Writing in the Disciplines Program

The Writing-in-the-Disciplines (WID) Program at SHSU is part of a national movement, which is in turn related to the international effort of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC).  You can learn more about WAC at the Clearinghouse website at Colorado State University.  As the name indicates, WID is about teaching students how writing works in their chosen discipline, and using writing to learn.  Students need to be taught how to become better writers and employ writing as a tool, and this instruction needs to be done from within particular disciplines. 

writing workshop

Participants at the January CHSS writing workshop

Dr. Carroll Nardone, Professor of English and Associate Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, is Director of the WID Program at SHSU, and is advised by the University-level WID Committee. The WID Program helps to develop and support W-coded courses, the writing enhanced courses. To read the mission statement of the SHSU WID program, see here.

The most significant activity of the WID Program is the annual summer workshop, where 16 instructors gather for a week to focus on improving their teaching of writing and use of writing in their courses.  Principles of the WID and WAC movement:

  • that writing is the responsibility of the entire academic community,
  • that writing must be integrated across departmental boundaries,
  • that writing must be continuous during all four years of undergraduate education,
  • that writing promotes learning, and
  • that only by practicing the conventions of an academic discipline will students begin to communicate effectively within that discipline.

The WID Gallery of writing assignments for instructors from the Duke University Thompson Writing Program.