evaluation paragraphs often follow summary, analysis, and synthesis paragraphs.

In academic settings, the reasons for writing often fulfill four main purposes: to summarize, to analyze, to synthesize, and to evaluate. You will encounter these four purposes not only as you read for your classes but also as you read for work or pleasure. Because reading and writing work together, your writing skills will improve as you read.

et due dates for the stage of your writing process, for example when you would like to pick a topic and complete your rough draft. Procrastination rarely results in a good paper. Some school libraries offer helpful computer programs that can create an effective assignment timeline for you. This is a helpful option for new, inexperienced writers who have not yet learned the art of analyzing assignments, and who are not familiar with the amount of time that is required for the college writing process. Remember, late papers may or may not be accepted by your instructor, and even if they are, your grade will likely be reduced. Don’t sell yourself short with late submissions.

After thoroughly reading the assignment sheet, you might not have questions right away. However, after reading it again, either before or after you try to start the assignment, you might find that you have questions. Don’t play a guessing game when it comes to tackling assignment criteria–ask the right person for help: the instructor. Discuss any and all questions with the person who assigned the work, either in person or via email. Visit him or her during office hours or stay after class. Do not wait until the last minute, as doing so puts your grade at risk. Don’t be shy about asking your professors questions. Not only will you better your understanding and the outcome of your paper, but professors tend to enjoy and benefit from student inquiry, as questions help them rethink their assignments and improve the clarity of their expectations. You are probably not the only student with a question, so be the one who is assertive and responsible enough to find answers. In the worst case scenario, when you have completed all of these steps and a professor still fails to provide you with the clarity you are looking for, discuss your questions with fellow classmates.

An assignment sheet may be lengthy, but resist the temptation to skim it. Observe and interpret every detail of the text. Moreover, it is essential to focus on the keywords of the subject matter being discussed. It would be unfortunate to hand in an incomplete or misguided assignment because you did not properly read and understand the guidelines. Since you can easily overlook details on the first reading, read the assignment sheet a second time. As you are reading, highlight areas where you have questions, and also mark words you feel are particularly important. Ask yourself why your professor assigned this task. How does it relate to what you are studying in class? Pay attention to key words, such as compare, contrast, analyze, etc. Who is your audience? Should the paper be written in a formal or informal tone? Is there documentation required?

Each one of these processes is perfectly acceptable–your job as a college writer is to determine which process works best for you. What circumstances provide you with the best opportunities to write? Once you figure out what works best for you, try to repeat that pattern each time you find yourself in a situation where you must write.

That process works for her; however, that process might not work for you. We are all different. Our brains respond differently to the task of writing. Some people like to outline, some people like to create idea maps, and some people like to write all their ideas down and organize later.

Her current writing process is different and reflects years of experience. Now she reads over the expectations of her writing situation, considers her audience, develops her tone to match her audience’s expectations, writes in multiple sittings, asks a friend or colleague to read what she has written, and then makes her writing public.

An important part of developing academic writing skills includes developing your own writing process. Your writing process includes all the steps you take from the time you receive a writing prompt to the time that you turn in a final draft for a grade.

Pay attention to how you speak — what words you use, what sorts of phrases and sentence structures you favor, even what kind of punctuation appears in your work frequently. These are the choices that will eventually become markers of your authority.

Just as speakers transmit emotion through voice, writers can transmit a range of attitudes through writing, from excited and humorous to somber and critical. These emotions create connections among the audience, the author, and the subject, ultimately building a relationship between the audience and the text. To stimulate these connections, writers portray their attitudes and feelings with useful devices, such as sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, and formal or informal language. Keep in mind that the writer’s attitude should always appropriately match the audience and the purpose.

Saying each writer has a unique voice does not mean that each writer has a radically different style from anyone else. In academic writing, voice comes down to small habits and personal preferences. Think about it this way: if all the students in your class were told to explain a complex concept, none of them would do it in the same way. Each one would use different language and syntax to describe the concept, and as each student makes individual choices in language and syntax over a period of time, their readers will eventually associate those choices with particular writers — their unique writing accumulates to create an authorial voice.

es, academic writing has rules about format, style, and objectivity that you must follow, but this does not mean you can write boring, impersonal prose. You can — and should — develop an authorial voice no matter what subject you choose to write about.

Content is also shaped by tone. When the tone matches the content, the audience will be more engaged, and you will build a stronger relationship with your readers. Consider the third grade audience mentioned earlier; you would choose simple content that the audience will easily understand, and you would express that content using an enthusiastic tone. The same considerations apply to all audiences and purposes.

For example, you update your status on a social networking site with the awareness of who will digitally follow the post. If you want to brag about a good grade, you may write the post to please family members. If you want to describe a funny moment, you may write with your friends’ senses of humor in mind. Even at work, you send e-mails with an awareness of an unintended receiver who could intercept the message.

Although the audience for writing assignments—your readers—may not appear in person, they play a vital role in the development of your writing. Even in everyday writing activities, you identify your readers’ characteristics, interests, and expectations before making decisions about what you write. In fact, thinking about audience has become so common that you may not even detect the audience-driven decisions. We will spend this chapter focusing on the role the audience plays in your writing by reviewing information presented in the textbook Successful Writing.

o reflect and to encode the information. Using these strategies is brain-friendly, and they will help you remember what you’ve read so that you can retrieve the information when you need it again for a class discussion, a test, or an application in your daily life.

Some reading assignments provide valuable tips or summaries worth bookmarking for future reference.

The third planning strategy is setting a purpose for your reading. Knowing what you want to achieve from a reading assignment not only helps you determine how to approach that task, but it also helps you stay focused during those moments when you are up late, already tired, or unmotivated because relaxing in front of the television sounds far more appealing than curling up with a stack of journal articles. Sometimes your purpose is simple. You might just need to understand the reading material well enough to discuss it intelligently in class the next day. However, your purpose will often go beyond that. For instance, you might also need to read in order to compare two texts, to formulate a personal response to a text, or to gather ideas for future research.

Managing your time – Now that you know how many sections make up the entire reading assignment, focus on setting aside enough time for reading and breaking the assignment into manageable chunks. For example, if you are assigned a seventy-page chapter to read for next week’s class, it is best not to wait until the night before to get started. How you choose to break up the reading assignment will depend on the type of reading it is. If the text is dense and packed with unfamiliar terms and concepts, you may need to read no more than five or ten pages in one sitting so that you can truly understand and process the information. With more user-friendly texts, you will be able to handle more pages in one sitting. And if you have a highly engaging reading assignment, such as a novel you cannot put down, you may be able to read lengthy passages in one sitting.

Pre-reading is a smart strategy that means exactly what it sounds like. It’s something you do before you actually start reading. The time you spend on pre-reading, five to ten minutes, actually saves you time in the long run. Think of it as an investment – the more time you put in up front, the more you can learn and remember from your reading! Here is a short list of pre-reading tips: Ask yourself, What do I already know about this topic? Hint: Look at the title to learn the topic. Asking yourself what you already know about a topic activates your prior knowledge about it. Doing this helps your brain wake up its dendrites where that prior knowledge is stored so that it knows where the new knowledge will connect. Flip through the pages, reading the captions found under any pictures, tables, and other graphics. Pay attention to italicized or bolded Are these words defined for you in the margin or in a glossary? Read the comprehension questions you find in the margins or at the end of the chapter. Count how many sections of the chapter there are.

research shows that cramming and procrastinating have to do with emotional dysregulation that can be helped with good time management skills. Therefore, the first step in handling college reading successfully is planning. This involves pre-reading, managing your time, and setting a clear purpose for your reading.

Have you ever stayed up all night cramming just before an exam? Or found yourself skimming a detailed email from your boss five minutes before a crucial meeting?

Most of your writing assignments—from brief response papers to in-depth research projects—will depend on your understanding of course reading assignments or related readings you do on your own. And it is difficult, if not impossible, to write effectively about a text that you do not understand. Even when you do understand the reading, it can be hard to write about it if you do not feel personally engaged with the ideas discussed.

reading and writing work together. Therefore, while reading, consider your writing situation.

The main purpose of communication whether it be email, text, tweet, blog, discussion, presentation, written assignment, or speech is always to help the receiver(s) of the message understand the idea that the sender of the message is trying to share.

Writing in drafts makes academic work more manageable. Drafting gets your ideas onto paper, which gives you more to work with than the perfectionist’s daunting blank screen.

CNM students have access to The Learning and Computer Center (TLCc), which is available on six campuses: Advanced Technology Center, Main, Montoya, Rio Rancho, South Valley, and Westside. At these writing centers, trained tutors help students meet college-level expectations. The tutoring centers offer one-on-one meetings, online, and group sessions for multiple disciplines.

Many students feel intimidated asking for help with academic writing; after all, it’s something you’ve been doing your entire life in school. However, there’s no need to feel like it’s a sign of your lack of ability; on the contrary, many of the strongest student writers regularly seek help and support with their writing (that’s why they’re so strong). College instructors are familiar with the ups and downs of writing, and most colleges have support systems in place to help students learn how to write for an academic audience.

Even the best students, however, need to make big adjustments to learn the conventions of academic writing. College-level writing obeys different rules, and learning them will help you hone your writing skills. Think of it as ascending another step up the writing ladder.

Depending on your education before coming to CNM, you will have varied writing experiences as compared with other students in class. Some students might have earned a GED, some might be returning to school after a decades-long break

The quality of the work you do also changes. It is not enough to understand course material and summarize it on an exam. You will also be expected to seriously engage with new ideas by reflecting on them, analyzing them, critiquing them, making connections, drawing conclusions, or finding new ways of thinking about a given subject. Educationally, you are moving into deeper waters. A good introductory writing course will help you swim.

In college, academic expectations change from what you may have experienced in high school. The quantity of work you are expected to complete increases

It can be difficult to feel excited about an intro writing course when you are eager to begin the coursework in your major (and if you are an English major, let your teacher know so you can talk about your future education plans). Regardless of your field of study, honing your writing skills—plus your reading and critical-thinking skills—will help you build a solid academic foundation.

You completed numerous assessments of your reading and writing skills in high school and as part of your application process for college. You may write on the job, too. Why is a college writing course even necessary?

This textbook will cover ways to communicate effectively as you develop insight into your own style, writing process, grammatical choices, and rhetorical situations. With these skills, you should be able to improve your writing talent regardless of the discipline you enter after completing this course. Knowing your rhetorical situation, or the circumstances under which you communicate, and knowing which tone, style, and genre will most effectively persuade your audience, will help you regardless of whether you are enrolling in history, biology, theater, or music next semester–because when you get to college, you write in every discipline. To help launch our introduction this chapter includes a section from the open access textbook Successful Writing