Bartholomae, David. “Inventing the University.” Cross-Talk in Comp Theory, edited by Victor Villanueva and Kristin L. Arola, National Council of Teachers of English, 2011, pp. 523-553.

In the article “Inventing the University,” David Bartholomae observes that students have to “invent the university . . . [and] learn to speak our language, to speak as we do, to try on the peculiar ways of knowing, selecting, evaluating, reporting, concluding, and arguing that define the discourse of our community” (523). Bartholomae substantiates his observation by referencing the writing of Patricia Bizzell, as well as analyzing student essays. His purpose is to recognize the ways in which students grapple with academic language and discourse as basic writers in order to highlight the importance of analyzing student writing to better know their writing processes. He directs his article to teachers of basic writers and researchers of the writing process. As a student and possible future teacher, it was hard to pinpoint his argument and why it’s important. I kept thinking, “So what?” Yes, it’s clear that basic writers “invent the university” and try to speak in an academic tone before they’re fully ready to do so, and it was interesting to see his analyses of the student essays and where they succeeded/failed; however, it was unclear how this information could be used in pedagogy or be put to practical use when trying to assist student’s in the development of their writing.