The First-Year Writing Curriculum at UNC Charlotte implemented a new process-based and inquiry-driven curriculum in 2011 that focuses on writing as a social process. It teaches students to consider their rhetorical situations and adapt genres to suit their contexts. Writing and Inquiry I and II immerse students in the writing process and exploring writing through varied topics and genres. The goal is for students to understand writing's relationship to different contexts and conduct inquiry-driven writing projects.

1. The First-Year Writing Curriculum
Dr. Jan Rieman
Associate Coordinator of
First-Year Writing
UNC Charlotte

2. The Relatively “New” Curriculum
• Implemented by all UNC Charlotte writing
faculty in fall 2011.
• Comes out of the “social turn” in
composition theory that began in the 1980s.
• Process-based and inquiry-driven.

3. Formalism in Writing Instruction
• Formalistic modes of writing
instruction tend to focus on the
mastery of static forms which are
treated as universal and immutable.
• Writers are expected to mimic these
absolute forms

4. The New Curriculum
• Reverses the logic of formalism by conceptualizing
writing as a social process;
• Presents genres as socially situated forms that emerge
from and within specific rhetorical situations.
• Teaches writers to attend to their rhetorical situations
(context of writing, purpose, audience, constraints), thus
enabling them to adapt to writing tasks in a variety of
contexts.
• Creates space for an inquiry-driven model of writing
where writers are able to take chances and learn how to
transform genres to suit their unique writing situations.

5. 1101: Writing and Inquiry in
Academic Contexts I
Writing is both the primary subject of inquiry and the
primary activity. Students write, revise, edit and reflect on
their writing with the support of the teacher and peers.
Students also engage critically with the opinions and voices of
others, as they are encouraged to understand how their
writing can have an effect on themselves and their
environments.
As the primary subject of readings and discussion, writing is
explored as it relates to different contexts, discourses,
cultures and textual media. As students inquire into
literacy, they understand their own writing and
development with heightened awareness.

6. Specific Topics of Exploration in 1101
• Conventions
• Reading as Writers
• Genre
• Error
• Authority
• Students’ own writing processes

7. 1102: Writing and Inquiry in
Academic Contexts II
Students develop an extended inquiry project that integrates
materials from varied sources and includes writing in multiple
genres.
Students write, revise, edit and reflect on their writing with the
support of the teacher and peers.
Students immerse themselves in a conversation about a topic
through reading, questioning, and process writing.
Polished writing might assume the forms of presentations,
reviews of research, essayistic arguments, or multi-media and
web-based projects.
Students learn to distinguish rhetorical contexts, practice
different conventions, and develop positions in relation to
research. They also adopt digital technologies to network,
compose, and/or critique and disseminate their work.

8. 1102
• Researchers don’t generally start out with a
thesis and then look for agreement or
disagreement.
• Questions, responses and genres emerge
within discourses, within social settings and
situated interactions.
• In specific social contexts we question,
dialogue, learn, position, and respond.

9. Writing as Inquiry
• Immerse: Invite curiosity, build background,
find topics, and wonder;
• Investigate: Develop questions, search for
information, and discover answers or new
questions;
• Coalesce: Intensify research, synthesize
information, and build knowledge.
• Go Public: Share learning, demonstrate
understanding, take action.

10. Writing as Inquiry
Blogging
Journaling
Proposals
Article reviews
Critical responses
Participation in forums
Summaries of findings

11. Writing to Disseminate and Persuade
Presentations
Reviews of Research
Essayistic arguments
Multi-media projects
Web-based projects

12. In sum…
• All Writing is Situated
• There is no universal context, academic or
otherwise.
• Writing is not a basic skill independent of
content or context.
• Students begin the process of inquiry-
guided learning their first year.