查看原文
其他

语言教学 | 普渡大学写作教学系列Teacher&Tutor Resources8-Writing Instructors(8)

提示:点击上方"英语写作教学与研究"免费关注哦

征稿:二语写作

7.Writing Across the Curriculum

(4)Writing in Nursing Bibliography

Writing is integral to nursing for a number of different reasons. Patient care, issues of nursing liability, and the learning of different nursing skills are all reliant upon writing as a tool and source of communication. Writing occurs in the forms of nurses' notes, clinical studies, and scholarly research.

Much has been written about the role the writing plays in the development of student nurses into professionals. This bibliography is intended to be a starting place for persons interested in using writing in their courses or as a resource for those who are already using writing in their courses but are looking for new ways to implement its use. (This resource was originally written by Created by Julia Romberger, 2000.)

If you are looking for resources that will help you with writing in nursing, please visit the OWL's 
Writing in Nursing material.

Writing in the Nursing Classroom: Experiences, Strategies, and Assignments

Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas: The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996.

John Bean"s intent in this work is to present a "nuts and bolts guide" to assist teachers in all the disciplines to design and integrate writing assignments into their classrooms. The book discuss the theoretical foundations for such practices, gives detailed advice on constructing a variety of different assignments, and attempts to provide options for using writing to promote thinking. The book does not presume previous familiarity with either composition or pedagogical theory and is written in a direct and accessible style.

Bean, John. Drenk, Dean, and F.D. Lee. "Microtheme Strategies for Developing Cognitive Skills." Teaching Writing in all the Disciplines. 27 - 38.

In this chapter, the strategy of using micro-themes or short essays within either large or small classroom contexts is explored. The authors give examples of several different genres of micro-themes including: the summary, argumentation and thesis support, inductive reasoning from data,and quandary posing. The chapter concludes with an examination of the pedagogical validity of the use of micro-themes and suggestions for implementing their use.

Boyd, Laurel "Involvement? Write a letter: One Curriculum Strategy" Nurse Educator. 10.6 (Nov/Dec 1985) 26 - 8.

The assignment idea outlined and utilized by Professor Boyd incorporates basic principles of both WAC and Cultural Studies and suggests several real-world forums in which students can participate. This assignment engages them in relevant audience and social issues as well as giving added import to writing assignments.

Brown, Hazel and Jeanne Sorrell. "Use of Clinical Journals to Enhance Critical Thinking" Nurse Educator. 18.5 (Sept/Oct. 1993) 16-19.

Critical thinking skills can be enhanced by giving students structured writing assignments. Suggestions are given for different assignment focuses (objective writing, summary writing, argument writing) that specifically target certain skills. Additionally, pitfalls to be avoided in grading and assignment design are listed.

Cameron, Brenda L. and Agnes M Mitchell. "Reflective Peer Journals: Developing Authentic Nurses" Journal of Advanced Nursing. 18.2 (Feb 1993) 290-97.

Drawing from literature in the composition and nursing fields, Cameron and Mitchell propose a theoretical framework for the use of journals in nursing courses. The problems of the log format are discussed using the peer journal format, which is endorsed by the authors. Guidelines for peer journals are developed based on the theory the article explores.

Fulwiler, Toby, ed. The Journal Book. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1987.

This book was pivotal in the movement to introduce journal writing to a variety of classroom settings. The introduction of the book provides guidelines for the use of journals in the classroom. The third section of the book focuses on the use of journals in the quantitative and qualitative classrooms. The articles are written by a variety of teachers who successfully used journals in their various disciplinary classrooms from elementary through the collegiate level.

Heinrich, Kathleen T. "Intimate Dialogue: Journal Writing by Students"" Nurse Educator. 17.6 (Nov/Dec 1992) 17-21.

Professor Heinrich gives a critical examination of the uses and potential misuse of journaling within a nursing course. Specific recommendations for journal assignments are given based upon experiences with various course sizes and learning styles. The author draws the theoretical and pedagogical basis for these suggestions from literature in the fields of composition studies, nursing, and education.

Hurtig, Wendy Olive Younge, Danin Bodnar and Marilyn Berg. "Interactive Journal: A Clinical Teaching Tool" Nurse Educator. 14.6 (Nov/Dec 1989) 17, 31, 35.

This article looks at journal writing from another perspective, that of a valuable tool for opening up communication between students and faculty. It discusses the use of journaling within a specific context (psychiatric clinical experience) and how it operated for the participants.

McCarthy, Donna O. and Barbara J. Bowers. "Implementation of Writing to Learn in a Program of Nursing" Nurse Educator. 19.3 (May/June 1994) 32-5.

In this article, the issue of introducing Writing to Learn into a nursing curriculum is addressed. The authors draw upon both composition and nursing pedagogy to suggest strategies and assignments. The article ends with a discussion of faculty experience with implementing these strategies.

Implementation of WID, WAC, and Writing to Learn in Nursing Curricula

Allen, David G., Barbara Bowers and Nancy Diekelmann. "Writing to Learn: A Reconceptualization of Thinking and Writing in the Nursing Curriculum" Journal of Nursing Education. v. 28.1 (Jan 1989) 6-11.

This piece gives a clear demonstration of the differences between learning to write and Writing to Learn. The authors explore the ways that Writing to Learn can be integrated into a nursing curricula and discuss the benefits to instructors and students.

Lashley, Mary and Rosemary Wittstadt. "Writing Across the Curriculum: An Integrated Curricular Approach to Developing Critical Thinking Through Writing." Journal of Nursing Eduction. 32. 9 (Nov 1993) 422-4.

Lashley and Wittstadt explain how one school implemented WAC throughout a nursing curriculum. They describe the steps of reviewing the literature, selecting types of assignments, surveying faculty on existing writing requirements, and making recommendations, which they include, for creating writing requirements in courses that build upon previous course experiences.

Megel, Mary. "Nursing Scholars, Writing Dimensions and Productivity" Research in Higher Education. 27.3 (1987) 226 - 43.

The study builds on initial research in composition studies by specifically examining the difficulties of nursing scholars at the doctoral level. After conducting observations and collecting the data presented in the article, the author comes to a position relevant to proponents of WAC. Scholarly productivity was related directly to the amount of writing engaged in each week. Additionally, the author recommends that faculty develop strategies for fostering better writing skills and positive attitudes toward writing.

Pinkava, Barbara and Carol Haviland. "Teaching Writing and Thinking Skills" Nursing Outlook. 32.5 (Sept/Oct 1984) 270-72.

The authors discuss the successful experience of implementing Writing to Learn pedagogy into a nursing program through coordination between nursing faculty and writing center staff both within and without the classroom.

Poirrier, Gail. Writing to Learn: Curricular Strategies for Nursing and other Disciplines. New York: NLN Press, 1997.

This collection of essays covers a wide range of topics including a basic introduction to the principles of WAC and the theoretical basis for using Writing to Learn in a nursing curriculum, a variety of assignments, projects, and classroom experiences with them, and useful discussions on designing curriculum that incorporates Writing to Learn pedagogy.

Sorrell, Jeanne. "The Composing Process of Nursing Students in Writing Nurses" Notes" Journal of Nursing Education. 30.4 (April 1991) 162-7.

This study of the composition process of 62 nursing students in lab and the hospital is valuable for locating the difficulties students have in making the transition from one environment to the next. The article stresses that these difficulties must be examined carefully and taken into consideration by teachers and strategies developed to ease the transition.

Sorrell, Jeanne M. and James Metcalf. "Nurses as Writers" Nursing Connections. 11.2 (Summer 1998) 24-32.

This article provides a well-grounded practical argument for the use of Writing in the Disciplines within a nursing curriculum. It outlines a course, Nurses as Writers, specifically designed to teach the various types of writing required in the nursing profession, and discusses the experiences of students and their reactions to the class.

Rationale for the WAC, WID, and Writing to Learn: An Annotated Bibliography for Nursing Curricula

Content for this bibliography was chosen for its relevancy to the following:

  • the concerns of nursing programs

  • application of nursing education pedagogy

  • application of composition studies theory.

(5)Science Writing Bibliography Essay

Teaching Scientific Writing Conventions: Learning to Write is an Integral Part of Writing to Learn in the Sciences by Julia Romberger, 2000

There has been a great deal written about both positive and negative experiences with teaching writing in non-English classrooms and the overall effect on student learning. Randy Moore's article “Does Writing About Science Improve Learning About Science?” opens with a critique of many of the commonly held assumptions that increased writing in the science classroom will automatically lead to improved writing and comprehension by students. He charges that many “faculty do not understand its [Writing Across the Curriculum's] tenets, strengths, or limitations, nor do they grasp the way in which these features affect writing-to-learn in science.” (Moore 212). After conducting a study utilizing varying amounts of writing and direction in four sections of the same biology class, he concludes that “learning-by-writing occurs only when students know how to use writing to learn” (Moore 214). Moore believes that not explicitly teaching students the principles of effective writing in the sciences will only handicap them in their future.

This understanding of the complexity of teaching students to write in the sciences is not new. Nearly twenty years ago, Brillhart and Debs's article came to similar conclusions about the link between instruction and improved writing in the sciences. In their article “Teaching Writing — A Scientist's Responsibility,” they contend that because it is “unlikely that students can write successfully about a concept they do not understand, science teachers should demand good writing” (303). However, they do not believe that good science writing will develop on its own through simple practice. Instead, they lay out a concise method for introducing concepts and emphasizing different critical portions of lab reports over a series of assignments.

The necessity for teaching students what constitutes good writing in a particular discipline is not limited to the natural sciences. Sociologist Susan Day reports in her article “Producing Better Writers in Sociology Classes” that “requiring a number of writing assignments is not sufficient in itself to produce a measurable positive change” (462). Her study, which did not report instruction in the principles of writing in sociology, comes to very similar conclusions to the work of Moore, Brillhart, and Debs.

There are examples of these types of conclusions that can be drawn from nearly all branches of the academy. What is to be understood from them is that students are engaging upon a far more complex task then simply putting words to their thoughts. They are entering into what are termed in rhetorical studies “discourse communities.” A discourse community is defined in this way:

It shares assumptions about what objects are appropriate for examination and discussion, what operating functions are performed on those objects, what constitutes “evidence' and “validity,” and what formal conventions are followed. A discourse community may have a well-established ethos; or it may have competing factions and indefinite boundaries (Porter 39).

To participate effectively in the community, a speaker must possess a particular body of knowledge and be recognized as a member of the community (Porter 39). Students in a university, and especially undergraduates, are not in a position to know either what objects are worthwhile for examining, nor have they been taught the conventions that vary between the natural sciences and the humanities and even between the specific disciplines.

Along with their ignorance of disciplinary conventions, students also frequently have difficulty drawing analogies between writing tasks and applying the strategies taught to them in their high school or freshman year composition classes. The article “A Stranger in Strange Lands” by Lucille Parkinson McCarthy follows a student, Dave, though his academic writing career. McCarthy discovered that despite some obvious commonalities between the writing assignments in his composition class, his Cell Biology class, and his Poetry class, Dave was often unable to draw upon his previous experiences to assist him with new work. McCarthy discovered that “Dave's attention was occupied by the new conventions of interpretation and language use in each community” (246). Her study reinforces the position that “school writing is not a monolithic activity or a global skill” (260). The article suggests that instructors “in the disciplines must then provide student newcomers with assignments and instructional supports which are appropriate for first steps in using the language of their community” (McCarthy 262). Therefore assignments in writing should not be adopted uncritically. The principles of the conventions should be taught to them before they can be expected to write effectively within a discipline.

These negative faculty experiences with writing in the classroom often arise from the misunderstandings that Moore mentions. Some of this can be traced to the adoption of the traditional writing-to-learn assignments such as journaling and micro-themes stems without investigation of the purposes and limits of these types of writing or perhaps an unfamiliarity with the original works written on their use. "The Journal Book" edited by Toby Fulwiler is the primary source for many advocates of the use of journals in the classroom. This collection, far from merely advocating that students simply write at random in their journal, contains a number of essays that discuss particular types of journal writing, provides suggestions for guidelines and prompts, and generalizes on what an instructor should expect in terms of content and efficacy. The work on micro-themes by John Bean, Dean Drenk, and F.D. Lee contained in "Teaching Writing in All Disciplines" is similar in that it advocates particular strategies for adopting the use of micro-themes in classrooms and gives guidance on grading and samples of micro-themes designed to elicit specific cognitive strategies in the writer.

In addition to the works on specific strategies for incorporating more writing in classrooms that traditionally do not focus on writing, the general literature on writing in the disciplines seldom suggests that writing be introduced into a classroom without the students being given critical strategies. There have been many handbooks, designed toward either specific disciplinary audiences or for the sciences in general, that address specific style and organizational concerns in the writing of a variety of genres such as reports, proposals, and critiques. The analyses contained in these books of the conventions of genre and language can provide a very good model for developing the tools and skills for understanding the conventions of each discipline in particular and then passing this information along to students.

The bibliographies included on these OWL pages hope to bring resources to light for teachers both in the sciences or in research-based writing classes. Through the use of these resources, assignments valuable for student learning can be adopted, ways in which to teach students the principles of good scientific writing can be developed, and some of the negative experiences with writing in non-English classrooms can be mitigated.

Works Cited

Brillhart, L.V. and M.B. Debs. “Teaching Writing — A Scientist's Responsibility.” Journal of College Science Teaching 10.5 (Mar 1981): 303 – 304.

Day, Susan. “Producing Better Writers in Sociology Classes: A Test of the Writing-Across-The-Curriculum Approach.” Teaching Sociology 17 (Oct 1989): 458-464.

McCarthy, Lucille. “A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student Writing Across the Curriculum.” Research in the Teaching of English 21.3 (Oct 1987): 233 – 265.

Moore, Randy. “Does Writing About Science Improve Learning About Science?” Journal of College Science Teaching. (Feb 1991): 212- 217.

Porter, James E. “Intertextuality and the Discourse Community.” Rhetoric Review 5.1 (Fall 1986) 34 – 47.


 《二语写作》正在征稿,欢迎国内外专家、学者和广大外语教师及研究者扫码入群赐稿!(详情见最后一条推送)

精彩回顾

您可能也对以下帖子感兴趣

文章有问题?点此查看未经处理的缓存