Writing Program at the University of Chicago: Lecture Notes

Introduction to UChicago's Writing Program

• Unique approach: Top-down writing method
  • Focus on aiding faculty writing skills
  • More faculty than freshmen; teaches in medical school
• Origin: Late 70s-early 80s
  • Designed to help faculty with writing problems
  • Challenges standard notion that writing is a basic, remedial skill learned early in life

Differences from Other Schools

• Most universities have freshman composition/writing courses
• UChicago does not offer a traditional freshman writing course

Target of the Writing Program

• Primarily helps faculty, not students
  • Faculty often have more serious writing issues despite being experts
• Aims to shift focus from rule-governed writing to reader-focused writing

Key Issues in Writing

• Rule-governed writing vs. reader-centric writing
  • Rules helpful for low-value, frequent writing (e.g., short memos)
  • Experts need to focus on impacting their readers

Expert Writers

• Definition: Expertise in subject, not necessarily writing
• Writing helps with thinking at a complex level
• Writing process intertwined with the thinking process
• Writing must aid readers in changing their perspectives

Challenges for Expert Writers

• Using the writing process to think through complex ideas
• Disconnect between writing for personal understanding and writing for readers
• Interference with readers' comprehension due to expert language patterns

Reader Response to Writing

• Reading hurdles: slow down, misunderstand, stop reading
• Importance of making writing valuable and clear to avoid reader's disengagement

Writer-Reader Dynamics

• Academic writing traditionally read by faculty paid to care
  • Different dynamics in the professional world; readers not paid to care
• Writing must be valuable and persuasive to be effective

Value in Writing

• Value determined by the readers' community
• Writing must be framed to show instability, cost, or benefit to the readers

Coding Value in Writing

• Common value-creating words: Nonetheless, however, although, inconsistent, anomaly
• Identify and use the language that conveys value to the audience

Functions of Professional Writing

• Professional writing aims to change readers’ ideas, not just convey the writer’s thoughts

Literature Review in Academic Writing

• Functions: Establish credibility, enrich the problem, challenge existing knowledge
• Importance of understanding the community's values and tensions

Practical Tips for Writers

• Learn the value-creating codes in your field
• Focus on reader-specific problems and solutions
• Avoid writing like a student; focus on creating academic value

Practical Exercises

• Analyze field articles for value-creating words
• Develop a personal list of valuable terms for revisions

Final Thoughts

• Understand the community of readers and their specific needs
• Professional writing is about changing ideas within a community, not just sharing personal insights

Contact Information

• Director of Writing Program: Larry McEnerney
• Email: lmce@uchicago.edu