Writing Research Across Borders: Contemporary Research in

Composition

Paul M. Rogers PhD. November 11, 2013

The more you look into it, writing is not just an imperative for schooling, it is a core element of human history.

Charles BazermanHandbook of Research on Writing

The Broad Domains of Writing Research

• History of Writing• Writing in Society• Writing in Schooling• Writing and the Individual• Writing as Text

The History of Writing

• Early Origins of Writing• History of Writing Technologies• History of Typography• History of the Book, Authorship & Design• History of Reflection, Theory, and Research

How Writing Started

Sumerians created the first written language based on abstract signs around 3000 B.C.E

This is the earliest form of Chinese writing, used probably from the Middle to the Late Shang dynasty (approximately 1500 BC ?? to 1000 BC). Most of the time, this script was etched onto turtle shells and animals bones, which were then used for divination in the royal court.

Early Meso-American Writing The Dresden Codex: circa 650 BCE

The History of Writing Technologies

The History of Typeface

History of the Book

History of Authorship

The Broad Domains of Writing Research

• History of Writing• Writing in Society• Writing in Schooling• Writing and the Individual• Writing as Text

Writing and Society

• Writing and the Social Formation of the Economy

• Documentary Society• Writing, Text, and the Law• Writing and Knowledge• The Collection and Organization of Written

Knowledge• Writing as Art and Entertainment

The Documentary Society

“The text comes before us without any apparent attachments. It seems to stand on its own, to be inert without impetus or power. But in the situations of our everyday life as contrasted with our scholarly activities we find texts operative in many ways.” Dorothy Smith

Writing and the History of Knowledge

The representation of knowledge in texts is the product of social encounters,constrained by convention, necessarily ambiguous, and involves multiple interrelated genres.

Writing, Text, and the Law

Writing and the Collection of Knowledge

Writing as Art

Writing and the Professions

Writing and Social Change

The Broad Domains of Writing Research

• History of Writing• Writing in Society• Writing in Schooling• Writing and the Individual• Writing as Text