That is, because students think that everything has a right and a wrong answer, thesis statements are incredibly difficult to articulate. The students do not understand how to argue, nor do they understand why this must be done. For me, this point stood out as most important because it is cross-departmental. Students coming into their undergraduate careers for the first time are often not taught to reason like a college student. That is, they are instructed that the professor has all of the answers, and that the sign of a good student is not to question, but simply to regurgitate. Breaking this cycle and mode of belief in most students will, in my belief, lead to better thesis statements, in addition to more reflective reasoning.
In addition to mentioning the thesis statement, the fact that the authors brought up students' tendency to write papers in one large gulp is significant. It allows students and teachers of writing to understand the pressure being placed on undergraduate students, in addition to contemplating whether the process of writing the gulping paper is allowing them to learn anything. The fact that the authors designed a curriculum to solve this problem is impressive, and has convinced me as to the importance of this type of writing process in nearly every type of class.
Still, the end of the article suggests that many questions are still left unanswered. While the authors report...
Still, this begs the questions of how these teachers will use this information in their secondary classrooms. Will they change the process more? What adaptations will they make? Will they improve or disprove the atmosphere for learning. These questions are of significant importance to the implications of this piece. Thus, more research is needed regarding this topic. The authors should visit the then-students, now-teachers in order to determine whether the writing process has, indeed, come into their classrooms. Furthermore, perfecting the assessment process might allow conclusions about the adoption of writing as process models into fields other than composition. Thus, the authors of this article take a unique and important approach to the writing as process model and the history classroom. Further research to corroborate their ideas will most likely make great contributions to the world of teaching undergraduates.
Olwell, R. & Delph, R. "Implementing Assessment and Improving Undergraduate
Writing: One Department's Experience." The History…
