Gilbert's Freshman Studies pages

Writing

Freshman Studies
Writing

Another big part of Freshman Studies (besides discussion) is writing. Writing assignments in Freshman Studies are frequent but the papers required are (relatively) short. That's a deliberate plot to keep us paying attention to careful reading, thinking, and succinct exposition.

I keep harkening back to The Freshman Studies Book, but only because it's such an excellent source.

"Know what you are talking about. Prepare yourself for writing by understanding the details of the work you are discussing and the meanings of the ideas covered in classes and lectures.
Write as clearly as you can. Never sacrifice clarity because you are afraid of sounding simple-minded.
Write as intelligently as you can. But don't try to sound more intelligent than you are.
Mean what you write. Don't try to tell your instructors what you think they want to hear. Tell them, instead, what you know or at least believe to be the case." (p. 31)

See the Seven Generalizations about Student Writing in Freshman Studies for some more ideas about what we're looking for.

And of course, don't miss the Writing Lab

Our assigned tutor is Lance Benzel. You can contact him by phone (at 7456) or by email at lance.j.benzel@lawrence.edu.

revised: 20-Sept-1999
peter.j.gilbert@lawrence.edu