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Online Guide to Writing and Research

College Writing

Why So Much Emphasis on Writing?

After enrolling in college, you might wonder why many of your classes require a great deal of essay writing. Writing assignments allow you to acquire knowledge and practice many different critical thinking skills. For example, the research process helps you learn how to evaluate information for reliability and relevance. Writing a thesis statement lets you practice summarizing big concepts. Good paragraphing can give you practice in organizing ideas, building arguments, refuting counter-arguments, analyzing data, and many more important thinking skills. Plus, the process of completing a writing assignment can sharpen your project management skills.

Writing assignments are recursive in nature, which means that sometimes you might repeat previous steps with new ideas in mind. For example, research at any stage of the process might cause you to revise drafted pieces of the paper. Or, as you draft a section, you might brainstorm a new idea to include. This is normal and natural, and it should not be a cause for concern unless it keeps you from completing a project on time. 

Click on the arrows below to learn more about the writing assignment process.

Steps in the Writing Assignment Process

How to Use This Guide

This guide is broken into chapters that loosely correspond to the steps outlined above. You can read through the entire chapter, or you can choose to review the areas that will provide help with specific aspects of the writing process. 

 


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Table of Contents: Online Guide to Writing