The purpose of most college writing assignments is to evaluate students' competency in a subject matter or skill; therefore, it should be evident from what you write that you have the competencies your instructor expects of you. Instructors should not have to guess your meaning. As a general rule, this means that you should explain basic concepts in detail and give specific examples of them. In fact, even though you write for the professor, you might better imagine that your audience is a classmate who needs to have things explained from the ground up. You should also attend carefully to the professor's formal guidelines. These often reflect standards of the discipline directly tied to its methods and assumptions (for example, lab reports), and your ability to adhere to these guidelines reflects your understanding of course content. Occasionally, professors will give an assignment that specifies your audience and the formal context (for example, to review a concert recital for the local newspaper). In these instances you should take special care to attend to questions of audience, purpose, and form.

Accuracy and Plausibility

Most writing assignments in the content areas ask you to relate conceptual and factual content. You should write sentences that clearly and accurately relate this content. If you write that "the atom NaCl is common table salt," your chemistry professor won't be impressed. Perhaps you know that NaCl is a molecule, rather than an atom, but if you use the wrong word it won't look as though you do. If your music appreciation textbook draws a distinction between baroque, classical, and romantic music, don't call Bach, Mozart, and Chopin classical composers (even though you might find all their works in the classical section of your local music store). If your political science instructor distinguishes Marxist, socialist, and anarchist political theories, don't refer to all of them as communist systems of thought. And if your psychology instructor has discussed mean, median, and mode, you are well-advised not to speak generally of "the average score." Many courses give you a vocabulary in which to express their content. Take care to use that vocabulary precisely. And don't forget: truth matters. Though written tests are often contrasted with objective tests, as though the evaluation of written material is merely subjective, usually your writing is evaluated with respect to its content as well as its quality of expression.

Clear Focus

A good piece of writing establishes and maintains a clear and appropriate direction. Your topic should clearly relate to the question or assignment. It should not be too broad, too narrow, or irrelevant. if your instructor asks you to write a review of an article on the use of computers in medicine, you shouldn't review an article on computers in modern society even if it discusses their role in medicine; and, of course, you shouldn't review an article on computer imaging in space exploration. Having chosen an appropriate topic, you should stay on topic from beginning to end. In a review of computers in medicine, don't drift into a discussion of the dehumanizing effects of life-sustaining technology in medicine--unless it relates directly to a point about computers. In the traditional expository essay, the focus is usually established by a thesis statement that occurs in the first paragraph. But this is not the only way to establish focus; a well-chosen title is often sufficient. For example, if your instructor permits, place the title of your review at the top of the paper (e.g., A Review of "Expert Systems in Medical Diagnosis," James Moltke, Journal of Medical Diagnostics), and then commence directly with the business of summarizing and evaluating the article. This is acceptable as long as your purpose and direction are evident. in any case, make sure that your writing stays on track.

Development and Support

Good writing develops key points by providing supporting detail. Include enough detail to get the job done, and use detail that's relevant to the point you're developing. The quantity of detail depends on your audience and purpose. A newcomer to town will need more detailed directions on how to get to your apartment than a long-time resident. A clinical report should include every observation relevant to diagnosis. Generally, it is better to provide too much detail rather than too little. The kind of detail depends on the nature of the point you are developing. Descriptions, generalizations, directions, position statements, and arguments--each of these might be developed in a different way. You might describe a friend with personal anecdotes, illustrate generalizations with examples, clarify directions by specifying a sequence of steps, explain a position by contrasting with alternative positions, and develop arguments by anticipating objections and responding to counter-arguments. Detail makes your writing vivid, plausible, and effective. There is no better way to show your instructors that you have mastered course content--whether the content is critical thinking, aesthetic judgment, theories of management, public relations, or organic chemistry--than by demonstrating a command of detail.

Organization

Good writing is well-organized. A love letter will ramble, perhaps, and in that way convey spontaneity, warmth, and intimacy. But in academic and professional writing it is always advisable to distinguish separate points and arrange them in a logical and effective order. Sentences are organized into paragraphs, and paragraphs are organized into essays. As an example of paragraph organization, examine the section on focus above. The importance of focus is asserted in the first sentence, and two pieces of advice, each developed separately with examples, follow. The final sentence is a restatement of the first sentence. You could make a short essay of this paragraph by expanding the first sentence into an introductory paragraph, developing the two pointers as separate paragraphs, and incorporating the last sentence into a summary paragraph reviewing the advantages of staying on track. Some kinds of academic writing follow specific models of organization. Research reports in the natural sciences are often structured as follows: introduction, methods and materials, results, discussion, and conclusions. Problem-solution papers usually contain the following components: statement of problem, background information, suggested solutions, evaluation of solutions, and solution proposal. Whether you follow a prescribed format or design the structure of your essay as you write it, organization is based on the expectations of your reader and the logic of what you want to say. The best method of organization is the one that helps you to communicate most effectively.

Style

Style is the mood or image evoked by a piece of writing. Styles vary: They can be idiosyncratic or anonymous, familiar or formal, terse or serpentine, direct or indirect. Style is determined by word choice, sentence structure, transitions, and, more generally, by the tone and rhythm of your prose. Just as body language conveys one's attitude and personality, these factors convey the style of a piece of writing. A unique style is one of the finest accomplishments of great writers. Most of us, in most situations, are less concerned with developing a unique style than wlth adopting and sustaining a style that fits the occasion. The style of a piece of writing should be appropriate and consistent. Much academic writing is formal. One reads an academic paper to learn more about a particular subject or to scrutinize a new approach to an area of inquiry, not to get in touch with the feelings of the writer. For that reason, some professors will ask you not to write in the first person. Others, however, want to hear what you have to say in your own voice or will ask you to assume a particular role in your writing (e.g., write an autobiography of the element Helium; write a letter to a prospective customer comparing the advantages of three strains of grass seed). Almost all readers prefer reading smooth prose--writing that artfully signals transitions and conveys that the writer is in control.

Correctness

A revised piece of writing should be correct. It should be free of commonly recognized errors in grammar, mechanics, spelling, punctuation and word choice. Too many people confuse correctness with good writing. Good writing is far more than attention to the conventions of English. Problems with accuracy, focus, development, organization, and style are the most common cause of failure to communicate. Nevertheless, errors are an embarrassment, and they certainly do detract from the credibility of your presentation. For more detailed guidance on this subject, see the sections on grammar and mechanics and word usage in Strunk and White's Elements of Style.

2 February 1998; 2.0