Faculty views on the importance of writing, the nature of academic writing, and teaching and responding to writing in the disciplines

Wei, Zhu

doi:10.1016/j.jslw.2004.04.004

Cited by 153 publications

(133 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In total, there were 125 written answers: 33 students answered in the first summary, 36 in the second one and 56 in the third one. The procedure for analyzing the answers was conducted according to the recommendations for the qualitative analysis of open-ended questions (Zhu, 2004). Table I presents the tracking results, for each criterion, of the technical writing competence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the literature, there are studies of methodologies developed to include this competence in the curriculum (Beaufort, 2007), studies of how the engineers write (Winsor, 1990), identification of the most common writings of engineering (Zhu, 2004;Horowitz, 1986), the importance of the writing competence in engineering education (Zhu, 2004), among others. However, researchers suggest that graduates of these careers still have insufficiencies when writing (Nair, Patil, & Mertova, 2009;Armstrong, Dannatt, & Evans, 2012;Goldsmith, Willey, & Boud, 2012;Christiansen, et al, 2014;Wertz, Purzer, Fosmire, & Cardella, 2013).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…General skills, common to any discipline, include being aware of the audience, organizing the text sequentially, constructing sentences appropriately, developing structured paragraphs, using RAMÍREZ-ECHEVERRY, OLARTE, AND GARCÍA-CARILLO grammar and spelling appropriately, among others (Zhu, 2004;Lea & Street, 1999). The specific skills consist of knowing how to use linguistic and rhetorical conventions of a discipline; they involve understanding the communication and thinking processes related to a specific specialty (Zhu, 2004;Hyland, 2000). For example, in engineering it is common to write documents with mathematical nomenclature, graphics, figures, block diagrams, among others (Winsor, 1990;Zhu, 2004).…”

Section: Design Of the Educational Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The specific skills consist of knowing how to use linguistic and rhetorical conventions of a discipline; they involve understanding the communication and thinking processes related to a specific specialty (Zhu, 2004;Hyland, 2000). For example, in engineering it is common to write documents with mathematical nomenclature, graphics, figures, block diagrams, among others (Winsor, 1990;Zhu, 2004).…”

Section: Design Of the Educational Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This implies that an educational strategy, designed to foster technical writing on students, should be based on methodologies that include teaching and practice of general and specific elements of writing (Zhu, 2004;Beaufort, 2007). A methodology that includes both elements is Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC).…”

Section: Design Of the Educational Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Effects of an educational intervention on the technical writing competence of engineering students

Ramírez-Echeverry¹,

Dussán²,

Carrillo³

2016

ing.inv.

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This article presents the design, implementation and appraisal of an educational intervention developed to explore how education, practice and feedback of cognitive elements, regarding writing summaries, have an effect on the technical writing competence of freshman engineering students. The educational intervention was designed based on the methodology of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) and it consisted of three phases: teaching, practice and feedback. In total, 177 students participated, distributed into three groups: 54 Electronic Engineering students (year 2014), 57 Electrical Engineering students (year 2015) and 66 Electronic Engineering students (year 2015). The intervention effects were studied by quantitative and qualitative evidence. Quantitative evidence was collected through an evaluation rubric of the summaries written by the students; this rubric analyzes ten criteria of the writing competence. Qualitative evidence was collected through open-ended questions about the students' learning experience throughout the intervention. Results show that the three participating groups improved their technical writing competence due to their participation in this educational intervention. Sentence construction (g-Hedges = 0,62) and text sequences (g-Hedges = 0,59) criterion presented the highest effect rates. The other writing criteria, evaluated through the rubric, presented a positive gain with statistical significance, but only in some groups of students.Key words: Information literacy skills of engineering students, information documentation, engineering technical writing, writing across the curriculum, engineering education. RESUMENEste artículo presenta el diseño, implementación y evaluación de una intervención educativa para explorar cómo la instrucción, práctica y retroalimentación de elementos cognitivos para la escritura de resúmenes impactan la competencia de escritura técnica de una población de estudiantes de primer año de ingeniería. El diseño de la intervención educativa se basó en la metodología de escritura a través del currículo (WAC, en inglés) y se compone de tres fases: instrucción, práctica y retroalimentación. En total participaron 177 estudiantes, distribuidos en tres grupos: 54 estudiantes de Ingeniería Electrónica (año 2014), 57 estudiantes de Ingeniería Eléctrica (año 2015) y 66 estudiantes de Ingeniería Electrónica (año 2015). Los efectos de la intervención se exploraron con evidencias cuantitativas y cualitativas. Las evidencias cuantitativas se recolectaron con una rúbrica de evaluación de los resúmenes elaborados por los estudiantes; dicha rúbrica analiza diez indicadores de desempeño para la competencia de escritura. Las evidencias cualitativas se recopilaron con preguntas de respuesta abierta que interrogaban a los estudiantes sobre la experiencia de aprendizaje vivenciada en la intervención. Los resultados indican que los tres grupos de estudiantes participantes mejoraron su competencia de escritura técnica. Los mayores tamaños de efecto de la intervención los presen...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Design Of the Educational Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Design Of the Educational Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Design Of the Educational Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Effects of an educational intervention on the technical writing competence of engineering students

Ramírez-Echeverry¹,

Dussán²,

Carrillo³

2016

ing.inv.

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Innovations in the Dissemination of Action Research

Henriksen¹,

Mishra²

2019

The Wiley Handbook of Action Research in Education

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Writing Science: Transforming Students’ Science Writing by Tapping into Writing Instruction Scholarship and Best Practices

Merkle

2019

Bulletin Ecologic Soc America

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Instructors at most career levels can agree there is irony in our expectations of students' writing abilities. While we want our students to write well, and often bemoan their abilities, relatively few of us actually teach writing skills (Guilford 2001, Robertson 2004, Reynolds and Thompson 2011.The real paradox, according to Reynolds and Thompson, is that while writing and associated communication skills are fundamental to most careers in ecology, "the teaching of writing is not central to science education" (Reynolds and Thompson 2011). Few undergraduate biology courses "make explicit what most scientists agree […] that comprehension of primary scientific papers and communication of scientific concepts are two of the most important skills" students must learn (Brownell et al. 2013). It would be easy to blame the lack of writing instruction in science courses on associated instructional challenges, but there are likely more straightforward reasons why ecologists do not emphasize writing skill development in their courses: 1) Lack of experience teaching writing; 2) Limited instruction in the pedagogy of teaching writing; and/or 3) Reluctance to prioritize writing over course content (including thinking writing is not applicable to the course).Bean (2011), an academic, consultant, and writing program administrator, adds to the list: 1) More writing means more grading; and2) The perception that writing instruction requires grammar and writing expertise.In 2011, Bean published Engaging Ideas: The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. In it, he productively counters these reasons for reluctance on the part of academic educators. The rest of this article will focus on some of the highlights from Engaging Ideas and associated scholarship that may be most immediately valuable to university science instructors.A rarity in a market flooded with books advising on how to become a better writer, Engaging Ideas emphasizes how to become a better writing instructor. In the early chapters, Bean outlines the research and theory underpinning current best practices in writing pedagogy and the scholarship of rhetoric and composition. The rest of Engaging Ideas is an immensely accessible, cross-curricular, writing instruction how-to book. It is also one specifically calibrated for the busy academic instructor.

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Faculty views on the importance of writing, the nature of academic writing, and teaching and responding to writing in the disciplines

Cited by 153 publications

References 24 publications

Effects of an educational intervention on the technical writing competence of engineering students

Effects of an educational intervention on the technical writing competence of engineering students

Innovations in the Dissemination of Action Research

Writing Science: Transforming Students’ Science Writing by Tapping into Writing Instruction Scholarship and Best Practices

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