Reasons to Write
When students write in courses across the curriculum, they
come to see writing as a worthwhile and necessary skill, something
that educated people do. Continual practice in writing can also
help them maintain and improve their writing abilities.
Content-area teachers are uniquely able to teach their students,
particularly upper-level students, to write in the "language" of
their disciplines. Biology students, social science students,
history students can become comfortable with the forms and
vocabulary (and hence, thought processes) of biologists, social
Different writing activities accomplish different ends. A
writing assignment should fit your purposes and help you meet your
Common purposes for writing
There are many reasons to have your students write, but
overall goals can be grouped into
writing to learn which can help students
understand and retain course information
writing to demonstrate knowledge through which
students show that they have learned necessary information, and
writing to improve or maintain writing skills in
which style and correctness are important, . Most writing
assignments serve more than one of these purposes concurrently.
According to cognitive research, people learn best when
they: 1) Make subject matter personal and place it in the context
of their lives. 2) Connect new information with old, placing it in
the context of what they already know. 3) Verbalize it, restating
new information in their own words.
The sort of writing that most facilitates learning is informal,
relatively unstructured, and has an emphasis more on what is said
(the new ideas and concepts being struggled with) than how it is
said (correct spelling, grammar and usage). These things are
important, but to what extent depends on the purpose of the
writing. When students are writing to learn their attention should
be on ideas more than on "correctness." If they later seek to
convey this information to others, then correctness becomes
- Students may be hesitant to show a lack of knowledge in
writing, yet this ability to be tentative is essential to
building new knowledge. Remember to encourage, rather than
discourage whenever possible. Pose questions and offer
suggestions that will help them form correct concepts.
- Encourage students to write to themselves for themselves or
to you as a facilitator of learning rather than a judge. Don't be
dismayed by the surface appearance of what they write; in
"writing to learn" the ideas and thought are most important.
- Make assignments clear and realistic. Know exactly what you
expect students to get out of an assignment, how you expect it
done, and let the students know, too. Write the assignment
yourself, whenever possible, to make sure it works. If you grade
writing-to-learn assignments, share your grading criteria with
- Use writing-to-learn to serve your ends, to teach and
reinforce your subject.
Writing to demonstrate knowledge
This sort of writing lets you know how well your students
understand the information conveyed by your course, be it factual
or skill-based. Having them demonstrate knowledge through writing
also requires them to integrate information.
- When giving the assignment, be clear that the purpose of the
assignment is primarily to demonstrate knowledge or mastery. When
grading, focus on a student's ability to meet that goal.
- Stress the need to use information, to apply knowledge, not
just repeat it.
- Encourage students to state concepts in their own words
and/or to give examples not from the text or lecture.
Writing to Improve or Maintain Writing
Any writing activity can help maintain or improve writing
skills and text correctness. If writers in your field use a
particular format or style, this is an excellent opportunity to
give your students practice.
- Bring in samples of published writing in your field as
- Allow students to pre-write. Give them a chance to
free-write, make lists, talk to others, keep a journal, before
beginning the formal writing of a paper or even test. A chance to
deal with ideas informally can improve the clarity and
organization of the final product.
- Provide students with feedback from you, classmates, or the
Writing Center. Let them know whether they have written what they
planned to, whether they have fulfilled the assignment before
they hand it in.
- Allow students to rewrite. Give them the chance to redo a
paper (or test) if they have not met their (or your) goals.
- Save editing until the end. Separating
getting-ideas-down-right from getting-the-forms-right (checking
for spelling, punctuation, grammatical correctness) can help
people write more fluidly, clearly, and effectively. It's easier
to say what you want, if you know you don't have to worry about
correctness yet. This doesn't mean correctness is not important;
it is, at the most effective time: after the ideas are down and
- Provide students a chance to "publish." After they've put
effort into their papers, give them the chance to share their
work with someone other than you. Have them present to the class,
produce a handbook, post papers in the hall.
- Read the papers for what you consider to be most important.
If clarity of ideas is most important to you, then that's what's
most important in your students' papers. If your students need to
be able to support ideas with examples, read the papers primarily
for that. If people in your field need, above all, to use
semi-colons correctly, read for that. You don't have to read
their papers for everything. This is writing for your purposes
and the purposes of your field--use your response to train your
students to meet these expectations.
- Similarly, make these expectations clear to the students
before they write. Handouts, even example papers can help
students write the paper you want and make your job as reader
much easier and less frustrating.