WRITING TO LEARN
Writing is a difficult process, and it is not a natural activity. While many of the activities performed in college involve recall and retention, writing is different. For some, it is challenging. One thing to keep in mind is that the difficulty of writing is often part of its purpose.
Overview:
The process of writing requires that someone understands a subject well enough to be able to explain it to others. Explaining the subject then requires the writer to understand how others are going to react to the information being presented. Adjusting to reader reactions means that the writer needs to consider additional points of view. In other words, the act of writing requires a lot of learning.
In simple terms, writing is an attempt to chronicle the writer’s thought process. This means that any well-developed piece of writing represents the writer thinking about the subject at hand. Writing makes such a tempting target to instructors for exactly this reason. A student might be able to guess a correct answer on a test, or members of a class might be able to cram the night before an exam (only to dump the information from their memories later), but in order to write a paper, students often need to actually think a little about the subject involved.
Application:
Academic writing is about learning. Most college students can find themselves filling in a page or two of writing without a lot of effort. They can outline an issue, add a few thoughts to the basic outline, and then manage to include an example or two from class lecture notes. However, more than this is a challenge, and that challenge is the whole point. Students who try to write completely from what they already know are frequently missing the point.
Student writers should get in the habit of beginning a writing assignment with a list of things that they still need to know. Additionally, student writers should try to understand the purpose of the assignment. Is the instructor checking to see if the students in the class understood the reading? Is the instructor looking for the student to engage the textbook or some other text? Is the assignment about developing ideas or reviewing content? Both or neither?
What to Avoid:
Avoid thinking that the work of a paper is accidental. If a paper does not require actual effort to complete, then there is a good chance that the paper is not being done correctly. A physical workout that results in no fatigue, no energy loss, and no impact is unlikely to result in significantly improved fitness. A mental workout that takes no effort to complete is unlikely to result in deep learning.
Writing is a difficult process, and it is not a natural activity. While many of the activities performed in college involve recall and retention, writing is different. For some, it is challenging. One thing to keep in mind is that the difficulty of writing is often part of its purpose.
Overview:
The process of writing requires that someone understands a subject well enough to be able to explain it to others. Explaining the subject then requires the writer to understand how others are going to react to the information being presented. Adjusting to reader reactions means that the writer needs to consider additional points of view. In other words, the act of writing requires a lot of learning.
In simple terms, writing is an attempt to chronicle the writer’s thought process. This means that any well-developed piece of writing represents the writer thinking about the subject at hand. Writing makes such a tempting target to instructors for exactly this reason. A student might be able to guess a correct answer on a test, or members of a class might be able to cram the night before an exam (only to dump the information from their memories later), but in order to write a paper, students often need to actually think a little about the subject involved.
Application:
Academic writing is about learning. Most college students can find themselves filling in a page or two of writing without a lot of effort. They can outline an issue, add a few thoughts to the basic outline, and then manage to include an example or two from class lecture notes. However, more than this is a challenge, and that challenge is the whole point. Students who try to write completely from what they already know are frequently missing the point.
Student writers should get in the habit of beginning a writing assignment with a list of things that they still need to know. Additionally, student writers should try to understand the purpose of the assignment. Is the instructor checking to see if the students in the class understood the reading? Is the instructor looking for the student to engage the textbook or some other text? Is the assignment about developing ideas or reviewing content? Both or neither?
What to Avoid:
Avoid thinking that the work of a paper is accidental. If a paper does not require actual effort to complete, then there is a good chance that the paper is not being done correctly. A physical workout that results in no fatigue, no energy loss, and no impact is unlikely to result in significantly improved fitness. A mental workout that takes no effort to complete is unlikely to result in deep learning.
