Page last updated 12/05/01

On This Page: A Definition of WAC
A Timeline of WAC Activities * People to Contact about WAC * Links to WAC Information

A Definition of WAC. Writing across the Curriculum is an educational reform movement that seeks to improve students' critical thinking skills through an increase in writing instruction throughout all departments and courses.  Instructors cannot merely assign more writing; they must offer writing instruction during class time and office hours on the discourse conventions of all elements of writing, not just sentence-level correctness; otherwise, the reform movement is reduced to "grading across the curriculum" or "grammar across the curriculum."  The conversations about how to administer WAC-based instruction to students also produce improved communication and collaboration among faculty.  

Most scholarship describes WAC writing instruction in one of two ways:

Write to Learn is a teaching method that recognizes that informal, ungraded writing exercises (such as free writing, journal entries, and written answers to questions posed during lectures) help improve critical thinking.

Learn to Write is a teaching method that recognizes that each scholarly field has its own writing conventions that range from how research is imbedded in arguments to how data is documented.  Learn to Write also recognizes that some skills (such as sentence-level correctness) preserve their value from discipline to discipline.

Timeline for WAC Activities on our Campus (in reverse chronology)

Plans for Fall 2002

Proposed Courses, to appear in the schedule of classes and next Shepherd College catalogue:

Plans for Spring 2002

Students will receive GS credit for English 102 by enrolling in these special topic sections:

Fall 2001

In December, The General Studies Committee sent out a survey to Shepherd College instructors, asking them about the kinds of writing they teach in their courses.

The Curriculum and Instruction Committee was asked to approve two new courses:

These courses share a large number of essential skills and outcomes, which make them parallel to each other--even though they are tailored to three different academic traditions.

Spring 2001

Students received GS credit for English 102 by enrolling in these special topic sections:

Fall 2000

Students received GS credit for English 102 by enrolling in this special topic section:

Spring 2000

Students received GS credit for English 102 by completing one of the following pilot courses:

Fall 1999

Information about Dr. Thaiss in general: Brief Biography and GMU News Article
Information about his work in WAC: Consulting Work and GMU News Article

Links to WAC Information

WAC Clearinghouse: A comprehensive site with several links to other campus webpages.
Purdue's Page of WAC Links: research, teaching materials, programs, and more.
Bedford Books: Annotated Bibliography. An annotated list of books and articles on WAC.
How to Write an Effective Writing Assignment. From CSU Long Beach with links to similar sites.

People to Contact

Michael Austin, Dept. of English and Modern Languages, 876-5313 or email
Linda Tate, Dept. of English and Modern Languages
Karen D. Austin, Director of the Writing Center, 876-5293 or click here to email: