institute
for Writing Studies (the Executive Director, Director of the
Writing Center, Director of Writing Across the Curriculum, and
Director of First-Year Writing) are tenured or tenure-track members
of the English Department. All four faculty teach undergraduate and
graduate courses in the English Studies, including literary theory,
literary studies, contemporary poetry and poetics, creative
writing, memoir, creative nonfiction, cultural studies, new media,
and other areas. To cite just a few specific examples, our graduate
course "Writing Theory, Writing Practice" explores a range of
writing practices and theoretical approaches associated with
modernist, postmodern, and avant-garde poetics in an attempt to
combine writing theory with experimentation in creative writing.
And our course "Literary/Visual Texts" emphasizes handmade and
digital construction of books and other multimedia writing
performances. The Institute for Writing studies also sponsors
ongoing lectures, readings, and open-mikes featuring the work by
writings and scholars working in a variety of genres and
disciplines. Our First-Year Writing faculty are not only scholars
of composition, but some are poets, fiction writers, and literary
scholars.
Above all,
we strongly encourage our students, especially our master's and
Doctor of Arts candidates, to explore courses in literature
andcomposition, theoryandcreative writing. We
want students whose initial area of interest might be a literary
genre or historical period to also understand best practices in
composition pedagogy--and vice versa. Increasingly, today's
graduate student needs to wear a variety of professional hats,
demonstrating expertise, familiarity, and proficiency in multiple
areas. We in the Institute for Writing Studies want to cultivate
such cross-pollination between composition pedagogy, literary
studies, critical theory, creative writing, and cultural studies.
Our understanding of writing studies is broad and inclusive, and
owes much to the spirit of collaboration, inquiry, and dialogue
represented in our vibrant English department.
Towards a Working Definition of Writing
Studies
Because it's
a relatively new field, we understand any attempt to define the
characteristics of "writing studies" might best be considered a
work in progress. Toward that end we list what we see to be
possible distinguishing elements of "writing studies" while
inviting further input from colleagues and students.
*
Conversations and research about First-Year Writing, Writing
Centers, and Writing Across the Curriculum. The Institute for
Writing Studies is comprised of these three programs. Together they
present the most visible face of what we consider to be writing
studies. The IWS offers services to students and faculty through
these three programs, and also defines itself as a site for
sustained inquiry and research into the theory and praxis of
first-year writing instruction, the art of Writing Center
consultation, and open dialogue on writing among faculty from all
disciplines and colleges. Here in the IWS undergraduates,
graduates, and faculty are involved in various research projects,
case studies, panel presentations, and works in progress. We see
ourselves as a physical and discursive space where all students and
faculty are welcome to talk, argue, debate, and collaborate about
writing pedagogy.
* An
invitation to students and faculty to engage in writing production
in a variety of genres. Beyond the writing of essays and
research papers, we're just as interested in other writing forms
and performances: blogging, online peer response, screenplays,
multimodal texts, syllabi, conference abstracts, lyric essays,
sestinas, review essays, flash fiction, editorials, manifestoes,
journals, memoir, investigative poetics, and numerous other genres,
sub-genres, and hybrid genres. We're interested in students and
faculty who seek to work in traditional as well as unconventional
writing forms.
*
Emphasizing "writing to learn" as much as "writing for a
grade." So much of student writing exists primarily for the
purpose of being graded. We fully understand the need to assign
graded writing tasks. But we're also interested in fostering other
kinds of writing environments and writing cultures in and outside
the classroom. Writing is a mode of thinking, an important means of
figuring things out, testing ideas, and gathering one's thoughts.
Writing is not a container for thought, but rather an array of
cognitive processes whereby our thoughts materialize, evolve, and
become refined. We all recognize the value of classroom
environments where students are encouraged to speak up, explore
their ideas, and engage in mutual inquiry. And we all realize that
one way to encourage such discourse and engagement in the classroom
is not to penalize students for having the courage to speak up.
Likewise, we're interested in ways that writing can exist in
similar ways in and outside the classroom. How might faculty create
writing environments where students are continually engaged in "low
stakes," writing-to-learn activities that are not necessarily
graded? Similarly, how might we encourage our undergraduates and
graduates to do more of their own writing outside of class, and
recognize that writing for oneself is a necessary part of
intellectual growth?
*
Shifting from reified notions of writing as either "good" or
"bad" to an emphasis on exploring what certain writing practices
and products do. How might we all, students and
faculty alike, measure the progress of our writing without
resorting to thinking of it in black and white, binary terms? How
might we measure and assess student writing by considering a
variety of factors--not simply grammar and rhetoric, but also
style, evidence, awareness of audience, adherence to genre
conventions, and especially the time and effort put into sustained
revision? How might we assess student progress and achievement by
considering development and growth across a range of writing tasks,
projects, and activities?
*
Emphasizing sustained writing production as much as the reading
of texts. We're especially interested in learning environments
where writing is recognized as not secondary to reading or
classroom discussion but of equal significance. In many college
courses, regardless of the discipline, writing sometimes becomes a
silent handmaid to reading. So much of classroom time is spent on
discussion, lecture, and presentations. When assigned, papers tend
to be required at the end of units or not until the end of the
semester. As a result students typically procrastinate in writing
papers until the deadline nears. Often papers are not widely
discussed in class, and often there is little or no attention to
revision. If faculty do require a draft to be submitted prior to a
final paper, often only one draft is expected, which can translate
into an arguably reductive two-step approach (submit draft, get
professor's feedback; submit final product, get grade). Despite the
relatively little amount of discussion spent on writing, these
infrequent and late-stage writing tasks often constitute a
significant portion of the final grade. We're interested in how
faculty might emphasize reading and writing equally, viewing these
activities as two sides of the same coin. Just as we expect our
students to be creative, adventuresome, risky thinkers, so too
might we introduce them to sustained opportunities for writing that
are equally creative, adventuresome, and risky--even when such
risk-taking forms might challenge our own comfort levels. Such
ongoing writing activities need not always be graded, just as we do
not feel the need to regularly "grade" the comments and questions
students raise in class. The goal is to create a vibrant writing
environment, a sustained writing culture.
* A
healthy skepticism towards the outdated binary that separates
"academic writing" from "creative writing." We recognize and
respect that all academic disciplines contain specific genres and
conventions. All students need to demonstrate proficiency with
certain genre conventions in order to enter into those discourse
communities. But too often we find students misunderstanding the
possibilities of what "academic writing" might entail. Throughout
their schooling they have picked up a variety of messages that
characterize academic discourse as necessarily disengaged, passive,
dispassionate, repetitive, pretentious, inflated, and so on. We're
interested in pedagogies that take on the challenge of
pursuingcreativeacademic discourse. How might we encourage
undergraduates and graduate students to construct not only
acceptable and appropriate academic prose, but texts that are also
powerful, inspiring, and imaginative while remaining true to their
necessary genre conventions? We realize this might be less
practical in certain disciplines that must adhere to very precise
rhetorical and stylistic constraints. But in general we think
students can benefit from imagining the creative potential of
"academic writing."
*
Engaging with various technologies of writing production, print
and digital. New writing technologies require all of us,
faculty and students, to rethink the evolving nature of writing in
a digital age. Traditional venues for publishing, notably
university presses and academic journals, are shrinking, while
online forums for publishing are growing. Writing for the web,
however, presents us with a paradigm shift the implications of
which we have yet to fully realize. Writing for the web is not the
same as writing for print; the web is a uniquely different kind of
writing space where multiple modalities can converge: text, image,
video, sound. Written composition in the 21st century
will be significantly different from writing in the 20th
c. This is not to say that pre-internet forms of writing or
compositional methodologies are obsolete. On the contrary, writing
studies is fascinated with all forms and approaches, from early
illuminated manuscripts bound in animal skin to artists' books to
multimedia hypertext performances. Increasingly our students will
be the ones teaching faculty about the implications of working in
electronic media. Writing studies encourages environments where
faculty not only encourage students to work critically in a range
of forms, but are responsive to learning from students who might
know more about new digital technologies. In the end, writing
studies privileges collaboration and dialogue between students and
faculty about the implication of working in new and evolving
media.
* An
openness and respect for multiple literacies and Englishes.
Writing studies acknowledges and embraces the legitimacy of various
native and local dialects, discourses, and language practices. This
is not to privilege, say, creoles over "standard English," or vice
versa. Rather, we wish to explore a wide variety of writing
practices that reflect the increasing diversity of our student and
faculty populations. When are certain "Englishes" appropriate and
inappropriate for different audiences? How might our own writing
practices become enhanced through exploration of non-traditional
rhetorics and language practices? Our understanding of writing
studies emphasizes polyvocality and multiple discourses.
* An
attention to the social dimension and responsibilities of writing
production. We're fascinated with the role writing can play in
service and social activism, as well as inquiries into how and why
some writing practices claim power, whereas others are
disempowered--and how our writing practices might responsibly work
towards change by both engaging with and resisting such discourses
of power. Understanding writing's relationship to power, authority,
control, and ownership are necessary components of a writing
studies approach, especially one located in a Vincentian University
such as ours.
-- Derek
Owens
In a
spirit of writing studies, this document is an ongoing work in
progress; we expect to revise this regularly as we receive input
from our students and faculty.