While longitudinal research within the field of writing studies has contributedto our understanding of postsecondary students’ writing development, there
has been less attention given to the discursive resources students bring with
them into writing classrooms and how they make use of these resources
in first-year composition courses. This article reports findings from a crossinstitutional
research study that examines how students access and make
use of prior genre knowledge when they encounter new writing tasks in
first-year composition courses. Findings reveal a range of ways student make
use of prior genre knowledge, with some students breaking down their genre
knowledge into useful strategies and repurposing it, and with others maintaining
known genres regardless of task.