curiosity engagement responsibility reflection

Choose topics you care about

“Make connections between yourself and what you are learning. Care about what you are learning, and care about how you are learning.” —Shaye Heyman, student, University of New Mexico

College writing can seem intimidating, especially when you first try to grasp how expectations for college writing differ from those for high school writing. Something more and something different are being asked of you, but what?

One way to approach each college writing assignment, as Shaye Heyman suggests, is to make the effort to find personal connections with what you are learning. Writing about a topic you care about enables you to write with more authority, confidence, and success. Even when you’re not free to choose the topic, you can choose the angle by thinking, “What’s at stake here for me (or my family, my community, my school)?”