Why CompFAQs?

—What is the evidence that instruction in grammar does not improve writing performance?

—What do we know about transfer of skills from writing course to writing course, from writing situation to writing situation (discussion of knowledge-transfer has WPA-L referents back to 1996).

—Should literature be used in the composition classroom? If so, how? If not, why?

—What should be the role of the five-paragraph essay in writing courses?

—Plenty more

1. No need to keep reinventing the wheel. A profession grows by continually accumulating knowledge/practice/experience and making it readily accessible.

2. There is more factual evidence to answer these questions than one might imagine at first. Answers to these question can be both authorative and summative, even if open-ended.

3. Kairos. It is the right time in the profession for something like CompFAQs. The history of the scholarship shows much scattered, unsynthesized information. The need for synthesis can be seen not only on the WPA-L, but elsewhere (TechRhet, CBW-L, WAC-L, various blogs, Digital WPA, KairosNewsCalls), as well as in CCCC’s call for substantive literature reviews.

4. The motive for CompFAQs goes hand in hand with the motive for CompPile http://comppile.tamucc.edu. An inventory of published scholarship is the foundation for reliable answers to FAQs. The first FAQ, authored by Christiane Donohue, responded to a simple question: “Outside the USA, where is post-secondary writing studied?” The materials generated in response to that question, which we’ll see in a minute, now represent the best single-stop repository of information answering that question.