Writing in Chemistry Keys to Student Underlife

Abstract

The writing across the curriculum movement began in American col leges and universities in the mid 1970s as an effort by the faculty to spread the responsibility for improving student writing abilities beyond freshman Eng lish. Now there are over four hundred writing across the curriculum programs, many of which require students to take writing-intensive courses outside the English department and beyond the fresh man year. The staying power of these pro grams may be explained by the fact that writing across the curriculum is as much about improving teaching as it is about re quiring more student writing. What seems to keep faculty members interested and committed to these programs are the strat egies they offer to improve teaching by using writing in new ways in the class room.