In the past two decades, Professional and Technical Writing has experienced tremendous growth from being a little-known service profession to the establishment of a disciplinary status. Although few people today would argue against the legitimacy of its existence as an English major or even an independent field, some issues need to be addressed to solidify the disciplinary status. This paper discusses the independent identity and disciplinary status of the new course in colleges and universities (its definition, its interdisciplinarity, its pedagogy, and its teaching objectives) and points out that Professional and Technical Writing will surely establish its disciplinary status soon.
