Sociologists and scholars of composition have long argued that in order to get students to improve the quality of what they write, they need to change how they write. Here, the authors assess whether students’ participation in writing-intensive first-year seminars leads to changes in their writing process. Data collected via pretest and posttest interviews of 34 students show that writing-intensive seminars help first-year students become better planners and revisers yet have little effect on the ways that they prewrite and draft. Additionally, students in their first semester of college demonstrate higher order writing processes at the beginning of their seminar than their second-semester counterparts and show more improvement over the course of the semester as well. We analyze the conditions that foster these patterns and suggest that increasing quantitative course requirements (i.e., page counts) may hamper students’ ability to adopt qualitatively better writing strategies.
AlthauserRobertDarnallKim. 2001. “Enhancing Critical Reading and Writing through Peer Reviews: An Exploration of Assisted Performance.” Teaching Sociology29(1):23–35.
2.
AndersonLeonHoltMara. 1990. “Teaching Writing in Sociology: A Social Constructionist Approach.” Teaching Sociology18(2):179–84.
3.
BeanJohn C.2001. Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
4.
BlumerHerbert. 1969. Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. Berkeley: University of California Press.
5.
BrentDoug. 2005. “Reinventing WAC (Again): The First-Year Seminar and Academic Literacy.” College Composition and Communication57(2):253–76.
6.
CadwalladerMervyn L. C.ScarboroAllen. 1982. “Teaching Writing within a Sociology Course: A Case Study in Writing across the Curriculum.” Teaching Sociology9(4):359–82.
7.
CalkinsLucy. 1994. The Art of Teaching Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
8.
ChamblissDaniel F.1989. “The Mundanity of Excellence: An Ethnographic Report on Stratification and Olympic Swimmers.” Sociological Theory7(1):70–86.
9.
CrowleySharon. 1977. “Components of the Composing Process.” College Composition and Communication28(2):166–69.
10.
EdwardsMark Evan. 2002. “Writing Before Students: A Model for Teaching Sociological Writing.” Teaching Sociology30(2):254–59.
11.
ElbowPeter. 1998. Writing Without Teachers. New York: Oxford University Press.
12.
FarrisChristineSmithRaymond. 1992. “Writing-Intensive Courses: Tools for Curricular Change.” Pp. 53-62 in Writing Across the Curriculum: A Guide to Developing Programs, edited by McLeodS. H.SovenM.Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
13.
FlowerLinda. 1979. “Writer-Based Prose: A Cognitive Basis for Problems in Writing.” College English41(1):19–37.
14.
FlowerLindaHayesJohn R.1981. “A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing.” College Composition and Communication32(4):365–87.
15.
GrauerholzLiz. 1999. “Creating and Teaching Writing- Intensive Courses.” Teaching Sociology27(4):310–23.
16.
GravesDonald H.1975. “An Examination of the Writing Processes of Seven Year Old Children.” Research in the Teaching of English9(3):227–41.
17.
HjortshojKeith. 2009. The Transition to College Writing. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
HuddSuzanne S.SmartRobert A.DeloheryAndrew W.2011. “‘My Understanding Has Grown, My Perspective Has Switched.’” Teaching Sociology39(2):179–89.
20.
HughesEverett Cherrington. 1958. Men and Their Work. New York: Free Press.
21.
HumesAnn. 1983. “Research on the Composing Process.” Review of Educational Research53(2):201–16.
22.
KamaliAli. 1991. “Writing a Sociological Student Term Paper: Steps and Scheduling.” Teaching Sociology19(4):506–09.
23.
KressGunther R.1994. Learning to Write. New York: Routledge.
24.
LindemannErika. 2001. A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers. New York: Oxford University Press.
25.
LoflandJohnSnowDavid A.AndersonLeonLoflandLyn H.2006. Analyzing Social Settings: A Guide to Qualitative Observation and Analysis. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
26.
MacArthurCharles A.GrahamSteveFitzgeraldJill. 2006. Handbook of Writing Research. New York: The Guilford Press.
27.
MalcomNancy L.2006. “Analyzing the News: Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in a Writing Intensive Social Problems Course.” Teaching Sociology34(2):143–49.
28.
MassengillRebekah P.2011. “Sociological Writing as Higher-level Thinking.” Teaching Sociology39(4): 371–81.
29.
MeadGeorge Herbert. 1934. Mind, Self, and Society: From the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
30.
MurrayDonald M.1985. A Writer Teaches Writing. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
31.
MyhillDebraJonesSusan. 2007. “More Than Just Error Correction: Students’ Perspectives on Their Revision Processes During Writing.” Written Communication24(4):323–43.
32.
PerlSondra. 1979. “The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers.” Research in the Teaching of English13(4):317–36.
33.
PerlSondra. 1980. “Understanding Composing.” College Composition and Communication31(4):363–69.
34.
PetroskyAnthony R.BrozickJames R.1979. “A Model for Teaching Writing Based upon Current Knowledge of the Composing Process.” The English Journal68(1):96–101.
35.
RobertsKeith A.1993. “Toward a Sociology of Writing.” Teaching Sociology21(4):317–24.
36.
RohmanD. Gordon. 1965. “Pre-Writing the Stage of Discovery in the Writing Process.” College Composition and Communication16(2):106–12.
37.
RoozenKevin. 2010. “Tracing Trajectories of Practice: Repurposing in One Student’s Developing Disciplinary Writing Processes.” Written Communication27(3):318–54.
38.
SchiffPeter. 1982. “Responding to Writing: Peer Critiques, Teacher-Student Conferences, and Essay Evaluation.” Pp. 153–67 in Language Connections: Writing and Reading across the Curriculum, edited by FulwilerT.YoungA.Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
39.
SchwalbeMichaelGodwinSandraHoldenDaphneSchrockDouglasThompsonShealyWolkomirMichelle. 2000. “Generic Processes in the Reproduction of Inequality: An Interactionist Analysis.” Social Forces79(2):419–52.
40.
Segev-MillerRachel. 2004. “Writing from Sources: The Effect of Explicit Instruction on College Students’ Processes and Products.” L1–Educational Studies in Language and Literature4(1):5–33.
41.
SmagorinskyPeter. 1987. “Graves Revisited: A Look at the Methods and Conclusions of the New Hampshire Study.” Written Communication4(4):331–42.
42.
SommersNancy. 1980. “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers.” College Composition and Communication31(4):378–88.
43.
StallardCharles K.1974. “An Analysis of the Writing Behavior of Good Student Writers.” Research in the Teaching of English8(2):206–18.
44.
ThomasPaul L.2005. Teaching Writing Primer. New York: Peter Lang.
45.
ThompsonJohn. 1994. “I Think My Mark Is Too High.” Teaching Sociology22(1):65–74.
46.
TrepagnierBarbara. 2004. “Teaching Sociology through Student Portfolios.” Teaching Sociology32(2): 197–205.
47.
WardleElizabeth. 2009. “‘Mutt Genres’ and the Goal of FYC: Can We Help Students Write the Genres of the University?” College Composition and Communication60(4): 765–89.
48.
WeaverConstance. 1996. Teaching Grammar in Context. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.
49.
WeissRobert S.1994. Learning from Strangers:The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies. New York: Free Press.
