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Even so, after decades of momentum built through instruction, through publication, and through professional organizations, composition evolved into an academic entity during the early 1960s when disciplinarity was both sought after and contended with. In the middle to late decades of the twentieth century, much research was driven by “paradigm hope,” the idea that composition would become a science (North 1996). Composition now claims for itself—with some continuing discomfort—a disciplinary status evidenced by graduate programs, highly specific job descriptions, bibliographies, book series, conferences, and federally funded research centers.

Students also came to see how social and environmental policies developed, and they learned how to evaluate and critique these changing policies. In addition, students learned to participate in public discourse—to get over the fear of speaking up in a town meeting or participating in a public forum on a controversial topic. Julia Brown, a student in Takacs’ class, worked with LandWatch, an organization that promotes responsible land policy and legislation through grassroots activism. For a case study that could illustrate patterns of land use and urbanization, she focused on Spreckels, a company town built to support the sugar beet industry in the early twentieth century.

Students must synthesize their general scientific knowledge and their community-based research with the particular needs of the community members who will read their brochures. Formal aspects of writing such as paragraph coherence, syntax, style, and punctuation are now connected to a consequential aim. 32 Making Writing Matter Students will need to consult with community organizations and field-test the document with its potential audience, but they also will need to consult with a teacher who provides disciplinary as well as rhetorical expertise.