Better Helping Students Write Better in All Courses Few faculty would deny the importance of writing in their academic discipline or the role writing plays in mastering material, shaping ideas, and developing critical thinking skills. The ideas that follow are designed to make writing more integral to your courses and less onerous to you and your students. General Strategies View the improvement of students' writing as your responsibility. Many faculty erroneously believe that teaching writing is the job of the English department or composition program alone.
Writing is an essential tool for learning a discipline.
Helping students improve their writing skills is therefore the responsibility of all faculty. Let students know that you value good writing. Stress the importance of clear, thoughtful writing. In general, faculty who tell students that good writing will be rewarded and poor writing will be penalized receive better essays than instructors who don't make such demands. In the syllabus, on the first day of class, and throughout the term, remind students that they must make their best efforts in expressing themselves on paper.