Writing in any discipline

You may feel that writing will be of secondary importance after you complete your composition courses. Yet professionals working not just in the humanities, but in natural and applied sciences, social sciences, business, and other areas have a different understanding:

Is writing important in chemistry? Don’t chemists spend their time turning knobs, mixing reagents, and collecting data? They still get to do those things, but professional scientists also make presentations, prepare reports, publish results, and submit proposals. Each of these activities involves writing. If you remain skeptical about the need for writing skills, then ask your favorite professor, or any other scientist, to track the fraction of one workday spent using a word-processing program. You (and they) may be surprised at the answer.

—OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY, Writing Guide for Chemistry

A student pursuing an education major agrees: “Writing is the key to just about everything I do, from constructing lesson plans to writing reviews of literature to learning to respond—in writing—to the students I will eventually teach.”

Writing is central to learning regardless of the discipline; in addition, writing plays a major role in the life of every working professional. So whether you are preparing a case history in a nursing program, writing up the results of a psychology study, or applying for an internship, writing well will help you achieve your goals.

Video Prompt: Improving with practice