Critical Skills: Writing

Writing is a means of communication that uses visual words, which are meant to be read and understood. Writing may be in either print or digital form and allows individuals to communicate a message to a larger audience than is possible with face-to-face and telephone conversations. Good writing clearly communicates a message whereas poor writing may cause misinterpretation and create a negative impression. People are not born with good writing skills—these skills must be mastered through study and practice. Those with good writing skills are more likely to succeed in school and in the workplace.

Being able to write well is one key to success in school. Writing is required of students for assignments ranging from journal entries to research reports. Students who can write well typically earn better grades and score higher on standardized tests than those who cannot. Good writing skills help students build confidence and develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.

A solid command of writing is also essential in the workplace—and not only for those in “writing” professions such as journalism. Most employees spend part of their workday writing email, letters, and text messages. They may also prepare reports and PowerPoint presentations. According to the National Commission on Writing, two-thirds of salaried employees in large US companies must write as part of their job. Managers also take writing skills into account when making promotions. According to TIME, a study analyzed one hundred LinkedIn profiles, a business-oriented social-networking site. Over a span of ten years, professionals whose profiles contained grammar mistakes were promoted only one to four times—much less often than those with well-written profiles, who were promoted six to nine times.

The methods used to teach writing have evolved since they began in the late nineteenth century when teachers focused on helping students write letters legibly and spell correctly. Writing instruction in the twenty-first century focuses on helping students produce compositions that persuade, inform/explain, and narrate. As of 2014, forty-three states, the District of Columbia, four territories, and the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) have adopted these standards, which were designed to better help students succeed in college and careers. The writing that students must do to meet these standards is more rigorous than that of the past and requires students to analyze and think critically.

Core Skills & Competencies

Writing well involves the ability to understand the purpose of a writing assignment and choose an appropriate tone. Writers need good research skills, both to obtain background information about a topic and to incorporate credible sources into their work. To write well, individuals need a solid command of vocabulary and grammar and the ability to develop a main idea, include topic sentences within paragraphs, and use transitions to link ideas. Good writers revise their work until their meaning is clear, their reasoning is sound, and their work is free of grammatical errors.

Students completing writing assignments also need good time-management skills. A common mistake is to begin a writing assignment too close to the due date. This often results in a student handing in a rough draft instead of a well-written essay. Students need to allot a significant amount of time to revise their essays. A good practice is to "finish" an essay and then put it away for a few days before returning to it. Such distance allows a student to view the work more objectively, which makes is easier to spot errors and areas in need or revision.

Students must learn how to create a thesis statement when completing a writing assignment, such as a report or an essay. A thesis statement is a sentence or two stating what the writer will prove in the written work. Students should take care to spend time crafting the thesis and revising it as their work progresses. The thesis statement should be concise and narrow enough to be proven within the work.

To write well, students must learn to carefully edit their work. This is a key step in the writing process. When editing, students look closely at each word, sentence, and paragraph. They check their sentence structure and grammar. A common error is to mistake a subordinate clause for a complete sentence, as in “Because the instructor was absent on Monday.” Students should also eliminate run-on sentences when editing. A run-on sentence is two sentences fused together, as in “Writers should not rely solely on grammar checkers to ensure the correct use of language, they should always carefully check their work.” (One way to fix the error is to replace the comma with a period.)

Whenever possible, students should revise sentences so that they are in the active voice. In the active voice, the subject performs the action. The sentence “My grandmother read the book” is written in the active voice. In the passive voice, the subject is being acted upon, as in “The book was read by my grandmother.” Students should avoid overusing the passive voice in their writing.

When editing their work, students should make their writing as concise as possible. Beginning writers often include unnecessary words in their writing, sometimes to make it appear formal. Such wordiness obscures meaning and makes writing difficult to comprehend.

The same core writing skills that are necessary for academic success are also needed in the workplace. Depending on the occupation, individuals may routinely compose email, letters, and reports. Careful proofreading of workplace writing is essential as errors in spelling and grammar can undermine credibility.

Research & Theory: Early Writing Instruction

The first students of writing inscribed letters on a surface, often using a writing tool dipped in ink. This early writing instruction focused mainly on handwriting—a teacher helped students write letter and learn to spell words.

The first college composition courses were created mainly because of the Harvard entrance exams in 1874, which for the first time included a writing component. More than half the applicants—all of whom came from prestigious prep schools—failed. The public feared widespread illiteracy. Harvard responded by creating a temporary remedial writing course, which eventually became a permanent program. Other colleges soon began requiring students to take composition courses.

Writing Process Model

Beginning in the 1970s, writing was taught as a process of stages that could be revisited and repeated as necessary. This process was developed by researched who studied the methods used by professional writers such as Janet Emig, Sondra Perl, and Donald Graves. Teachers embraced this writing model and stopped instructing students on how to write and encouraged them to let their compositions evolve through stages, which included invention, drafting, peer review, reflection, revising and writing, and publishing. (These stages later became simply prewriting, writing or drafting, revising, and editing.)

Writing Across the Curriculum

Writing across the curriculumis a writing movement that began in the 1980s. This movement encompasses the idea that writing should not be limited to language arts classes but should take place in all disciplines. Writing across the curriculum is divided into two approaches: writing to learn (WTL) and writing in the disciplines (WID). As its name suggests, the first approach encourages students to learn from their writing—and to learn about writing from the practice itself. This approach typically encompasses informal writing as a means of discovery. With WID, on the other hand, students learn the conventions necessary to write within a specific discipline.

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) emphasize writing as one way to prepare students for college and the workforce. The CCSS requires students to master both the writing process and the mechanics of writing. To meet the expectations given in the standards, students must be able to write arguments, informative/explanatory texts, and narratives. Assessments based on these standards often require students to respond to questions by analyzing texts containing complex ideas and information. The CCSS also require students to use technology to conduct research to incorporate into their writing.

Bibliography

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