Spigelman and Grobman describe the Writing Center (WC) as an “obvious parent” of classroombased w... more Spigelman and Grobman describe the Writing Center (WC) as an “obvious parent” of classroombased writing tutoring, with WAC as the implied other parent (5). Such a lineage produces writing fellows (WFs) able to work with their peers “on location,” to borrow Spigelman and Grobman’s title. This elegant family tree assumes—and requires—shared parenting beyond the birth of the WF program, but unfortunately, even at small colleges the parents too frequently live apart, occupying different spaces with little interaction and sometimes a little territoriality. WFs raised in isolation by one or the other develop in very different ways. WC tutor training doesn’t necessarily prepare students for the group work of embedded tutoring (Nicolas), WAC training may be too genre-focused (Russell and Yanez; Gladstein) and, like SI, is more concerned with content than with writing (Hafer). But a more significant difference is in the relationship of WFs to faculty, which reflects the divergent ideologies of WAC and WCs. In the WC student-centered model, the WF works primarily with students and their writing, supporting the faculty member and occasionally attending class; in the WAC writing-centered model, WFs work with students on their writing, but also with faculty as they develop those writing assignments, playing an essential role in student and faculty development. Such differences may place WFs trained in WAC theory and those with WC training “at odds” with each other (Martins and Wolf).
Three approaches to intertextual writing are available to college instructors: mechanical, ethica... more Three approaches to intertextual writing are available to college instructors: mechanical, ethical, and rhetorical. The mechanical approach, a staple of writing instruction, teaches the use of citation styles such as MLA or APA; methods of citing sources; and the conventions of quotation. The ethical approach is primarily concerned with the character of individual writers and their adherence to community standards categorized as “academic integrity.” The great majority of source-based writing instruction attends to one or both of these approaches. A third approach, rhetorical intertextuality, is overshadowed by the ethical concerns that currently permeate educational institutions. Rhetorical intertextuality does promote textual ethics, but in a positive way, through instruction in building meaning in a target text through collaboration with source texts. Rhetorical intertextuality brings the source texts themselves to life (rather than merely mining them for information) and aims to engage the audience in a conversation with target text and source texts. Drawing on Citation Project data, we advocate instruction in intertextual writing that hails students as authors, not transgressors. Rhetorical intertextuality can provide a positive frame for college instruction in intertextual writing, one that facilitates deep engagement with texts; intellectual approaches to paraphrasing and summarizing; and an emphasis on the rhetorical choices that writers make as they encounter and respond to the ideas of others. The objective of such instruction is a dialogic interface between writer, audience, and sources—a conversation.
A comparison of published statements about the source-use skills of sophomores in the 1990s and t... more A comparison of published statements about the source-use skills of sophomores in the 1990s and those revealed by the more recent Citation Project study of researched writing suggests that many of the assumptions driving pedagogy, policy, and curricula need to be revised and that faculty working across the disciplines should work with students on reading and source-use skills when they assign researched writing. The Citation Project studied research papers by 174 first-year students at 16 US colleges and universities, producing a data-based portrait of student reading and source-use skills. Those students work from one or two sentences in 94% of their citations, cite the first or second page of their sources 70% of the time, and cite only 24% of their sources more than twice. While 78% of the papers include at least one incidence of paraphrase, 52% include at least one incidence of patchwriting, with students moving back and forth between the two within the same paragraph. Like earl...
Spigelman and Grobman describe the Writing Center (WC) as an “obvious parent” of classroombased w... more Spigelman and Grobman describe the Writing Center (WC) as an “obvious parent” of classroombased writing tutoring, with WAC as the implied other parent (5). Such a lineage produces writing fellows (WFs) able to work with their peers “on location,” to borrow Spigelman and Grobman’s title. This elegant family tree assumes—and requires—shared parenting beyond the birth of the WF program, but unfortunately, even at small colleges the parents too frequently live apart, occupying different spaces with little interaction and sometimes a little territoriality. WFs raised in isolation by one or the other develop in very different ways. WC tutor training doesn’t necessarily prepare students for the group work of embedded tutoring (Nicolas), WAC training may be too genre-focused (Russell and Yanez; Gladstein) and, like SI, is more concerned with content than with writing (Hafer). But a more significant difference is in the relationship of WFs to faculty, which reflects the divergent ideologies of WAC and WCs. In the WC student-centered model, the WF works primarily with students and their writing, supporting the faculty member and occasionally attending class; in the WAC writing-centered model, WFs work with students on their writing, but also with faculty as they develop those writing assignments, playing an essential role in student and faculty development. Such differences may place WFs trained in WAC theory and those with WC training “at odds” with each other (Martins and Wolf).
Three approaches to intertextual writing are available to college instructors: mechanical, ethica... more Three approaches to intertextual writing are available to college instructors: mechanical, ethical, and rhetorical. The mechanical approach, a staple of writing instruction, teaches the use of citation styles such as MLA or APA; methods of citing sources; and the conventions of quotation. The ethical approach is primarily concerned with the character of individual writers and their adherence to community standards categorized as “academic integrity.” The great majority of source-based writing instruction attends to one or both of these approaches. A third approach, rhetorical intertextuality, is overshadowed by the ethical concerns that currently permeate educational institutions. Rhetorical intertextuality does promote textual ethics, but in a positive way, through instruction in building meaning in a target text through collaboration with source texts. Rhetorical intertextuality brings the source texts themselves to life (rather than merely mining them for information) and aims to engage the audience in a conversation with target text and source texts. Drawing on Citation Project data, we advocate instruction in intertextual writing that hails students as authors, not transgressors. Rhetorical intertextuality can provide a positive frame for college instruction in intertextual writing, one that facilitates deep engagement with texts; intellectual approaches to paraphrasing and summarizing; and an emphasis on the rhetorical choices that writers make as they encounter and respond to the ideas of others. The objective of such instruction is a dialogic interface between writer, audience, and sources—a conversation.
A comparison of published statements about the source-use skills of sophomores in the 1990s and t... more A comparison of published statements about the source-use skills of sophomores in the 1990s and those revealed by the more recent Citation Project study of researched writing suggests that many of the assumptions driving pedagogy, policy, and curricula need to be revised and that faculty working across the disciplines should work with students on reading and source-use skills when they assign researched writing. The Citation Project studied research papers by 174 first-year students at 16 US colleges and universities, producing a data-based portrait of student reading and source-use skills. Those students work from one or two sentences in 94% of their citations, cite the first or second page of their sources 70% of the time, and cite only 24% of their sources more than twice. While 78% of the papers include at least one incidence of paraphrase, 52% include at least one incidence of patchwriting, with students moving back and forth between the two within the same paragraph. Like earl...
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