Elbow, Peter. “Reflections on Academic Discourse: How It Relates to Freshmen and Colleagues.” College English 53 (1991), 2. 135-155.
Precis:
Peter Elbow, in his essay “Reflections on Academic Discourse: How it Relates to Freshmen and Colleagues” (1991), posits that in addition to teaching academic discourse, freshmen writing instructors should focus on “discourse that renders rather than explains” (153) and a study of various voices and styles, including the voice of academic discourse. Elbow develops his argument by discussing the need for nonacademic writing, showing that academic writing doesn’t exist as a discourse, discussing the commonalities of academic discourse by looking at examples, and then discussing implications for the teaching of freshmen writing. Elbow’s purpose is to offer suggestions for writing teachers to help freshmen learn to write academic discourse by studying rhetoric and not formalism. Elbow’s relationship with the reader is casual and conversational.
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