Local knowledges, local practices : writing in the disciplines at Cornell / edited by Jonathan Monroe.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Monroe, Jonathan, 1954-

Series:

Pittsburgh series in composition, literacy, and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cornell University.

English language--Rhetoric--Study and teaching--New York (State)--Ithaca.

English language.

Interdisciplinary approach in education--New York (State)--Ithaca.

Interdisciplinary approach in education.

Academic writing--Study and teaching--New York (State)--Ithaca.

Academic writing.

Academic writing--Study and teaching.

English language--Rhetoric--Study and teaching.

New York (State)--Ithaca.

Physical Description:

xvi, 304 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pa. : University of Pittsburgh Press, [2003]

Summary:

With a stated objective that "any person can find instruction in any study," Cornell exemplifies academic diversity. The institution has a long tradition of excellence in writing and is home to one of the oldest academic writing programs. At the core of Cornell's approach is the idea that writing well is a concern that is not limited to one department or field, but is best approached in a multidisciplinary way. Thus, writing is taught at Cornell by faculty and graduate students in areas as varied as neurobiology, political science, and Near Eastern studies, among others. In the chapters of Local Knowledges, Local Practices, the faculty of this innovative program candidly share their visions, their practical pedagogical techniques, and the sometimes surprising insights they have gained.

After ten years of teaching, one contributor describes the impact her involvement in the writing program had on her career as "a massive paradigm shift: teaching centered not on what I knew, but what somebody else needed to know." A professor of urban studies also found something unexpected when he began teaching writing to first-year students: "In their concern to produce good writing, to get their ideas straight, and to think logically and use evidence honestly, the students forget to be careful... As they struggle to write, they become freer to think. I like that!" Another seasoned academician observes, "Teachers, for their part, discover ways to reformulate abstract theoretical constructs into more accessible, useful, and interesting arguments for students to integrate into their own intellectual development. In so doing a teacher has the opportunity to both have an immediate impact on student understanding and to refine and extend the meaning and value of the more abstract work in his or her own writing." The voices collected in this volume encourage faculty and administrators from all disciplines and all institutions to reclaim responsibility for teaching the field-specific writing they want their students to learn, and affirm the importance of good writing as integral to learning in all fields and at all levels of the curriculum.

Contents:

Part 1 Cultures of Writing: From Cornerstone to Capstone

Local Knowledges, Local Practices: An Introduction / Jonathan Monroe 3

TAs and the Teaching of Writing at Cornell: A Historical Perspective / Katherine Gottschalk 22

Writing without Friction / Keith Hjortshoj 41

Finding Places for Writing in a Research University: A Director's View / Harry E. Shaw 62

Part 2 Cultures and Acculturation: Teaching, Writing, and Learning in Field-Specific Contexts

Animal Science

Writing Animals / Elizabeth Oltenacu 75

Anthropology

Exoticizing the Familiar: Familiarizing the Exotic / Jane Fajans 83

"You Can Make a Difference": Human Rights as the Subject Matter for a First-Year Writing Seminar / Billie Jean Isbell 90

Writing from (Field) Experience / Kathryn S. March 99

City and Regional Planning

The Invisible City of Color, or "I Thought This Was a Course on Writing!" / William W. Goldsmith 116

Cognitive Science

Writing in Cognitive Science: Exploring the Life of the Mind / Michael J. Spivey 127

English

Freshman Rhetoric and Media Literacy / Paul Sawyer 140

Toward a Community of Inquiry: Teaching Cornell Advanced Placement Students / Daniel R. Schwarz 155

Government

Teaching Writing about International Relations / Matthew Evangelista 165

Writing Political Science: Asking a Question Then (Actually) Answering It / Mary Fainsod Katzenstein 171

The Politics of Writing / Rose Mcdermott 181

Linguistics

Translation and Appropriation in Foreign Language and Writing Classrooms / John Whitman 191

Near Eastern Studies

Writing Religion at Cornell (Reflections of a Penitent Professor) / Ross Brann 201

Neurobiology and Behavior

Teaching Behavioral Ecology through Writing / Paul W. Sherman 209

Philosophy

Cultivating Dialectical Imagination / Jennifer E. Whiting 222

Romance Studies

Writing (Not Drawing) a Blank / Marilyn Migiel 232

Sociology

Writing as a Sociologist / Michael Macy 245

Afterword: Writing Writing / Jonathan Monroe 251.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-292) and index.

ISBN:

0822941961

OCLC:

51984763