{"id":1736,"date":"2016-09-09T20:40:14","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T20:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-collegesuccess\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=1736"},"modified":"2024-05-01T18:33:05","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T18:33:05","slug":"text-why-writing-skills-matter","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-collegesuccess-2\/chapter\/text-why-writing-skills-matter\/","title":{"raw":"Why Writing Skills Matter","rendered":"Why Writing Skills Matter"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Outcomes<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Describe the purpose of writing assignments and what an instructor might expect to see from your writing<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Obviously you can write. And in the age of social media and smartphones, you may\u00a0be writing all the time\u2014perhaps more often than speaking. Many students today are awash in text like no other generation before. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">So why spend yet more time and attention on writing skills? Research shows that <strong>deliberate practice<\/strong>\u2014that is, close focus on improving one\u2019s skills\u2014makes all the difference in how one performs. Revisiting the craft of writing\u2014especially early in\u00a0college\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 time. <\/span><\/p>\r\nConsider this: a recent survey of employers conducted on the behalf of the Association of American Colleges and Universities found that seventy-eight percent of hiring managers rated the ability to communicate effectively in writing as very important when evaluating the importance of job skills for recent college graduates.[footnote]<span class=\"s1\">\"Fulfilling the American Dream: Liberal Education and the Future of Work.\" <em>Hart Research Associates<\/em>, July 2018, https:\/\/www.aacu.org\/sites\/default\/files\/files\/LEAP\/2018EmployerResearchReport.pdf. Accessed 1 March. 2021.<\/span>[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nThe ability to communicate effectively orally 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 (eighty-four percent of hiring managers rated this skill to be \"very important\"), \u201cthe ability to analyze and solve complex problems\u201d (seventy-five percent); and \u201cthe ability to find, organize, and evaluate information from many\u00a0 sources\u201d (seventy-nine percent). This emphasis on communication probably reflects the changing reality of work in the professions.\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">If you want\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">to be a professional who interacts frequently with others, you have to be someone who can anticipate and solve complex problems and coordinate your work with others,[footnote]\"It Takes More Than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success.\"\u00a0<em>Hart Research Associates<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">http:\/\/www.aacu.org\/sites\/default\/files\/files\/LEAP\/2013_EmployerSurvey.pdf.[\/footnote] all of which depend on effective communication. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The pay-off from improving your writing comes much sooner than graduation. Suppose you complete about 40 classes for a 120-credit bachelor's degree, and\u2014averaging across writing-intensive and non-writing-intensive courses\u2014you produce about 2,500 words of formal writing per class. Even with that low estimate, you\u2019ll write 100,000 words during\u00a0your college career. When you add up all those words, that\u2019s roughly equivalent to a 330-page book! You're going to do a lot of writing as a student.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Spending a few hours sharpening your writing skills will make those 100,000 words much easier and more rewarding to write. All your professors care about good writing.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"p1\">It's Different from\u00a0High School<\/h2>\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">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. \u2014Aly Button,\u00a0SUNY\u00a0student<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">By the end of high school, you probably mastered many of the key conventions of standard, written English, such as paragraphing, sentence-level mechanics, and the use of thesis statements. The essay portion of the SAT 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. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">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.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">Professors look at you as independent junior scholars and expect you to\u00a0write as someone who has a genuine, driving interest in tackling a complex question. They envision you approaching an assignment without a preexisting 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/3d73951d-062d-49a2-b908-66cf684bd4e9\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>glossary<\/h3>\r\n<strong>deliberate practice:<\/strong> repeated,\u00a0<span class=\"s1\">close focus on improving a skill<\/span>\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Outcomes<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Describe the purpose of writing assignments and what an instructor might expect to see from your writing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Obviously you can write. And in the age of social media and smartphones, you may\u00a0be writing all the time\u2014perhaps more often than speaking. Many students today are awash in text like no other generation before. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">So why spend yet more time and attention on writing skills? Research shows that <strong>deliberate practice<\/strong>\u2014that is, close focus on improving one\u2019s skills\u2014makes all the difference in how one performs. Revisiting the craft of writing\u2014especially early in\u00a0college\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 time. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Consider this: a recent survey of employers conducted on the behalf of the Association of American Colleges and Universities found that seventy-eight percent of hiring managers rated the ability to communicate effectively in writing as very important when evaluating the importance of job skills for recent college graduates.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"&quot;Fulfilling the American Dream: Liberal Education and the Future of Work.&quot; Hart Research Associates, July 2018, https:\/\/www.aacu.org\/sites\/default\/files\/files\/LEAP\/2018EmployerResearchReport.pdf. Accessed 1 March. 2021.\" id=\"return-footnote-1736-1\" href=\"#footnote-1736-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The ability to communicate effectively orally 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 (eighty-four percent of hiring managers rated this skill to be &#8220;very important&#8221;), \u201cthe ability to analyze and solve complex problems\u201d (seventy-five percent); and \u201cthe ability to find, organize, and evaluate information from many\u00a0 sources\u201d (seventy-nine percent). This emphasis on communication probably reflects the changing reality of work in the professions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">If you want\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">to be a professional who interacts frequently with others, you have to be someone who can anticipate and solve complex problems and coordinate your work with others,<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"&quot;It Takes More Than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success.&quot;\u00a0Hart Research Associates.\u00a0http:\/\/www.aacu.org\/sites\/default\/files\/files\/LEAP\/2013_EmployerSurvey.pdf.\" id=\"return-footnote-1736-2\" href=\"#footnote-1736-2\" aria-label=\"Footnote 2\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/sup><\/a> all of which depend on effective communication. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The pay-off from improving your writing comes much sooner than graduation. Suppose you complete about 40 classes for a 120-credit bachelor&#8217;s degree, and\u2014averaging across writing-intensive and non-writing-intensive courses\u2014you produce about 2,500 words of formal writing per class. Even with that low estimate, you\u2019ll write 100,000 words during\u00a0your college career. When you add up all those words, that\u2019s roughly equivalent to a 330-page book! You&#8217;re going to do a lot of writing as a student.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Spending a few hours sharpening your writing skills will make those 100,000 words much easier and more rewarding to write. All your professors care about good writing.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\">It&#8217;s Different from\u00a0High School<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">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. \u2014Aly Button,\u00a0SUNY\u00a0student<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">By the end of high school, you probably mastered many of the key conventions of standard, written English, such as paragraphing, sentence-level mechanics, and the use of thesis statements. The essay portion of the SAT 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. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">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.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">Professors look at you as independent junior scholars and expect you to\u00a0write as someone who has a genuine, driving interest in tackling a complex question. They envision you approaching an assignment without a preexisting 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_3d73951d-062d-49a2-b908-66cf684bd4e9\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/3d73951d-062d-49a2-b908-66cf684bd4e9?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_3d73951d-062d-49a2-b908-66cf684bd4e9\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>glossary<\/h3>\n<p><strong>deliberate practice:<\/strong> repeated,\u00a0<span class=\"s1\">close focus on improving a skill<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-1736\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>College Success. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Writing in College: From Competence to Excellence. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Amy Guptill. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: SUNY Open Textbooks. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/textbooks.opensuny.org\/writing-in-college-from-competence-to-excellence\/\">http:\/\/textbooks.opensuny.org\/writing-in-college-from-competence-to-excellence\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section><hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-1736-1\"><span class=\"s1\">\"Fulfilling the American Dream: Liberal Education and the Future of Work.\" <em>Hart Research Associates<\/em>, July 2018, https:\/\/www.aacu.org\/sites\/default\/files\/files\/LEAP\/2018EmployerResearchReport.pdf. Accessed 1 March. 2021.<\/span> <a href=\"#return-footnote-1736-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-1736-2\">\"It Takes More Than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success.\"\u00a0<em>Hart Research Associates<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">http:\/\/www.aacu.org\/sites\/default\/files\/files\/LEAP\/2013_EmployerSurvey.pdf. <a href=\"#return-footnote-1736-2\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 2\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":19,"menu_order":7,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"College Success\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Writing in College: From Competence to Excellence\",\"author\":\"Amy Guptill\",\"organization\":\"SUNY Open Textbooks\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/textbooks.opensuny.org\/writing-in-college-from-competence-to-excellence\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"76618a39-fd33-4372-82e0-9ed07cbcb901, 353c8fbd-4d73-4e6b-8c49-1573ff923b23","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-1736","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":133,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-collegesuccess-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-collegesuccess-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-collegesuccess-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-collegesuccess-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-collegesuccess-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7614,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-collegesuccess-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1736\/revisions\/7614"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-collegesuccess-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/133"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-collegesuccess-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1736\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-collegesuccess-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-collegesuccess-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1736"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-collegesuccess-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1736"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-collegesuccess-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}