Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (Dec 2013)

Translation and Transfer: Interdisciplinary Writing and Communication

  • Denise Comer

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 9
pp. 106 – 112

Abstract

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As institutions of higher learning make growing numbers of interdisciplinary faculty hires, establish ever more interdisciplinary units, develop interdisciplinary curricula, and pursue growth sectors such as global and online education, the ability to write effectively across disciplinary boundaries is becoming ever more vital, and ever more complex. The rapidly changing and expanding academic climate lends urgency for all students, faculty, staff, and administrators not only to learn how to communicate across disciplines, but also to reflect meaningfully on why they might want to do so. Drawing on David Russell's activity theory and other scholarship on writing transfer, this paper argues that scholars bear a responsibility to honor and propagate their own discipline's discourse conventions even as they also must develop strategies for effective interdisciplinary communication through writing.