Erika Lindemann is a compositionist or, as she might characterize herself, a composition specialist or a scholar in the discipline of composition studies. She is a professor of English; a director of a university writing program; an author of several books and numerous journal articles; an editor of bibliographies and collections of essays; a consultant for university writing programs; an active member of several professional organizations, particularly the Conference on College Composition and Communication; a researcher into the history and practice of composition; a presenter at a great many workshops, seminars, and conferences; and a teacher of writing.

Dr. Lindemann is Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Georgia in 1968, a Master of Arts in English from the University of North Carolina in 1969, and a Ph.D. from UNC in 1972. Her dissertation is entitled "Translation Techniques for Latin Lines in William Langland's Piers Plowman." Her professional career began at the University of South Carolina in 1972 when she became an Assistant Professor of English. In 1978, she spent one semester as a visiting Associate Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1980, she returned to the University of North Carolina as a professor instead of a student and has remained there until the present. She was Director of Composition at UNC from 1980 to 1990 and is presently directing that program, having been reappointed in 1995. This very large program serves 5000 students annually and has more than 125 graduate assistants. In addition to her duties in the English department, she served as Associate Dean of the Graduate School from 1991 to 1995. Dr. Lindemann has served as a consultant and evaluator for writing programs at universities throughout the United States. She has also assisted numerous English departments in making promotion and tenure evaluations. She is a member of many professional organizations, including the Modern Language Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the Conference on College Composition and Communication, in which she has served in various capacities, presently as parliamentarian. She was recognized in 1996 at her university by being chosen to receive the Outstanding Faculty Woman Award (Curriculum Vitae).

Although Lindemann's dissertation suggests that she had an early academic interest in linguistics, most of her academic career has focused on the teaching of writing. On her Web page, she says, "Most of my research involves translating scholarship about writing and its teaching into curricula and teacher training programs." Her published topics include evaluating writing programs, teaching as rhetoric, composition research, training writing teachers, applying research to writing teaching, the importance of writing instruction, writing across the curriculum, and bibliographic studies of composition. Her published works include books, instructional materials, articles in collections and journals, and almost innumerable papers presented at workshops and conferences, particularly at the CCCC meetings, where she has been a presenter nearly every year since 1977. She has two projects in progress which she plans to publish. One is a study of the rhetoric of the writing classroom, for which much of the research has been completed. The other is a documentary history of pre-Civil War student writing in colleges and universities, particularly in the South and at UNC (C. V.).

Completed works include books Lindemann has edited, individually as well as with collaborators. Significant among the editions are The Longman Bibliography of Composition and Rhetoric in 1987 and 1988 and the Longman's successor, The CCCC Bibliography of Composition and Rhetoric in 1990-1992. Another significant book in this category is Introduction to Composition Studies, edited by Lindemann and Gary Tate and published in 1991 (C.V.). In the preface to this book, the editors describe composition studies as a new discipline that has developed during the past thirty years. They indicate that this new discipline "distinguishes itself from other disciplines, whose focus is invariably on a body of knowledge or a set of texts, by its central concern with an activity, the act of writing" (v). Lindemann and Tate further state that the essays in the book consider problems as well as contributions in the field (v-vi). Among the contributors to this volume are Andrea Lunsford, Robert J. Connors, and Lisa Ede.

Dr. Lindemann's major individual work is A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers, originally published in 1982, with a second edition is 1987 and a third edition in 1995. Since this text covers many of her topics of interest, it could be considered her definitive work. In the preface to the third edition, Lindemann discusses to the views resulting from recent research in writing:

Though these new ways of understanding writing and its teaching appear to compete with one another, they represent for me different ways of seeing the same thing, the human ability to make meaning through writing. This edition regards writing from three complementary perspectives - - as product, as individual process, and as a system of social actions (x).

Lindemann defines writing as "a process of communication that uses a conventional graphic system to convey a message to a reader" (11). She uses Roman Jakobson's version of the communication triangle to elaborate on this definition, discussing the addresser, addressee, context, message, contact, and code (13-17). She provides a chart which she describes as an attempt "to organize the many terms we use to discuss writing." This table, shown on page 21, uses Jakobson's terms to classify kinds of writing according to which element is given emphasis. She cautions however, that this, as any classification system, oversimplifies the process of writing (20). She focuses on that process in chapter three, discussing it in terms of prewriting, writing, and rewriting (22-32). She also reports on recent scholarship that questions the process model in a section entitled "Writing as Social Interaction" (32-34).

This text includes information about both practical and theoretical aspects of writing, though the emphasis is on the practice of teaching writing, what Lindemann calls the how-knowledge (9). This practical information is presented in chapters on prewriting techniques, organization (a chapter entitled "Shaping Discourse"), paragraphing, sentences, wording, revision, writing assignments, evaluating student writing and designing writing courses.

Theoretical information is included because "[a]lthough how-knowledge may seem most useful to a writing teacher, that-knowledge is equally important" (9). Dr. Lindemann feels that teachers need a knowledge of theory (that- knowledge) because it "explains why particular practices seem more appropriate than others" and it "helps us solve teaching problems" (9). This theoretical material is found in the chapters "What Do Teachers Need to Know About Rhetoric," What Do Teachers Need to Know About Linguistics," and "What Do Teachers Need to Know About Cognition." As the titles suggest, Lindemann indicates that these chapters are not intended to be comprehensive but to provide summaries of rhetorical, linguistic and psychological concepts that are important to the teaching of writing (9).

In the chapter on rhetoric, Lindemann states that the historical development of rhetoric explains many current practices in modern composition teaching (38). She touches on the definitions of rhetoric and examines a number of areas she considers as relating to composition teaching. Her survey covers (very briefly) classical rhetoric (Aristotle, Cicero, Quintillian), medieval and Renaissance rhetoric (St. Augustine, Cassiodorus, Erasmus), post- Renaissance to 20th century (Bacon, Campbell, elocutionists, neo-classicists, Blair), and contemporary rhetoric (Burke et.al.) (39-59). The purposes of the linguistic chapter are "to examine the role language plays in composing, especially at the writing and rewriting stages" and "to examine some assumptions people make when they discuss language" (61, 62). This is done by discussions of writing and speech, the nature of language, usage, and different approaches to grammar. The chapter on cognition "explores the creative process. It explains how seeing and thinking help writers generate ideas, and why prewriting is crucial to composing" (87). In doing this, Lindemann briefly examines creativity, perception, conception, and the educational theories of Piaget and James Moffett.

At the end of A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers, Lindemann includes a list of "Some Important Dates in the History of Composition and Rhetoric." Beginning with Corax of Syracuse and ending with Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca, it provides a very useful listing. It includes not only the obvious people, writings, and developments but citings that are interesting and that suggest a sense of humor that is not readily apparent in Dr. Lindemann's other work surveyed for this profile. These include the first known graphite pencil in 1565, the hand-held pencil sharpener in 1890, the paper clip patented in 1899, and (a personal favorite) cellophane tape invented in 1926.

Dr. Lindemann's most recent journal articles have been a series of essays and responses in College English relating to the use of literature in the composition classroom. The first of these was in March 1993, when opposing articles by Lindemann and Gary Tate, revised from presentations at the 1992 CCCC meeting, were published (Lindemann, "Three Views" 287). In her essay, "Freshman Composition: No Place for Literature," Lindemann gives five reasons why she opposes the use of literature (311-316). Responses to these articles generated a symposium presentation by five scholars, including Dr. Lindemann, in the March 1995 issue. In her article, "Three Views of English 101," Lindemann responds to critics of her stand by proposing that writing can be viewed in three ways: a product, a process, or a system of social actions (287). This is a concept that also is found in the preface to A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers. Dr. Lindemann's final article in this series was a response to a comment on "Three Views of English 101" in the December 1995 issue, where she defends her theory.

Although Erika Lindemann may never reach the prominence of the modern "heavyweights" of rhetoric such as Burke, Richards, and Weaver, especially since her emphasis is on composition rather than rhetoric, her prominence in and contributions to composition studies suggest that, particularly for those interested in the teaching of writing, she is a scholar worth reading.

Lindemann, Erika. Curriculum Vitae. Copy mailed to the author. 11 April 1997.

---. "Erika Lindemann Responds," College English 57 (December 1995), 961-63.

---. "Freshman Composition: No Place for Literature," College English 55 (March 1993), 51-56.

---. A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982; 2nd ed., 1987; 3rd ed., 1995.

---. "Three Views of English 101," College English 57 (March 1995), 287-302.

---. Web Page. http://www.unc.edu/depts/english/faculty/elindemann.htm

Lindemann, Erika, and Gary Tate, eds. An Introduction to Composition Studies. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.