Translation and Transfer: Interdisciplinary Writing and Communication
Denise Comer
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. Full Text
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