We explore the design of the Writing Studies Tree prototype as an intervention in both writing studies and the study of academic genealogy. We articulate the many exigencies for the project and explain the design choices we have made in response. Finally, we argue for data-driven academic genealogy as a valuable framework for understanding how influence circulates within writing studies.

What methods do graduate students take up for their dissertation projects? This article shares findings from distant reading of 2,711 abstracts, suggesting that humanist approaches predominate within the Consortium of Doctoral Programs in Rhetoric and Composition, but not without some methodological pluralism. A large number of studies outside the consortium are also considered.

The Hub represents a departure from the way writing is usually conceived of and taught in Australia, in that it emphasizes writing as a discipline with a classical rhetorical framework. … Through preliminary longitudinal data from our Sydney Study of Writing as well as student interviews and program feedback, we demonstrate how and why a rhetorical approach best supports the development of student writing in multimodal contexts.