Research Guides: Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC): The Basics

The Basics

This section explains the different types of writing assignments that you might use, including which types of assignments are most appropriate for different learning outcomes and different levels of classes. It also gives you the reasons you should want to incorporate writing in your classes.

These sites below provide you a basic understanding of the “tools” we have, what each one does, and why they are important.

What is Writing in the Discipline
This site classifies these types of classroom writing, indicates where each is most effective, and provides examples

Why We Teach Writing in the First Place
Why we should assign writing in our non-writing courses. This site provides a list of thought-provoking reasons to use writing assignments as a major method in our teaching

Low stakes writing assignments to be incorporated into any class

High Stakes and Low Stakes Writing
This article by pioneer Peter Elbow explains low stakes assignments, their use, and how to assess them easily

Discover the different rules for different genres of writing, and why genre is important

A chapter on genre, explaining how and why it works
Kerry Dirk writes here for a student audience, but provides us a good foundational understanding of genre
A collection of genre descriptions
From Duke University, choose the genre you want to learn about