‘Asking pompeii questions’: a co-operative approach to Writing in the disciplines

Abstract

This article is an account of a cooperative project to develop student writing within an interdisciplinary human sciences degree, in line with the ‘Writing in the Disciplines’ approach adopted in the USA that aims to develop student writing within mainstream teaching. The course tutor worked with a writing tutor to introduce a ‘writing strand’ into a first year course in archaeology. The project is described and evaluated with examples from students’ writing. On both subjective and objective measures the project was a success: students became more positive about their writing and their end of course essays generally improved. The article focuses particularly on the use of the technique of ‘freewriting’ as a way of strengthening students’ sense of their own voice and authority in their university writing.