Chapter
Obviously, you can write. And in the age of social media and smartphones, you might be writing all the time, perhaps more often than you actually talk. Many students today are awash in text like no other generation before. You may have even performed so well in high school that you’re deemed fully competent in college-level writing and are now excused from taking a composition course.
So why spend yet more time and attention on writing skills? Research shows that deliberate practice—that is, close focus on improving one’s skills—makes all the difference in how one performs. Revisiting the craft of writing—especially at the early stages of college—will improve your writing much more than simply producing page after page in the same old way.
Becoming an excellent communicator can save you a lot of time and hassle during your educational journey, help 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. The information in this textbook should help hone those skills. Your instructor has selected readings that will be important not just for the work you do in your composition class but for work you do in other classes and outside of the university, as well. You may find that some of the information in this text is repeated. This is intentional as the topic or subject may be the same, but the discussion and the way it is delivered are different. By being exposed to different voices and different approaches to the conversation, you are more likely to have a better understanding of the material and how to work with it. This understanding along with the sharpened skillset you will refine in your composition are not only the skills your other instructors will expect you to have but those employers look for in prospective employees.
Consider this: a 2009 survey of employers conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities found that 89% of employers say that colleges and universities should place more emphasis on “the ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing.”1 It was the single-most favored skill in this survey. In addition, several of the other valued skills are grounded in written communication: “Critical thinking and analytical reasoning skills” (81%); “The ability to analyze and solve complex problems” (75%); and “The ability to locate, organize, and evaluate information from multiple sources” (68%). This emphasis on communication probably reflects the changing reality of work in the professions. Employers also reported that employees will have to “take on more responsibilities,” “use a broader set of skills,” “work harder to coordinate with other departments,” face “more complex” challenges, and mobilize “higher levels of learning and knowledge.”2 If you want to be a professional who interacts frequently with others3—presumably you do; you’re in college—you have to be someone who can anticipate and solve complex p