Annotated Bibliography

Graff, G. (2003). Clueless in academe. New Haven: Yale University Press.

https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.12987/9780300132014

This book provides practical suggestions for making the culture of ideas and

arguments more accessible to students. The author discusses how academia

has isolated itself due to its style of writing and vocabulary and that changes

need to be made so that knowledge can be accessed by anyone with some

understanding of a topic. There is also a discussion about how teachers and

A-students often overlook the reasons why analysing some texts are tedious and

sometimes pointless. Why do we look for problems in some sources and why do

they matter?

Jaffe, M. & Hurwich, T. (2018). Worth a thousand words: Using graphic novels to teach

visual and verbal literacy (pp 107-130). Jossey-Bass, a Wiley brand.

https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119548690

Chapter 7, “Graphic Novels and the Writing Process,” outlines the ways in which

graphic novels can be used to improve writing and combine artistic skills for

narrative, persuasive, and expository writing. The authors demonstrate how

graphic novels are used to develop, enhance, and/or refine their students' writing

and prewriting skills through examples and even step-by-step scaffolding so that

all students have a process to follow. This helps make students more comfortable

with writing decisions and the writing process in general. The chapter also

provides suggestions for online tools and apps to use to help students illustrate

and organize their work.

Kahn, E. (2009). From the Secondary Section: Making Writing Instruction Authentic.

The English Journal, 98(5), 15-17. Retrieved March 21, 2021, from

http://www.jstor.org/stable/40503289

This article outlines how one teacher sought to create an authentic and practical

writing assignment. The article’s example demonstrates how to reframe

traditional writing assignments into ones that students are more likely to become

invested in. Firstly, the author used a contemporary issue with a degree of

controversy. Even the students who did not care about the issue were

encouraged to create a stance on why other issues were of more importance.

Then, beyond the authenticity of the topic, students were required to research

and explore structures and writing styles that would best convey their argument.

In doing so, students engaged in a form of writing inquiry, and were not confined

to one structure.

MacFarlane, C. (2013). Write out of the classroom: How to use the 'real' world to inspire

and create amazing writing. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203093856

The focus of this book is more on creative writing and expression through poetry,

but it’s grounded in experiential learning and exploration of the world around

them. The book covers planning outings and choosing locations, leading

language and brainstorm sessions, assisting students with editing and many

other ideas. In our search for ways to create more relevant topics for students to

write about, the use of topics students are interacting with and different ways to

express themselves through writing gives teachers and students flexibility and

room experiment with writing.

McCall, Tommy. (2018, April). The simple genius of a good graphic [Video]. TED.

https://www.ted.com/talks/tommy_mccall_the_simple_genius_of_a_good_graphic

By providing some history on the birth of infographics and an overview of their

extensive uses, McCall demonstrates the potential of infographics to be used to

condense information into a more visual display of information. As an example,

he shows a one page infographic containing all the data discussed in a massive

book. If used as a teaching tool in the classroom, students might absorb

information more easily. Having students create their own infographic can solidify

knowledge and appreciation for planning and process.

McGrail, E., McGrail, J.P. and Rieger, A. (2016), "Learning Language and Vocabulary in

Dialogue with the Real Audience: Exploring Young Writers’ Authentic Writing and

Language Learning Experiences", Writing Instruction to Support Literacy

Success (Literacy Research, Practice and Evaluation, Vol. 7), Emerald Group

Publishing Limited, pp. 117-135.

https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.1108/S2048-045820160000007008

This article explores the potential of blogging as a valuable tool to teach young

writers the communicative function of writing, specifically language and

vocabulary use. One of the major findings of this study posits that the act of

blogging can move conversations beyond the classroom while also providing an

authentic audience and purpose for writing; this lines up with our inquiry question

of how to make writing more meaningful to students. One potential downside is

that this study is explicitly based on elementary aged students, while our inquiry
 proposal focused on older students. Overall a valuable addition to our

bibliography.

Murray, D. M. (1973). Why teach writing--and how? English Journal, 62(9), 1234-1237.

https://doi.org/10.2307/813273

This article provides seven reasons why writing is important and should be

explicitly taught. Although teachers reading the article may already be convinced,

the author acknowledges that teachers cannot force students to value the

reasons for writing. Instead, teachers should think about why writing is important

as means to expose students to as many forms of writing as possible. By

focusing on a variety of writing types, and encouraging the exploratory process

inherent in writing, teachers can enable students to find their own reason to write.

Nobles, S., & Paganucci, L. (2015). Do digital writing tools deliver? Student perceptions

of writing quality using digital tools and online writing environments. Computers

and Composition 38, 16–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2015.09.001

In this article, the Nobles and Paganucci set out to quantitatively measure how

using digital writing technology affects students’ perceptions of their writing,

which is correlated to increased written quality. Digital tools allow for “increased

feedback, connection to authentic audiences, and opportunities for multimodal

composing” (p. 17). They propose that these conditions lead to better

writing—defined by clear ideas, thorough explanations, and expressive

communication. They conclude that there are significant benefits to using

 multimodal digital tools—including grammar and spell-check which increase

students’ perceptions of their writing skills.

Nunes, M. J. (2013). The five-paragraph essay: Its evolution and roots in theme-writing.

Rhetoric Review, 32(3), 295-313. https://doi.org/10.1080/07350198.2013.797877

This article traces the use of the five-paragraph essay structure to teach writing

through educational history. In an attempt to find the origin point of the debate

over its validity in writing education, they found that the common, yet artificial,

writing structure is based on a rhetorical structure called a “theme” (Nunes 2013).

Although reference to this form of writing as an essay did not appear until the

19th Century, the structure dated back to classical oration and rhetoric lessons

delivered in Latin (Nunes 2013). The article also provides background to their

historical analysis through cited examples of the debate surrounding the usage of

the five-paragraph essay. The author claims to maintain neutrality in the

argument.

Purcell, K., Buchanan, J., & Friedrich, L. (2013, July 16). The Impact of Digital Tools on

Student Writing and How Writing is Taught in Schools. Pew Research Center:

Internet, Science & Tech.

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2013/07/16/the-impact-of-digital-tools-on-st

udent-writing-and-how-writing-is-taught-in-schools/

This Pew survey of teachers involved in Advanced Placement (AP) and National

Writing Project (NWP) instruction of middle and secondary students finds that

digital platforms such as social media sites have diversified students’ writing
 approaches and styles, but also blurred the line between what is meant by formal

or informal writing. Teachers overwhelmingly acknowledge that digital

technologies allow students access to wider audiences and increased feedback.

Students have become accustomed to “truncated forms of responses” and are

reluctant to write extended pieces that demand sound ideas and argument,

organization, and clear communication. Their skills and access to digital tools

vary widely, resulting in challenges of access and proficiency.

Quintero, G. (2018). What do Education students think about their ability to write

essays?. Journal of Technology and Science Education, 8(2), 132-140.

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jotse.415

This short study focuses exclusively on student’s personal opinions about essay

writing, and their perceptions of their essay writing skills. It is important for

educators to consider what students believe about their writing abilities, and

there is interesting discussion here about what students imagine they need to

become ‘better’ writers. As it aligns with our inquiry questions, this study focuses

on post-secondary students and the skills they bring from high-school. It also

emphasizes purposeful questioning to guide students in developing their own

responses rather than regurgitating what they have read. One downside is that it

does not explore valuable alternatives in academic writing exercises.

Spanke, J., & Paul, K. A. (2015). From the Pens of Babes: Authentic Audiences for

Talented, Young Writers. Gifted Child Today, 38(3), 177–186.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1076217515583743
 This article tackles the question How can teachers provide meaningful writing

experiences for talented young writers?, which directly relates to our inquiry

questions; an immediate downside, though, is the focus on young gifted

students, whereas we want to explore meaningful writing for students of all

capabilities, not only gifted. Of potential value is the discussion on “the four

principles of high-end learning” which includes: finding meaning in ability, finding

joy in process, finding stake in writing, and finding meaning in construction. It

also includes potential ‘authentic audiences’ in the school, and examples of

lessons/units for school-based/real-world audiences that we could explore more.

Tyre, P. (2018, May 3). The writing revolution. The Atlantic.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/10/the-writing-revolution/309

090/

Peg Tyre examines how a US high school improved its students’ writing skills

after staff and administration realized that they needed to return to explicit

grammar instruction in a way that would equip all learners. They made a

connection between writing skills and critical thinking skills by identifying how

understanding transition words allowed students to understand how to form

relationships between their ideas. As teachers gathered data, they found that

students didn’t understand how to use transitional words. When they made this a

core part instruction across subjects, the results were viewed as the immediate

and notable result of “an old idea done better”.

UChicago Social Sciences, and McEnerney, Larry (2014, June 26). Leadership lab: The

craft of writing effectively [Video]. Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtIzMaLkCaM

McEnerney challenges graduate students’ assumptions about the act of writing in

their academic contexts by arguing that writing that is not of value to its intended

audience is worthless, regardless of its clarity, organization, or insights. He

emphasizes that, to be worthy of its audience, a piece of writing can challenge

current thinking by identifying an overlooked problem. He is highly critical of the

insular and method-driven approaches to writing that have little to do with

communicating for the reader.

Yang, Gene Luen. (2016, November). Comics belong in the classroom [Video]. TED.

https://www.ted.com/talks/gene_luen_yang_comics_belong_in_the_classroom

In this Ted talk, Gene Yang discusses his journey of using comics in the

classroom. Sparked by his own love for comics, Yang discovers that students

greatly enjoy the comics that he creates to help them learn math as opposed to

in-person or recorded lectures. This is because students can go through the

comics at their own pace and return to places where they need to spend a little

more time to understand a concept. The hope is that more people will use comics

as a teaching tool because they hold so much learning potential.

Introduction

The questions “what should be taught” and “why should it be learned” are the

foundations of the educational world. As fundamental as these questions are to the

design process, they are easily lost in the complexity of the teaching process. The

desire to engage students, become more effective teachers, and improve and assess

learning, are often more tangible than the motivations that drive these pursuits. This is

especially true when trying to teach a skill such as writing. The “how” often

overshadows the “why.”

Persuasive writing and expressing oneself is a fundamental skill for students to

develop - writing needs to be taught. However, the common five-paragraph essay is not

the only way to do so in this digital era. This leads into the inquiry questions: how are

opportunities created for students to produce writing appropriate for an authentic

audience; and, how can digital texts and mediums provide these opportunities?

Educators need new tools and strategies to teach their students effective persuasive

and expository writing skills in authentic contexts.

Why Teaching How to Write is Important

There are many reasons why teaching students how to write is important, and

Murray (1973) breaks them down into seven good reasons for teacher’s to consider,

regardless of the writing structure being taught (p.1235). He suggests that writing is

important because:

1. Writing is a skill which is important in school and after.

 2. Writing, for many students, is the skill which can unlock the language arts.

3. Writing is thinking.

4. Writing is an ethical act, because the single most important quality in writing

is honesty.

5. Writing is a process of self-discovery.

6. Writing satisfies man’s primitive hunger to communicate.

7. Writing is an art, and art is profound play. (Murray, 1973, p.1235)

These reasons provide a starting point to direct student learning. Students do not need

to value every reason; however, all the reasons should be present in any given writing

course (Murray, 1973). Rather than dividing these reasons to write into separate

courses with separate motivations, teachers should create writing opportunities that

allow students to access the various reasons for writing. In doing so, students are

encouraged to find their own reason to write.

The Five-Paragraph Legacy

Writing has isolated itself by making it difficult for those outside of specific

academic fields to understand the new and interesting ideas being produced (Graff,

2003). As a result, a wealth of knowledge is unavailable to students because they

simply cannot understand it; few people want to sit down and read an academic paper

for enjoyment. Teachers rarely, if at all, assign essays for students to read. When asked

to write one, they do not see the benefit. Unless they are going into post-secondary and

remaining in academia long-tem, students are never again asked to write an essay after

they graduate high-school. Even if students do continue into post-secondary education,

the five-paragraph essay is an obsolete structure that is not followed past high-school.
 The debate surrounding the use of the traditional five-paragraph essay structure

in writing instruction is evident of how easily the reasoning behind teaching practices

gets lost. Nunes (2013) notes that the seemingly arbitrary practice of teaching students

to write essays using the formulaic structure of “an introduction with the thesis, three

body paragraphs with topic sentences proving the thesis, and a conclusion that restates

the thesis and sums up the main points” is one that is all too familiar to writing teachers

(p. 299). Despite its familiarity, it has sparked a heated debate over its role in teaching

writing. Nunes provides a summary of how heated this debate has become within

educational literature, contributing some of the more scathing criticisms of the structure

alongside well-meaning apologist rhetoric.

Whichever side a teacher might find themselves, the debate is centered on how

to effectively teach writing. Nunes (2013) attempts to penetrate this stalemate by

exploring why this structure is as prevalent in education as it is through a historic

examination. Ultimately, the five-paragraph model is based on a classical mode of

rhetoric called a “theme” (Nunes, 2013). It is a structure that promotes a specific,

disciplined mode of thought and expression. It was co-opted in the Nineteenth Century

from rhetoric as a standard structure for writing, likely because of the emphasis on

traditional education at the time (Nunes, 2013). The ensuing contemporary debate

suggests that there is no clear consensus as to why this mode of writing should be

maintained.

The Changing Landscape of Writing

The advent of personal digital technology has contributed to a transformation of

what writing looks like and means. Students have unprecedented access to a range of
digital texts and authors; they are also able to author texts for diverse audiences. Modes

of writing or text production have expanded, resulting in changing ways of not only

understanding what a text is, but what an author is.

Educators have attempted to catch up to this rapidly changing reality, and along

the way they are revisiting questions about the very purpose of teaching analytical

writing to students. Which skills matter most to be an effective writer, and how can

students best develop those skills? While the questions have not changed, the

emerging digital contexts are constantly in flux. Additionally, young adults are

increasingly acting as both audiences and authors.

Traditional approaches to school-based writing assignments usually involve the

five-paragraph essay and less formally structured personal or creative writing

assignments. The former remains a measure of the student’s ability to articulate their

ideas in a clear and organized form. The latter is valued as a way to encourage the

expression of ideas more freely. Tyre (2018) discusses the pedagogical move away

from traditional grammar instruction to more informal modes of written expression in the

United States by the mid 1990s. Educators reasoned that students would learn

grammatical skills needed for analytical writing from the very act of writing. By the

2000s, it became clear that students’ quality of analytical writing had declined, owing in

part to their inability to form complex ideas in writing.

This points to two distinct purposes to writing: first, as a process that facilitates

one’s own complex thinking; second, to communicate ideas of value to an intended

audience (McEnerney, 2014). Teachers tend to overlook this when assigning essays to
students because the only implied audience is the teacher, who is simultaneously the

writing instructor. Students are more likely to value and learn from their writing

experiences when they have an actual or authentic audience they are writing for

(Nobles & Paganucci, 2015; Quintero, 2018). As the educational landscape evolves to

include more digital modes writing, this must also be taken into consideration.

Authentic Audiences

To help create an authentic writing experience, Murray (1973) suggests that

teachers should promote the idea that “writing is a process of discovery” among their

students (p. 1236). Khan (2009) provides an example of this process by describing how

she used a topical, contemporary issue brought up by the students in her class. By

utilizing what her students were concerned with, she was able to foster authenticity in a

writing assignment that capitalized on what students were “[hungry] to communicate”

(Murray, 1973, p. 1235). While some students remained disinterested in the topic, they

were still encouraged to express why the topic was trivial; again, promoting an authentic

reason to communicate via writing.

Building on Murray’s (1973) notion of exploratory writing, Khan (2009)

encouraged her students to research relevant information for their topics, but also

effective modes of expressing their stance. Students were required to identify their

audience, rhetorical modes of persuasion for that audience, and writing structures that

supported their cause. Her students engaged in a writing inquiry project that contained

meaning for them. Spanke (2015) suggests that one way to locate an authentic

audience is to take advantage of the school environment and the audiences that exist
within it. By focusing on parents, teachers, faculty, and peers, students will direct their

writing towards real-life audiences of their surroundings. Furthermore, Spanke (2015)

posits that “students are more likely to approach the composition task with an ownership

and agency that is often absent from other, less applicable assignments” when they can

easily conceive of their audience (p. 182).

Khan generously provides a blueprint for her writing activity so that it might be

recreated using different topics. The key, she suggests, is to find topics that are

meaningful to students and allow them to discover the best mode of expression for their

stance (Khan, 2009). Khan modernizes Murray’s notions of writing by injecting

technology into the process. When considering how technology can aid the writing

process, it is important to remember that technologies are merely “gadgets which make

it possible to write and communicate more efficiently… [and] do not eliminate the need

for writing” (Murray, 1973, p. 1235). Technology usage should exemplify the many

reasons for students to write, and be more than an exercise in cutting-and-pasting; after

all, “we cannot learn for our students” (Murray, 1973, p. 1236). Students must be

involved in the entire writing process if they are to thoroughly develop the skill.

Alternative Forms of Writing

Poetry, as a form of creative writing, is often given less credibility than formal

academic writing, yet it has the potential to involve many of the same writing processes.

MacFarlane (2013) discusses the use of experiential learning to inspire students’ writing

and expression through poetry, but this can also be used to create arguments. For

instance, a student could discuss the beauty of a place they have visited, a description

of how things could change due to global warming or development, and some
suggestions of how to prevent a place from losing its beauty. The way this is carried out

is dependent on the poetry style a student chooses to use and the impact they are

trying to make, but the writing process is a large focus of the learning experience. A free

verse poem might be easier to discuss ideas since there is no length restriction, but a

limerick or a haiku requires more creativity and thought towards how a student wants to

discuss their ideas and prioritize particular evidence or arguments. Although different

from academic writing, creative writing must still engage and persuade the reader to

change their thinking by accepting a perspective different from their own.

Blogging is another alternative form of writing that can be considered creative or

formal writing, depending on the topic. McGrail et al. (2016) discuss the benefits of

using blogging as a writing process that helps young students develop a strong sense of

language use and enhanced vocabulary implementation. Blogging has the unique ability

to encourage feedback and commentary that can aid in the reflective process of editing.

Since “most inexperienced writers experience problems such as run-ons, fragments,

misused words, bland prose, poor grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes”, this

feedback can result in an organic revision process that allows students to identify the

consequences of bad writing habits (McGrail et al., 2016, p. 131). As a result, they may

develop an awareness of how such issues “compromise the communicative power of

the words and language they use in their writing” (McGrail et al., 2016, p. 131). Quintero

(2018) says that students need some form of instruction to learn how to review and

correct their work, and should be made to feel that they are allowed to make mistakes

along the way. Since a blog is a platform rather than a specific writing form, teachers

could implement blogging into any classroom, regardless of the subject or age-level, as
long as they identify the type of content student’s should focus on and emphasize the

importance of feedback.

Another tool that has great potential but is seldomly used by educators is the

comic, specifically comic books and graphic novels. Gene Luen Yang discusses comic

books at length in his 2016 Ted Talk that explores how he used them to help his

students learn math. Similarly, Jaffe and Hurwich (2018) discuss the ways in which

graphic novels can be used to improve writing and incorporate artistic skills. The

commonality between comic books and graphic novels is their visual aspect, which is

incredibly valuable to all types of learners; indeed, visualizing a concept may have a

greater impact on a student’s learning than simply reading or hearing about it. There are

also many online tools that allow students to create storyboards and access graphics to

aid them in their creative processes, which could allow for more focus on the writing

process.

Yang’s success using comic books to teach can be modified to provide students

the opportunity to create and teach each other. Jaffe and Hurwich (2018) lay out a

step-by-step process that teachers could use to guide students along their task of

creating their own comic books or graphic novels. While primarily narrative tools, comic

books or graphic novels can be used to present argumentative writing as well. For

example, students could begin by brainstorming argumentative points and completing

any research necessary for support, followed by a visual outline of their entire argument

through storyboarding or scripting. Finally, they would move into the final writing and

illustrating phase. Students could then share their work with each other, providing the

opportunity to learn different ideas from their peers. The teacher’s role in this scenario is
to help students understand the writing process while drawing attention to how proper

structure with strong points backed by evidence can make a difference in the strength of

their overall argument.

Continuing with the visual aspect of the writing process, infographics are an

impactful way to outline information in a more direct way. In Tommy McCall’s (2018)

short Ted Talk, he demonstrates the power of an infographic. While comic books,

graphic novels, and infographics are largely visual, an infographic forces the creator to

be more decisive about the information they choose to include. For students, this

requires them to first choose what information is most important to the overall message,

and to then create a visual representation of that information that is as impactful as it is

informative. Teachers could extend this process by asking students to provide a short

write-up explaining their infographic and the choices made in its creation. The

combination of these writing strategies would allow students to be creative, thoughtful,

and direct about their arguments.

Alternative forms of writing like the suggestions here relate directly to Murray’s

(1973) seven reasons for teaching writing. His first reason, that writing is important

during and after school, should remind teachers that students are likely to gravitate

toward forms of writing that they find personally enjoyable while outside of school.

Teachers should therefore provide opportunities for students to explore as many

different forms as possible while in school in order to form personal preferences.

Furthermore, since the key to successful writing is the writing process itself, students

should be encouraged to continuously think about their audience while writing, and to

be an actively thinking audience-member while reading other’s works. Additionally,

McGrail et al. (2016) suggest that students be given the opportunity to write daily about

what they are learning in all subjects, not just the language arts classroom; doing so can

expose them to “the concepts and discourses unique to specific disciplines” (p. 132).

The hope is that by shaking up the ways we teach and encourage students to write, we

create more authentic and dynamic writing experiences to enrich our students’ creativity

and ways of thinking through writing.

Future Considerations

A new problem emerges from alternative ways of teaching writing: if writing

instruction is to be valued, the written product itself must be valued. Students need to

understand who they are writing for—themselves, or an external audience—so they can

find purpose and value in the task. Additionally, there is an increased call for using

digital writing and editing tools to facilitate more feedback, revision, and access to

authentic audiences (Nobles & Paganucci, 2015). The way forward is not a simplistic

choice between traditional writing methods and new modes of text creation. Instead, a

shift that invites learners to identify and understand the relevant places, purposes and

prospective audiences for analytical writing modes is necessary.