1.3 Becoming a Successful College Writer
Overview: College Writing Skills
You now have a solid foundation of skills and strategies you can use to succeed in college. The remainder of this book will provide you with guidance on specific aspects of writing, ranging from grammar and style conventions to how to write a research paper.
For any college writing assignment, use these strategies:
- Plan ahead. Divide the work into smaller, manageable tasks, and set aside time to accomplish each task in turn.
- Make sure you understand the assignment requirements, and if necessary, clarify them with your instructor. Think carefully about the purpose of the writing, the intended audience, the topics you will need to address, and any specific requirements of the writing form.
- Complete each step of the writing process. With practice, using this process will come automatically to you.
- Use the resources available to you. Remember that most colleges have specific services to help students with their writing.
Key Takeaways
- Following the writing process steps helps students complete any writing assignment more successfully.
- To manage writing assignments, it is best to work backward from the due date, allotting appropriate time to complete each step of the writing process.
- Setting concrete long- and short-term goals helps students stay focused and motivated.
- A variety of university resources are available to help students with writing and with other aspects of college life.
This is from “Becoming a Successful College Writer,” section 1.3 of the book Successful Writing (v. 1.0). For details on it (including licensing), click here.
“Happy Student with A Paper” by joguldi is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
“My academic writing #AcWri process” by Raul P is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
“set your blog goals” by FindYourSearch is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
