Little 1

Sofia Little
Writing 2
24 February 2023
The TTW Podcast

Host (Me, Sofia): Hello my lovely writers, welcome back to our Podcast “ TWW: Talking over

Writing about Writing. I’m your host, Sofia, and on today’s episode we are going to discuss how

to effectively write across different genres and writing instruction. Joining me today I have

professors and scholars from across the country, each who have written articles regarding writing

transcending genres. Now, the major demographic of this podcast are college and high school

students trying to improve their writing skills. So, I asked some of our viewers for questions they

had regarding writing. Katie from California said, “I often struggle with actually starting my

assignment since I have no idea where to begin. What are some strategies for breaking down

writing assignments and finding out specifically how to answer the prompts given?” Quincy from

Connecticut wrote “I’m a bio major but I’m having trouble writing my lab reports. How can

effective writing instruction be integrated across academic fields?” And for our final question,

Galen from Oregon: “My mom tried to help with my essay and told me it had to be written a

specific way, yet I disagreed with her take. Is she in the right and if not, what are some critiques

of the traditional approach to writing?” As I introduce each guest, I want these questions to be in

the back of listeners (as well the professors themselves) throughout our discussion.

Chris Thaiis: I can start off the introductions! My name is Chris Thaiis, and I am a Professor

Emeritus of Writing Studies in the University Writing Program at the University of California,

Davis. I have been active for several decades in the development of cross-curricular writing in

universities and colleges, hosting workshops and consultancy sessions regarding writing

pedagogy and program development. I wrote Part of the Fabric of the University: From First
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Year through graduate school and across different disciplines, a book about the integration of

writing instruction across all levels and academic fields.

Linda H Peterson: I am Linda Peterson, and have been on the Yale faculty for 38 years,

specializing in Victorian prose and life-writing regarding women. However, I spent a large part of

my career as a chair in the English department, strengthening the PhD program and being a

mentor to younger faculty members. I wrote “Writing Across the Curriculum and/ in the

Freshman English Program”, an article similar to Chris just more focused on developing

freshmen into experienced writers.

Host: That’s so interesting! Let’s dive more into the similarities once we finish the introductions.

Next up we have Corrine E. Hinton.

Corrine E. Hinton: Hey guys! I’m Corrine. I, alongside some of my other faculty colleagues at

the University of Texas A&M, co wrote a textbook titled Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing,

Volume 1, a peer-reviewed open textbook series for the writing classroom. My chapter is called

“So You’ve Got a Writing Assignment. Now What?”, which outlines a step-by-step process to

help students tackle their big writing assignments.

Carmen Kynard: My name is Carmen Kynard, the Lillian Radford Chair in Rhetoric and

Composition and Professor of English at Texas Christian University. Like Chris, I have led

numerous professional development projects on language, literacy, and learning. The article I’m

using on this podcast is called “Getting on the Right Side of It: Problematizing and Rethinking

the Research Paper Genre in the College Composition Course”, a critique regarding the

traditional approach to writing and its instruction.

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Host: And for our final guests we have Irene L Clark and Andrea Hernandez! These ladies

co-wrote an article. Do you guys want to tell us a little bit about yourselves and about your

article?

Irene L. Clark: For sure! Both Andrea and I are Englishprofessors at California State

University, Northridge. Together we wrote “ Genre Awareness, Academic Argument, and

Transferability”.

Andrea Hernandez: This article focuses more on engaging with different genres as opposed to

just teaching it.

Host: That wraps up all the special guests we have today! Linda, do you want to start off the

conversation about similarities you mentioned earlier?

Linda: I would love to. Before I do, Chris, can you tell me a little more about your article?

Chris: Of course! I argue that writing is not just an important skill for English majors or

professional writers but rather is a necessary tool for success in many fields. Although I focus

more on the writing program at Davis, I emphasize that this should be spread to all campuses; if

the funding is available universities should create an independent writing program separate to the

English department, for the main focus of educating students across all disciplines.

Linda: I completely agree. I also argue that writing courses taught to students should not be the

sole responsibility of the English department and a specific freshman English program should be

formed, to help students early on as it is essential for them in order for them to succeed in their

academic and professional lives, regardless of their field of study.

Host: Corrine, your article details more of a plan of action to help students approach their

writing assignments. How do you see your work fitting into this conversation about writing

instruction?
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Corrine: First off, I would say my article completely addresses Katie’s question, as my article

provides a practical perspective on writing instruction! It includes strategies for breaking down

writing assignments and helps students figure out what is expected of them. I outline 10 steps

that are easy to follow. Here are a couple important ones: 1) Don’t Panic or Procrastinate 2)

Read, reread and continuously refer to your assignment 3) Identify the Purpose and Audience 4)

Consider the Evidence 5) Calculate the Best Approach. I go into more detail regarding each

step, and with this detail I provide examples from different disciplines, which goes along the

arguments of Linda and Chris.

Chris: I think the deconstruction of writing instruction is super important, Corrine. I will say

though, one thing I also stress in my article is that writing instruction should not just be limited

to a specific course or discipline like you point out in your article Linda, but instead should be

part of the fabric of the university. This includes faculty and staff in providing resources and

interdisciplinary work.

Linda: To add on to Chris, one of the reasons I wrote my article is because I think it is super

important that we put less strain on the workers and English department by establishing the

previously mentioned writing program. Not only would this help English professors cultivate

their department, but it would also help the entire student body enhance their writing abilities, as

the writing courses would not be taught through an English lens.

Corrine: I see, that is an interesting take, Chris and Linda. I think all three of our articles align,

however while mine is smaller-scale, focusing on the classroom, both your and Linda’s article

touches on more larger-scale, highlighting writing across the institution.

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Host: Let's hear what the others have to say. Carmen, I know your article critiques standard

practice within the research paper genre. Can you tell us more about issues and problems you

discuss?

Carmen: Definitely. Many research papers done by students follow the same pattern, as students

have learned how to play the ‘school game’, showing no evidence in deep exploration, analysis

and connections to their topics and sources. This is because they are taught to follow a certain

structure, one potentially similar to the one Corrine mentioned. I argue that research papers

should have more creative freedom, which starts with the educators, similar to what Galen was

arguing with his mother about. Writing instruction should provide diverse examples of research

papers of various forms.

Host: Corrine, what do you have to say about this?

Corrine: I somewhat disagree with Carmen. I guess I am coming from the perspective of

Galen’s mom. I think a lot of students appreciate guidance and structure when it comes to writing

instruction. However, I wrote my article in 1982, and while some of it still may ring true and may

not be 100% with the times. I think writing instruction of the future needs to adapt to meet the

needs of the diverse student population. Various students may come to college with different

educational, economic, cultural backgrounds and experiences and so it is crucial we do not just

provide them with generic guidance.

Irene: I stand by what Carmen said. Our article also strays from the traditional approach often

taken; we emphasize developing genre awareness rather than explicit teaching of genre. After a

study we conducted we noticed the same thing that Carmen was mentioning regarding the lack of
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student connection to a different topic. We found that students engaged more with their writing

across disciplines once they interacted more that specific genre as opposed to just being taught it.

Andrea: This also eliminates the generic structure we want to avoid that was just brought up by

Corrine, as it allows for more specificity.

Host: Super interesting point Andrea! Alright folks, that wraps up our podcast on writing across

different genres and writing instruction. Today we talked about traditional styles of educating

college students regarding different genres and the critiques on how writing has been taught. We

also discussed how universities and colleges should develop genre awareness and individual

writing programs separate from English departments. Thank you to all the special guests who

talked today, stay tuned next week to hear about how to gather credible resources!
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Bibliography

Clark, Irene L. and Andrea Hernandez. "Genre Awareness, Academic Argument, and

Transferability." Journal of Business and Technical Communication, vol. 20, no. 3, 2006, pp.

249-272.

Hinton, Corrine E. "So You’ve Got a Writing Assignment. Now What?" Journal of Adolescent &

Adult Literacy, vol. 55, no. 4, 2011, pp. 311-318.

Kynard, Carmen. "“Getting on the Right Side of It” Problematizing and Rethinking the Research

Paper Genre in the College Composition Course." Teaching English in the Two-Year College,

vol. 39, no. 3, 2012, pp. 239-252.

Peterson, Linda H. "Writing Across the Curriculum and/in the Freshman English Program."

College English, vol. 44, no. 8, 1982, pp. 811-816.

Thaiss, Chris, et al. " Part of the Fabric of the University: From first year through graduate school

and across the disciplines." WAC Journal, vol. 19, 2008, pp. 13-25.