Local Knowledges, Local Practices

Book excerpt: Cornell University has stood at the forefront of writing instruction, at least since the publication of William Strunk and E. B. White's classic, The Elements of Style, in 1918. For the past thirty years Cornell has been the site of a remarkably sustained and successful interdisciplinary approach to writing across the curriculum - a program that now coordinates nearly two hundred courses each semester sponsored by over thirty different departments.Local Knowledges, Local Practices provides an overview of Cornell's rich history and distinguished achievements in training students to write well. Including the views of professors representing a variety of disciplines - from animal science to political science, anthropology to philosophy, romance studies to neurobiology - this collection will serve as a resource for anyone interested in broadly conceived, discipline-specific writing instruction.