  Writing-to-learn initiatives such as Writing Across the Curriculum or Writing
in the Disciplines occupy the center of writing programs nationwide.
Nevertheless, research to support the core of the writing-to-learn
philosophy--that the writing process can facilitate content learning--is, at
best, inconclusive. Calls for additional research have noted the importance of
either additional cognitive analyses or new contextual research methods. This
paper argues for a unique research agenda that would embed cognitive processes
into disciplinary contexts and thus provide a layered, multi-modal research
approach into writing and learning.

Physics Education