III. Writing in the Discipline as a Platform of Education for Sustainable Development

Writing in the Disciplines is related to, but not the same as Writing Across the Curriculum.  Because the literate experiences that are part of the college curriculum are frequently related directly and indirectly to disciplinary literate practices, Writing in the Disciplines can provide helpful clues about how writing may be supported throughout the undergraduate curriculum; nonetheless, educational institutions, organization of curriculum, the variety of student goals, and other educational priorities make undergraduate writing distinct from the writing produced by professionals in the disciplines.  Much of the writing demands of graduate education, however, may be viewed as apprenticeship to disciplinary practices.

            Because academic disciplines are highly structured social formations, readily available to researchers, Writing in the Disciplines is a major research site for the wider study of how  literate practices are socially located and institutionally organized, and provides many of the cases for the understanding of Discourse Community  and other literate social formations. Thus it is at the forefront of socially-oriented rhetorical research and theory.