A glossary to create a shared vocabulary about writing at the U of A.
This glossary offers definitions for key writing terms, facilitating clear discussions and instruction on writing expectations across the curriculum. By using these shared terms, we can help students understand that all writers have more to learn and better equip them to transfer their writing skills into their specific fields.
Audience
The imagined reader, viewer, or group for whom the writing is intended. Audience determines the tone, details, and necessary context. This is part of the Rhetorical Situation framework (see below).
Example: In the policy memo, the Audience is the Tucson City Council, so the tone must be formal and the evidence must be data-driven.
Context
The circumstances surrounding the creation and reception of the text (time, place, medium). This is part of the Rhetorical Situation framework (see below).
Example: the context is Tucson, engaging in the current environmental legislation. The memo then would have to be submitted before the next public meeting, and students can research more about how they work.
Disciplinarity
The specialized way of thinking, researching, communicating, and writing that is unique to your field (science, humanities, business, etc.). This shows up in field-specific or discipline-specific genre expectations.
Genre
A recognizable and recurring type of writing (or communication) used to accomplish a specific goal in a community or discipline. It can be understood as a category of texts that share similar audiences, purposes, and forms.
Example: A Lab Report in Chemistry or a Legal Brief in Law.
Genre Conventions
The shared, expected features, such as format, tone, and citation style, that define a specific genre (or type of writing). These accepted guidelines or norms shape a text's structure and if they align with the broader genre.
Example: A resume uses bullet points and action verbs, while an email to a city councilor uses formal salutations and tone.
Peer review
A structured activity where students provide feedback on each other's drafts using clear guidelines or rubrics. Peer review helps students develop critical reading skills while providing writers with audience feedback before final submission.
Purpose
The writer's primary reason or objective for writing: to inform, persuade, argue, summarize, critique, etc. This is part of the Rhetorical Situation framework (see below).
Example: the purpose, in this Policy memo, is to convince the City Council to ban plastic bags.
Revision
Making substantive changes to improve the argument, organization, evidence, or clarity in a draft, typically based on feedback. Revision goes beyond just editing for grammar. It is important to highlight the difference between "Global Revision" (rethinking ideas), as opposed to "Local Revision" (editing surface or sentence level features).
Reflection
The student's intentional look back at the choices they made during the writing process and what they learned about writing and the genre. This metacognitive activity helps students recognize how writing skills transfer across courses, stages (e.g., high school to college), personal and professional contexts, and disciplines.
Rhetorical Situation
The surrounding circumstances, including the purpose, audience, and context, that define a communication task and shape the writer’s choices. Think of it as an “analysis toolkit” for any writing or communication, consisting of Purpose, Audience, and Context.
Example: For an Environmental Sustainability class, students write a Policy memo about plastic bags.
Rubric
A tool used to evaluate writing that makes grading criteria explicit and prioritizes thinking, argument, and disciplinary content over minor grammatical mechanics.
Scaffolding
Breaking a larger writing assignment into meaningful, sequenced steps, such as research, outline, draft, peer review, and revision. Each step supports students through the writing process, and each can be graded separately to emphasize writing as a process.
Writing as a Process
The understanding that writing is recursive and involves multiple stages, including planning, drafting, and revision. Writing develops through stages rather than appearing fully formed in a single draft.
Writing to Communicate
Writing used to present ideas, research findings, arguments, or professional recommendations to an audience beyond the writer. These typically involve formal, high-stakes genres (such as policy memos, poster presentations, or case studies) and benefit from explicit instruction in genre conventions.
Writing to Learn
Informal, low-stakes writing activities used by students to clarify thoughts, deepen understanding, or explore complex ideas. These activities are often not shared outside the course and include discussion posts, reflections, journal entries, and reading responses. They could be ungraded or graded for completion.