WRITING ACROSS
THE CURRICULUM
Daniel R. Hagen
Professor of
Animal Science
Effective communication is an
important part of any occupation,
career, or business. No salesperson
Top Lancaster DHIA Cows
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can survive without it Bankers,
service personnel, and even for
mers rely on written and oral com
munication to stay informed on the
latest developments and make
informed decisions about their
business.
The Pennsylvania State Univer
sity believes it is vital for students
to develop skills in written and oral
communication. Several years
(Continued from Pag*
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ZIMMERMAN HEADLOCKS
* Spring loaded neck bar for easy
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* Individual lock on each yoke for
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ago, the University adopted the
concept. Writing Across The Cur
riculum (WAC)- A relatively new
idea in higher education, WAC
strives to make writing a visible
part of the entire undergraduate
program, from the freshman year
until graduation.
WAC includes traditional ele
ments such as basic grammar,
punctuation, and sentence struc
ture, but it goes even further. It
emphasizes the organization of
writing and the application of basic
writing techniques to each stu
dent’s area of study. Consequent
ly, WAC builds written communi
cations into the framework of the
entire educational process.
Incorporated into all majors by a
graduation requirement in the
summer of 1990, WAC requires all
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students to complete at least three
credits in a writing-intensive
course within their major or col
lege before they graduate. These
courses ate selected from a list of
designated writing-intensive
courses.
818
Dedicated to improved commu
nication for many years, the
Department of Dairy and Animal
Science requires that its students
complete a course in writing and
speaking skills in addition to other
university requirements in lan
guage arts.
943
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The department offers two
writing-intensive courses, signi
fied by a W in the course number
Animal Science 331 W and Animal
Science 431 W. These courses
were approved for this designation
on the basis of the number, types,
and focus of writing assignments
included in each course. Both
courses teach students aspects of
animal reproduction, but have dis
tinctly different emphasis. Dairy
and Animal Science students must
complete one of these courses, and
students in other majors may take
them as electives.
Animal Science 331 W emphas
izes applications of reproduction
in farm animals and is intended
primarily for juniors and seniors
interested in dairy or livestock pro
duction and management or in
careers in business. Animal Sci
ence 431 W covers a wider group
of animals, including laboratory
animals, and is intended for stu
dents interested in continuing their
studies in graduate school or pro
845
cation through a computer elec
tronic bulletin board.
Students enrolled in WAC
courses often submit their writing
assignments first as a draft, which
is critiqued by the instructor with
out a grade penalty. The student
then rewrites the piece, incorporat
ing the suggestions from the
instructor. This helps students
realize that writing is a process,
organized in a particular way. with
certain expectations. In this way,
these courses should help students
improve their writing.
As they progress through the
writing-intensive course, students
generally gain an appreciation for
the types of writing in their area of
study. They also should realize
that the skills they learned in previ
ous courses are still important
As might be expected, not all
students appreciate the emphasis
on writing. Some are uneasy about
their skills and may have had rela
tively little practice writing.
Others may think that written com
munication is not important or may
be inadequately prepared for such
a “leam-as-you-go” course.
The writing assignments asso
ciated with writing-intensive
courses add to the demands on the
instructor’s time and require addi
tional effort. But faculty who make
the .commitment to this type of
course also learn from the process.
Penn Stale hopes that even those
students who do not appreciate the
need for writing skills will one day
realize how their writing-intensive
course helped prepare them for
their careers.