{"id":21,"date":"2016-09-21T13:39:14","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T13:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/writingincollege\/?post_type=chapter&p=21"},"modified":"2020-11-03T18:37:29","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T18:37:29","slug":"really-writing-again","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-writing-in-college\/chapter\/really-writing-again\/","title":{"raw":"Really? Writing? Again?","rendered":"Really? Writing? Again?"},"content":{"raw":"
\r\n

Yes. Writing. Again.<\/h1>\r\nObviously you can write. And in the age of Facebook and smartphones, you might be writing all the time, perhaps more often than speaking. Many students today are awash in text like no other generation before. You may have even performed so well in high school that you\u2019re deemed fully competent in college level writing and are now excused from taking a composition course.\r\n\r\nSo why spend yet more time and attention on writing skills? Research shows that deliberate practice<\/a>\u2014that is, close focus on improving one\u2019s skills\u2014makes all the difference in how one performs. Revisiting the craft of writing\u2014especially on the early end of college\u2014will improve your writing much more than simply producing page after page in the same old way. Becoming an excellent communicator will save you a lot of time and hassle in your studies, advance your career, and promote better relationships and a higher quality of life off the job. Honing your writing is a good use of your scarce time.\r\n\r\nAlso consider this: a recent survey<\/a> of employers conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities found that 89 percent of employers say that colleges and universities should place more emphasis on \u201cthe ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing.\u201d1<\/a><\/sup> It was the single-most favored skill in this survey. In addition, several of the other valued skills are grounded in written communication: \u201cCritical thinking and analytical reasoning skills\u201d (81%); \u201cThe ability to analyze and solve complex problems\u201d (75%); and \u201cThe ability to locate, organize, and evaluate information from multiple sources\u201d (68%). This emphasis on communication probably reflects the changing reality of work in the professions. Employers also reported that employees will have to \u201ctake on more responsibilities,\u201d \u201cuse a broader set of skills,\u201d \u201cwork harder to coordinate with other departments,\u201d face \u201cmore complex\u201d challenges, and mobilize \u201chigher levels of learning and knowledge.\u201d2<\/a><\/sup> If you want to be a professional who interacts frequently with others3<\/a><\/sup>\u2014presumably you do; you\u2019re in college\u2014you have to be someone who can anticipate and solve complex problems and coordinate your work with others<\/a>,4<\/a><\/sup> all of which depend on effective communication.\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n

Writing is one of the most important skills to our society, and it almost always has been. Having the ability to write is what separates history from pre-history! That\u2019s a pretty big deal! Because most professors have different expectations, it can be tricky knowing what exactly they\u2019re looking for. Pay attention to the comments they leave on your paper, and make sure to use these as a reference for your next assignment. I try to pay attention and adapt to the professor\u2019s style and preferences.<\/p>\r\n

Aly Button<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe pay-off from improving your writing comes much sooner than graduation. Suppose you complete about 40 classes for a 120-credit bachelors\u2019 degree, and\u2014averaging across writing-intensive and non-writing-intensive courses\u2014you produce about 2500 words of formal writing per class. Even with that low estimate, you\u2019ll write 100,000 words over your college career. That\u2019s about equivalent to a 330-page book. Spending a few hours sharpening your writing skills will make those 100,000 words much easier and more rewarding to write. All of your professors care about good writing, whether or not they see their courses as a means to improve it. Formal written work is the coin of the academic realm. Creating and sharing knowledge\u2014the whole point of the academy\u2014depends on writing. You may have gotten a lot of positive feedback on your writing before college, but it\u2019s important to note that writing in college is distinct in ways that reflect the origins of higher education.\r\n

The origins of higher education<\/h1>\r\nCollege may look and feel similar to high school, and, for the most part, you already know how to perform your student role within this setting. However, there are some fundamental differences<\/a>. The most obvious ones are that high school is mandatory (to a certain point), freely available, and a legal right. They have to offer you the opportunity, regardless of your grades. College is optional, costly, and performance-based. Most institutions will dismiss you if your grades don\u2019t meet a certain minimum. But college is different in more subtle ways as well, and those differences reflect the evolution of the university.\r\n\r\nIn their original ancient and medieval forms, universities were centers for scholarship, existing at the pleasure of the crown, church, or state. While centers of study go at least back to ancient Mesopotamia 2500 years BCE, the Islamic and European universities of the first and second millennium CE are usually considered the first of the modern model. Highly privileged people went to these universities as students, but they didn\u2019t really attend classes, write papers, and take exams like college students today. Instead they acted as independent, though novice, scholars: they read everything they could find in their areas of interest, attended lectures that expert scholars gave, and, if they were lucky (and perhaps charming), got some feedback from those scholars on their own work or assisted scholars in theirs.5<\/a><\/sup> Students were simply the most junior of scholars at a university, enjoying the extraordinary privilege of interacting with the revered academic superstars of their day.\r\n\r\nObviously, colleges and universities today are much more student-centered,6<\/a><\/sup> and most higher education faculty spend most of their time<\/a> carefully crafting educational experiences for students. But the notion of the university as a center for scholarship and exchange still shapes how colleges and universities operate today. Some points:\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. Professors are scholars and artists<\/em>: Most of your professors have had little to no formal training in pedagogy (the science of teaching). They\u2019re extensively trained in their scholarly or creative fields, well versed in relevant theories, methods, and significant findings. Many taught during graduate school, but most come to their jobs relative novices about teaching. Professors apply themselves to the craft of teaching with the same creative and intellectual fervor that drew them into their fields. They attend conferences and presentations about effective teaching and learning (such as The Lilly Conference<\/a>, the AAC&U<\/a>, or the American Educational Research Association<\/a>), keep journals and portfolios to reflect on their teaching work, and read books and articles about cognitive neuroscience, trends in higher education, and the social worlds of their students. There are some professors who still see themselves in the classical model\u2014as someone who delivers content through lectures and assesses performance through a final exam or term paper, but that approach is becoming ever rarer. Almost all professors seek out innovative and engaging pedagogies.<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. Professors have competing obligations<\/em>: While you may view your professors primarily as teachers,7<\/a><\/sup> your instructors are also collecting data, writing books and articles, making films, writing poetry, consulting with businesses and organizations, or inventing things. Even those who spend a majority of their time on teaching think of themselves as scholars or artists who also<\/em> teach.8<\/a><\/sup> Scholarship and creative activity are central ways that colleges and universities serve society. In addition to educated graduates, higher education also produces ideas, findings, and innovations<\/a>. High school teachers, though similarly engaged in the craft of teaching, have much more formal training in instruction and are more likely to see themselves primarily as teachers, even those that are writing magazine articles, restoring wetland ecologies, or composing music on the side.<\/li>\r\n \t
  3. Professors design their own classes<\/em>: While both college professors and high school teachers teach, one condition of their work is substantially different. Most high school teachers in public school systems are contractually obligated to deliver a particular curriculum and, in some cases, to use particular methods to do so. The topics and materials are often determined by state regulators, local boards of education, and school administrators. There is room for innovation, but under the current mania for standards, many teachers are no longer treated (and respected) like craftspersons in their own right. Higher education instructors still have a lot more latitude than their high-school counterparts. Your instructor may be required to cover particular concepts and skills or even assign a particular textbook, especially if one class is a prerequisite to more advanced classes. However, he or she still has a lot of freedom to determine what students should learn, what they will do to learn it, and how their achievements will be measured. As a result, two different sections of the same college course (such as Ancient World History) could differ dramatically, much more so than two parallel high school sections.<\/li>\r\n \t
  4. Students drive their own learning<\/em>: The assumption behind high-school instruction is that the teacher is the engine of learning. Consequently, a lot of time is spent in direct face-to-face instruction. Homework is for further practice to reinforce material from that day. Teachers will often tell students what each night\u2019s homework assignment is, follow up on missing work, and closely track students\u2019 progress. The assumption behind college instruction, in contrast, is that students are the engine of learning, and that most of the significant learning happens outside of class while students are working through a dense reading or other challenging intellectual task on their own. Most college classes meet only 1-3 times a week for a total of about 3 hours. Consequently, college instructors think of class meetings as an opportunity to prepare you for the heavy-lifting that you\u2019ll be doing on your own. Sometimes that involves direct instruction (how to solve a particular kind of problem or analyze a particular kind of text). More often, though, professors want to provide you with material not contained in the reading or facilitate active learning experiences based on what you read. The assumption is that all students\u2014like their medieval counterparts\u2014have the skill and self-motivation to carefully read all the assigned texts. Professors lay out a path for learning\u2014much like how personal trainers develop exercise routines\u2014but it is up to students (and athletes) to do the difficult work themselves.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nWhile university systems have clearly shifted toward student-centered practices<\/a>, colleges and universities still see themselves as communities of scholars, some senior (i.e., faculty), most junior (i.e., students). Your professors are passionate about their fields, and they want to share their excitement with you as effectively as they can. However, they also know that you<\/em> came to them<\/em> on a voluntary basis, and they fully expect you to take complete responsibility for your own learning.\r\n

    College writing is different<\/h1>\r\nThe origins of the university help explain why even skilled wordsmiths benefit from studying the assumptions and expectations behind college-level writing. College is a fundamentally different educational model; as a result the purposes and expectations for writing are different<\/a>. You have learned many of the essential skills and practices of formal written communication throughout your schooling; now it\u2019s time to take your writing a step further.\r\n\r\nBy the end of high school you probably mastered many of the key conventions of standard academic English such as paragraphing, sentence-level mechanics, and the use of thesis statements. The essay portion of the SAT<\/a> measures important skills such as organizing evidence within paragraphs that relate to a clear, consistent thesis, and choosing words and sentence structures to effectively convey your meaning. These practices are foundational, and your teachers have given you a wonderful gift in helping you master them. However, college writing assignments require you to apply those skills to new intellectual challenges. Professors assign papers because they want you to think rigorously and deeply about important questions in their fields. To your instructors, writing is for working out complex ideas, not just explaining them. A paper that would earn a top score on the SAT might only get a C or D in a college class if it doesn\u2019t show original and ambitious thinking.\r\n\r\nProfessors look at you as independent junior scholars and imagine you writing as someone who has a genuine, driving interest in tackling a complex question. They envision you approaching an assignment without a pre-existing thesis. They expect you to look deep into the evidence, consider several alternative explanations, and work out an original, insightful argument that you actually care about. This kind of scholarly approach<\/a> usually entails writing a rough draft, through which you work out an ambitious thesis and the scope of your argument, 9<\/a><\/sup> and then starting over with a wholly rewritten second draft containing a mostly complete argument anchored by a refined thesis. In that second round, you\u2019ll discover holes in the argument that should be remedied, counter-arguments that should be acknowledged and addressed, and important implications that should be noted. When the paper is substantially complete, you\u2019ll go through it again to tighten up the writing and ensure clarity.10<\/a><\/sup> Writing a paper isn\u2019t about getting the \u201cright answer\u201d and adhering to basic conventions; it\u2019s about joining an academic conversation with something original to say, borne of rigorous thought.\r\n\r\nMy own experience as an instructor indicates that few students approach writing college papers in the way that professors envision. Many students first figure out what they want to say and then (and only then) write it down as clearly (and quickly) as they can. One quick round of proof-reading and they\u2019re done. Many students have a powerful distaste for truly revising (i.e., actually rewriting) a paper because it feels like throwing away hard-won text. Consequently, when students are invited or required to revise an essay, they tend to focus on correcting mechanical errors, making a few superficial changes that do not entail any rethinking or major changes. Professors find that tendency incredibly frustrating. Some instructors craft an assignment sequence to force a true revising process; others leave it up to you. Virtually all shape their expectations for the final project around the idea that you\u2019re writing to learn, writing to develop, writing to think\u2014not just writing to express.\r\n
    \r\n
    \r\n

    On my first college paper, I was scared. I did not know what to expect or what my professor would want. All I kept thinking about was whether or not I would get a good grade. But do not fear! At the end of the day, I talked to my professor about how I could better my writing. Professors love to be asked questions and interact with students. If you ever need help, do not hesitate to ask for advice on how you could do better.<\/p>\r\n

    Timoth\u00e9e Pizarro<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nAnother major impact of this shift to a junior-scholar role is that you not only have to learn to write like a scholar, you also have to learn to write like a political scientist, a chemist, an art historian, and a statistician\u2014sometimes all in the same semester. While most of the conventions of academic writing are common across disciplines, there is some variation<\/a>. Your professors\u2014immersed as they are in their own fields\u2014may forget that you have such varied demands, and they may not take class time to explain the particular conventions of their field. For every new field of study, you\u2019re like a traveler visiting a foreign culture and learning how to get along. Locals will often do you the kindness of explaining something, but you\u2019ll have to sleuth out a lot of things on your own.\r\n

    So what do professors want?<\/h1>\r\nAt one time or another, most students will find themselves frustrated by a professor\u2019s recalcitrant refusal to simply \u201cTell us what you want!\u201d It\u2019s a natural feeling and, at times, a legitimate one. While all professors want to set you up to succeed, they may find their expectations hard to articulate, in part because they struggle to remember what it\u2019s like to be a beginner in the field. Often, however, the bigger and better reason that professors won\u2019t just tell you what to do is that there simply isn\u2019t a particular \u201canswer\u201d they want you to give in the paper. They want to see your own ambitious and careful analysis. Some students assume that they should be able to envision a paper and its thesis within minutes of receiving the assignment; if not, they complain that the assignment is unclear. Other students assume that every professor has a completely different set of expectations and, consequently, conclude that writing papers is just an unavoidable guessing game about entirely subjective and idiosyncratic standards. Neither of those assumptions are true. Good, well constructed writing assignments are supposed to be challenging to write, and professors are, above all, looking for your own self-motivated intellectual work.\r\n\r\nDespite some variations by discipline, college instructors are bringing similar standards to evaluating student work. Recently, the Association of American Colleges and Universities has brought together faculty members from across the country to deliberate on the core knowledge and skills that define liberal arts education<\/a>. They have also worked out benchmarks of success, as summarized in a rubric for written<\/a> communication. Check it out! While few instructors are sitting down with the AAC&U rubric to determine grades on papers, you can be confident that these are the kinds of things almost all professors are looking for. The language of the \u201ccapstone\u201d column illustrates especially well the scholarly mindset and independent work habits they expect students to bring to their work:\r\n
    \r\n
    \u201cthorough understanding of context, audience, and purpose,\u201d<\/div><\/blockquote>\r\n
    \r\n
    \u201cmastery of the subject,\u201d<\/div><\/blockquote>\r\n
    \r\n
    \u201cdetailed attention\u201d to writing conventions,<\/div><\/blockquote>\r\n
    \r\n
    \u201cskillful use of high-quality, credible, relevant sources,\u201d and<\/div><\/blockquote>\r\n
    \r\n
    \u201cgraceful language.\u201d<\/div><\/blockquote>\r\nProfessors want to see that you\u2019ve thought through a problem and taken the time and effort to explain your thinking in precise language.\r\n\r\nThe following chapters in this book seek to concretize these ideas. They begin with the most fundamental issues (the purpose of the assignment and the thesis), move through organizational strategies, and end with sentence-level expression. The expectations laid out here may seem daunting\u2014and perhaps unreasonable, given that very few of you are going to follow your professors into academic life. But communication isn\u2019t just about expressing yourself; it\u2019s about connecting with others. And it\u2019s other people\u2014in families, couples, communities, and workplaces\u2014that shape the most important experiences of your life.\r\n
    \r\n
    \r\n

    Don\u2019t get discouraged! On my first college paper I got a very low grade. It felt like a slap in the face because I was a straight-A student in high school. It\u2019s just a fact of life. Talk to your professor about what you could have done differently. This will help you be better prepared for future papers.<\/p>\r\n

    Kaethe Leonard<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

    \r\n

    Other resources<\/h3>\r\n
      \r\n \t
    1. The Transition to College Writing 2nd ed<\/span>.<\/em> (New York: Norton, 2009)<\/a>,<\/em> by Keith Hjortshoj (pronounced \u201cHort-shoy\u201d) is written expressly for the new college student. It offers a nicely plain-spoken and comprehensive introduction to college writing.<\/li>\r\n \t
    2. This online text<\/a> (also called \u201cWriting In College\u201d) by Joseph M. Williams and Lawrence McEnerney provides another good process-based run-down.<\/li>\r\n \t
    3. This fun website<\/a> summarizes the daily routines of some famous writers.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
      \r\n

      Exercises<\/h3>\r\n
        \r\n \t
      1. Interview a professor about his or her work. What drew them into their field? What do they work on in their scholarly or creative endeavors? What do they most enjoy about teaching? What behaviors do they like to see in students?<\/li>\r\n \t
      2. Go to Professor Stephen Chew\u2019s website<\/a> about good study practices and watch the first video titled \u201cBeliefs that Make You Fail \u2026 or Succeed.\u201d How can the concept of metacognition be used to explain why good papers are challenging to write<\/a>?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n
        \r\n\r\n
        \r\n
        \r\n

        1<\/a><\/sup> Hart Research Associates, Raising the Bar: Employers\u2019 Views on College Learning in the Wake of the Economic Downturn<\/em>, http:\/\/www.aacu.org\/leap\/documents\/2009_EmployerSurvey.pdf<\/a>, 9.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

        \r\n

        2<\/a><\/sup> Ibid., 5.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

        \r\n

        3<\/a><\/sup> If you don\u2019t want to be as interactive, but you want to make good money, you\u2019re better off seeking training in a skilled building trade like plumbing or electrical work. Frankly, a lot of<\/p>\r\n

        plumbers make more money than a lot of your professors!<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

        \r\n

        4<\/a><\/sup> Hart Research Associates, It Takes More Than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success.<\/em> http:\/\/www.aacu.org\/sites\/default\/files\/files\/LEAP\/2013_EmployerSurvey.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

        \r\n

        5<\/a><\/sup> You may have noticed that some instructors have the title \u201cassistant professor\u201d or \u201cassociate professor.\u201d It\u2019s because in the original European model there could be only one \u201cProfessor\u201d for a given topic, and those other titles were developed for younger scholars. Nowadays most universities have several \u201cprofessors.\u201d Many newer faculty are still called \u201cassistant professors\u201d even though they don\u2019t assist other faculty.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

        \r\n

        6<\/a><\/sup> As students became a larger and larger presence at European universities, \u201ccolleges\u201d emerged as semi-autonomous units within universities to provide housing, meals, and venues for social interaction. The model of the stand-alone \u201ccollege\u201d emerged in the Americas after European colonization.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

        \r\n

        7<\/a><\/sup> At big research universities, a full-time faculty member might teach only one or two courses a year. At a community college, an instructor might teach five or six classes a semester. Undergraduate four-year colleges are usually somewhere in between.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

        \r\n

        8<\/a><\/sup> This is why some instructors are VERY persnickety about being addressed as \u201cDoctor\u201d or \u201cProfessor\u201d and not \u201cMr.\u201d or \u201cMs.\u201d Not all fields have doctoral degrees\u2014for example, many professors in the arts have MFA degrees (Masters of Fine Arts) -- but \u201cProfessor\u201d is always an appropriate choice for addressing your instructors.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

        \r\n

        9<\/a><\/sup> The term of art for this, coined by novelist and memoirist Anne Lamott is \u201cshitty first drafts<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u201d \u201cZero draft\u201d is a more polite term for it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

        \r\n

        10<\/a><\/sup> Most parts of this book, for example, took about four drafts to write even though they\u2019re based on lecture notes that I\u2019ve been developing for years.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"

        \n

        Yes. Writing. Again.<\/h1>\n

        Obviously you can write. And in the age of Facebook and smartphones, you might be writing all the time, perhaps more often than speaking. Many students today are awash in text like no other generation before. You may have even performed so well in high school that you\u2019re deemed fully competent in college level writing and are now excused from taking a composition course.<\/p>\n

        So why spend yet more time and attention on writing skills? Research shows that deliberate practice<\/a>\u2014that is, close focus on improving one\u2019s skills\u2014makes all the difference in how one performs. Revisiting the craft of writing\u2014especially on the early end of college\u2014will improve your writing much more than simply producing page after page in the same old way. Becoming an excellent communicator will save you a lot of time and hassle in your studies, advance your career, and promote better relationships and a higher quality of life off the job. Honing your writing is a good use of your scarce time.<\/p>\n

        Also consider this: a recent survey of employers conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities found that 89 percent of employers say that colleges and universities should place more emphasis on \u201cthe ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing.\u201d1<\/a><\/sup> It was the single-most favored skill in this survey. In addition, several of the other valued skills are grounded in written communication: \u201cCritical thinking and analytical reasoning skills\u201d (81%); \u201cThe ability to analyze and solve complex problems\u201d (75%); and \u201cThe ability to locate, organize, and evaluate information from multiple sources\u201d (68%). This emphasis on communication probably reflects the changing reality of work in the professions. Employers also reported that employees will have to \u201ctake on more responsibilities,\u201d \u201cuse a broader set of skills,\u201d \u201cwork harder to coordinate with other departments,\u201d face \u201cmore complex\u201d challenges, and mobilize \u201chigher levels of learning and knowledge.\u201d2<\/a><\/sup> If you want to be a professional who interacts frequently with others3<\/a><\/sup>\u2014presumably you do; you\u2019re in college\u2014you have to be someone who can anticipate and solve complex problems and coordinate your work with others<\/a>,4<\/a><\/sup> all of which depend on effective communication.<\/p>\n

        \n
        \n

        Writing is one of the most important skills to our society, and it almost always has been. Having the ability to write is what separates history from pre-history! That\u2019s a pretty big deal! Because most professors have different expectations, it can be tricky knowing what exactly they\u2019re looking for. Pay attention to the comments they leave on your paper, and make sure to use these as a reference for your next assignment. I try to pay attention and adapt to the professor\u2019s style and preferences.<\/p>\n

        Aly Button<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

        The pay-off from improving your writing comes much sooner than graduation. Suppose you complete about 40 classes for a 120-credit bachelors\u2019 degree, and\u2014averaging across writing-intensive and non-writing-intensive courses\u2014you produce about 2500 words of formal writing per class. Even with that low estimate, you\u2019ll write 100,000 words over your college career. That\u2019s about equivalent to a 330-page book. Spending a few hours sharpening your writing skills will make those 100,000 words much easier and more rewarding to write. All of your professors care about good writing, whether or not they see their courses as a means to improve it. Formal written work is the coin of the academic realm. Creating and sharing knowledge\u2014the whole point of the academy\u2014depends on writing. You may have gotten a lot of positive feedback on your writing before college, but it\u2019s important to note that writing in college is distinct in ways that reflect the origins of higher education.<\/p>\n

        The origins of higher education<\/h1>\n

        College may look and feel similar to high school, and, for the most part, you already know how to perform your student role within this setting. However, there are some fundamental differences<\/a>. The most obvious ones are that high school is mandatory (to a certain point), freely available, and a legal right. They have to offer you the opportunity, regardless of your grades. College is optional, costly, and performance-based. Most institutions will dismiss you if your grades don\u2019t meet a certain minimum. But college is different in more subtle ways as well, and those differences reflect the evolution of the university.<\/p>\n

        In their original ancient and medieval forms, universities were centers for scholarship, existing at the pleasure of the crown, church, or state. While centers of study go at least back to ancient Mesopotamia 2500 years BCE, the Islamic and European universities of the first and second millennium CE are usually considered the first of the modern model. Highly privileged people went to these universities as students, but they didn\u2019t really attend classes, write papers, and take exams like college students today. Instead they acted as independent, though novice, scholars: they read everything they could find in their areas of interest, attended lectures that expert scholars gave, and, if they were lucky (and perhaps charming), got some feedback from those scholars on their own work or assisted scholars in theirs.5<\/a><\/sup> Students were simply the most junior of scholars at a university, enjoying the extraordinary privilege of interacting with the revered academic superstars of their day.<\/p>\n

        Obviously, colleges and universities today are much more student-centered,6<\/a><\/sup> and most higher education faculty spend most of their time<\/a> carefully crafting educational experiences for students. But the notion of the university as a center for scholarship and exchange still shapes how colleges and universities operate today. Some points:<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Professors are scholars and artists<\/em>: Most of your professors have had little to no formal training in pedagogy (the science of teaching). They\u2019re extensively trained in their scholarly or creative fields, well versed in relevant theories, methods, and significant findings. Many taught during graduate school, but most come to their jobs relative novices about teaching. Professors apply themselves to the craft of teaching with the same creative and intellectual fervor that drew them into their fields. They attend conferences and presentations about effective teaching and learning (such as The Lilly Conference<\/a>, the AAC&U<\/a>, or the American Educational Research Association<\/a>), keep journals and portfolios to reflect on their teaching work, and read books and articles about cognitive neuroscience, trends in higher education, and the social worlds of their students. There are some professors who still see themselves in the classical model\u2014as someone who delivers content through lectures and assesses performance through a final exam or term paper, but that approach is becoming ever rarer. Almost all professors seek out innovative and engaging pedagogies.<\/li>\n
        2. Professors have competing obligations<\/em>: While you may view your professors primarily as teachers,7<\/a><\/sup> your instructors are also collecting data, writing books and articles, making films, writing poetry, consulting with businesses and organizations, or inventing things. Even those who spend a majority of their time on teaching think of themselves as scholars or artists who also<\/em> teach.8<\/a><\/sup> Scholarship and creative activity are central ways that colleges and universities serve society. In addition to educated graduates, higher education also produces ideas, findings, and innovations<\/a>. High school teachers, though similarly engaged in the craft of teaching, have much more formal training in instruction and are more likely to see themselves primarily as teachers, even those that are writing magazine articles, restoring wetland ecologies, or composing music on the side.<\/li>\n
        3. Professors design their own classes<\/em>: While both college professors and high school teachers teach, one condition of their work is substantially different. Most high school teachers in public school systems are contractually obligated to deliver a particular curriculum and, in some cases, to use particular methods to do so. The topics and materials are often determined by state regulators, local boards of education, and school administrators. There is room for innovation, but under the current mania for standards, many teachers are no longer treated (and respected) like craftspersons in their own right. Higher education instructors still have a lot more latitude than their high-school counterparts. Your instructor may be required to cover particular concepts and skills or even assign a particular textbook, especially if one class is a prerequisite to more advanced classes. However, he or she still has a lot of freedom to determine what students should learn, what they will do to learn it, and how their achievements will be measured. As a result, two different sections of the same college course (such as Ancient World History) could differ dramatically, much more so than two parallel high school sections.<\/li>\n
        4. Students drive their own learning<\/em>: The assumption behind high-school instruction is that the teacher is the engine of learning. Consequently, a lot of time is spent in direct face-to-face instruction. Homework is for further practice to reinforce material from that day. Teachers will often tell students what each night\u2019s homework assignment is, follow up on missing work, and closely track students\u2019 progress. The assumption behind college instruction, in contrast, is that students are the engine of learning, and that most of the significant learning happens outside of class while students are working through a dense reading or other challenging intellectual task on their own. Most college classes meet only 1-3 times a week for a total of about 3 hours. Consequently, college instructors think of class meetings as an opportunity to prepare you for the heavy-lifting that you\u2019ll be doing on your own. Sometimes that involves direct instruction (how to solve a particular kind of problem or analyze a particular kind of text). More often, though, professors want to provide you with material not contained in the reading or facilitate active learning experiences based on what you read. The assumption is that all students\u2014like their medieval counterparts\u2014have the skill and self-motivation to carefully read all the assigned texts. Professors lay out a path for learning\u2014much like how personal trainers develop exercise routines\u2014but it is up to students (and athletes) to do the difficult work themselves.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          While university systems have clearly shifted toward student-centered practices<\/a>, colleges and universities still see themselves as communities of scholars, some senior (i.e., faculty), most junior (i.e., students). Your professors are passionate about their fields, and they want to share their excitement with you as effectively as they can. However, they also know that you<\/em> came to them<\/em> on a voluntary basis, and they fully expect you to take complete responsibility for your own learning.<\/p>\n

          College writing is different<\/h1>\n

          The origins of the university help explain why even skilled wordsmiths benefit from studying the assumptions and expectations behind college-level writing. College is a fundamentally different educational model; as a result the purposes and expectations for writing are different<\/a>. You have learned many of the essential skills and practices of formal written communication throughout your schooling; now it\u2019s time to take your writing a step further.<\/p>\n

          By the end of high school you probably mastered many of the key conventions of standard academic English such as paragraphing, sentence-level mechanics, and the use of thesis statements. The essay portion of the SAT<\/a> measures important skills such as organizing evidence within paragraphs that relate to a clear, consistent thesis, and choosing words and sentence structures to effectively convey your meaning. These practices are foundational, and your teachers have given you a wonderful gift in helping you master them. However, college writing assignments require you to apply those skills to new intellectual challenges. Professors assign papers because they want you to think rigorously and deeply about important questions in their fields. To your instructors, writing is for working out complex ideas, not just explaining them. A paper that would earn a top score on the SAT might only get a C or D in a college class if it doesn\u2019t show original and ambitious thinking.<\/p>\n

          Professors look at you as independent junior scholars and imagine you writing as someone who has a genuine, driving interest in tackling a complex question. They envision you approaching an assignment without a pre-existing thesis. They expect you to look deep into the evidence, consider several alternative explanations, and work out an original, insightful argument that you actually care about. This kind of scholarly approach<\/a> usually entails writing a rough draft, through which you work out an ambitious thesis and the scope of your argument, 9<\/a><\/sup> and then starting over with a wholly rewritten second draft containing a mostly complete argument anchored by a refined thesis. In that second round, you\u2019ll discover holes in the argument that should be remedied, counter-arguments that should be acknowledged and addressed, and important implications that should be noted. When the paper is substantially complete, you\u2019ll go through it again to tighten up the writing and ensure clarity.10<\/a><\/sup> Writing a paper isn\u2019t about getting the \u201cright answer\u201d and adhering to basic conventions; it\u2019s about joining an academic conversation with something original to say, borne of rigorous thought.<\/p>\n

          My own experience as an instructor indicates that few students approach writing college papers in the way that professors envision. Many students first figure out what they want to say and then (and only then) write it down as clearly (and quickly) as they can. One quick round of proof-reading and they\u2019re done. Many students have a powerful distaste for truly revising (i.e., actually rewriting) a paper because it feels like throwing away hard-won text. Consequently, when students are invited or required to revise an essay, they tend to focus on correcting mechanical errors, making a few superficial changes that do not entail any rethinking or major changes. Professors find that tendency incredibly frustrating. Some instructors craft an assignment sequence to force a true revising process; others leave it up to you. Virtually all shape their expectations for the final project around the idea that you\u2019re writing to learn, writing to develop, writing to think\u2014not just writing to express.<\/p>\n

          \n
          \n

          On my first college paper, I was scared. I did not know what to expect or what my professor would want. All I kept thinking about was whether or not I would get a good grade. But do not fear! At the end of the day, I talked to my professor about how I could better my writing. Professors love to be asked questions and interact with students. If you ever need help, do not hesitate to ask for advice on how you could do better.<\/p>\n

          Timoth\u00e9e Pizarro<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

          Another major impact of this shift to a junior-scholar role is that you not only have to learn to write like a scholar, you also have to learn to write like a political scientist, a chemist, an art historian, and a statistician\u2014sometimes all in the same semester. While most of the conventions of academic writing are common across disciplines, there is some variation<\/a>. Your professors\u2014immersed as they are in their own fields\u2014may forget that you have such varied demands, and they may not take class time to explain the particular conventions of their field. For every new field of study, you\u2019re like a traveler visiting a foreign culture and learning how to get along. Locals will often do you the kindness of explaining something, but you\u2019ll have to sleuth out a lot of things on your own.<\/p>\n

          So what do professors want?<\/h1>\n

          At one time or another, most students will find themselves frustrated by a professor\u2019s recalcitrant refusal to simply \u201cTell us what you want!\u201d It\u2019s a natural feeling and, at times, a legitimate one. While all professors want to set you up to succeed, they may find their expectations hard to articulate, in part because they struggle to remember what it\u2019s like to be a beginner in the field. Often, however, the bigger and better reason that professors won\u2019t just tell you what to do is that there simply isn\u2019t a particular \u201canswer\u201d they want you to give in the paper. They want to see your own ambitious and careful analysis. Some students assume that they should be able to envision a paper and its thesis within minutes of receiving the assignment; if not, they complain that the assignment is unclear. Other students assume that every professor has a completely different set of expectations and, consequently, conclude that writing papers is just an unavoidable guessing game about entirely subjective and idiosyncratic standards. Neither of those assumptions are true. Good, well constructed writing assignments are supposed to be challenging to write, and professors are, above all, looking for your own self-motivated intellectual work.<\/p>\n

          Despite some variations by discipline, college instructors are bringing similar standards to evaluating student work. Recently, the Association of American Colleges and Universities has brought together faculty members from across the country to deliberate on the core knowledge and skills that define liberal arts education<\/a>. They have also worked out benchmarks of success, as summarized in a rubric for written<\/a> communication. Check it out! While few instructors are sitting down with the AAC&U rubric to determine grades on papers, you can be confident that these are the kinds of things almost all professors are looking for. The language of the \u201ccapstone\u201d column illustrates especially well the scholarly mindset and independent work habits they expect students to bring to their work:<\/p>\n

          \n
          \u201cthorough understanding of context, audience, and purpose,\u201d<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
          \n
          \u201cmastery of the subject,\u201d<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
          \n
          \u201cdetailed attention\u201d to writing conventions,<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
          \n
          \u201cskillful use of high-quality, credible, relevant sources,\u201d and<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
          \n
          \u201cgraceful language.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

          Professors want to see that you\u2019ve thought through a problem and taken the time and effort to explain your thinking in precise language.<\/p>\n

          The following chapters in this book seek to concretize these ideas. They begin with the most fundamental issues (the purpose of the assignment and the thesis), move through organizational strategies, and end with sentence-level expression. The expectations laid out here may seem daunting\u2014and perhaps unreasonable, given that very few of you are going to follow your professors into academic life. But communication isn\u2019t just about expressing yourself; it\u2019s about connecting with others. And it\u2019s other people\u2014in families, couples, communities, and workplaces\u2014that shape the most important experiences of your life.<\/p>\n

          \n
          \n

          Don\u2019t get discouraged! On my first college paper I got a very low grade. It felt like a slap in the face because I was a straight-A student in high school. It\u2019s just a fact of life. Talk to your professor about what you could have done differently. This will help you be better prepared for future papers.<\/p>\n

          Kaethe Leonard<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

          \n

          Other resources<\/h3>\n
            \n
          1. The Transition to College Writing 2nd ed<\/span>.<\/em> (New York: Norton, 2009)<\/a>,<\/em> by Keith Hjortshoj (pronounced \u201cHort-shoy\u201d) is written expressly for the new college student. It offers a nicely plain-spoken and comprehensive introduction to college writing.<\/li>\n
          2. This online text<\/a> (also called \u201cWriting In College\u201d) by Joseph M. Williams and Lawrence McEnerney provides another good process-based run-down.<\/li>\n
          3. This fun website<\/a> summarizes the daily routines of some famous writers.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n
            \n

            Exercises<\/h3>\n
              \n
            1. Interview a professor about his or her work. What drew them into their field? What do they work on in their scholarly or creative endeavors? What do they most enjoy about teaching? What behaviors do they like to see in students?<\/li>\n
            2. Go to Professor Stephen Chew\u2019s website<\/a> about good study practices and watch the first video titled \u201cBeliefs that Make You Fail \u2026 or Succeed.\u201d How can the concept of metacognition be used to explain why good papers are challenging to write<\/a>?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n
              \n
              \n
              \n

              1<\/a><\/sup> Hart Research Associates, Raising the Bar: Employers\u2019 Views on College Learning in the Wake of the Economic Downturn<\/em>, http:\/\/www.aacu.org\/leap\/documents\/2009_EmployerSurvey.pdf<\/a>, 9.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

              \n

              2<\/a><\/sup> Ibid., 5.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

              \n

              3<\/a><\/sup> If you don\u2019t want to be as interactive, but you want to make good money, you\u2019re better off seeking training in a skilled building trade like plumbing or electrical work. Frankly, a lot of<\/p>\n

              plumbers make more money than a lot of your professors!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

              \n

              4<\/a><\/sup> Hart Research Associates, It Takes More Than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success.<\/em> http:\/\/www.aacu.org\/sites\/default\/files\/files\/LEAP\/2013_EmployerSurvey.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

              \n

              5<\/a><\/sup> You may have noticed that some instructors have the title \u201cassistant professor\u201d or \u201cassociate professor.\u201d It\u2019s because in the original European model there could be only one \u201cProfessor\u201d for a given topic, and those other titles were developed for younger scholars. Nowadays most universities have several \u201cprofessors.\u201d Many newer faculty are still called \u201cassistant professors\u201d even though they don\u2019t assist other faculty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

              \n

              6<\/a><\/sup> As students became a larger and larger presence at European universities, \u201ccolleges\u201d emerged as semi-autonomous units within universities to provide housing, meals, and venues for social interaction. The model of the stand-alone \u201ccollege\u201d emerged in the Americas after European colonization.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

              \n

              7<\/a><\/sup> At big research universities, a full-time faculty member might teach only one or two courses a year. At a community college, an instructor might teach five or six classes a semester. Undergraduate four-year colleges are usually somewhere in between.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

              \n

              8<\/a><\/sup> This is why some instructors are VERY persnickety about being addressed as \u201cDoctor\u201d or \u201cProfessor\u201d and not \u201cMr.\u201d or \u201cMs.\u201d Not all fields have doctoral degrees\u2014for example, many professors in the arts have MFA degrees (Masters of Fine Arts) — but \u201cProfessor\u201d is always an appropriate choice for addressing your instructors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

              \n

              9<\/a><\/sup> The term of art for this, coined by novelist and memoirist Anne Lamott is \u201cshitty first drafts<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u201d \u201cZero draft\u201d is a more polite term for it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

              \n

              10<\/a><\/sup> Most parts of this book, for example, took about four drafts to write even though they\u2019re based on lecture notes that I\u2019ve been developing for years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t

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              Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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              CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div>