"I've had a great time in the [Stanford Study of Writing]. I like coming in and talking about writing. It... forces me to think. I have a whole academic worldview that now involves writing and rhetoric, which is very useful. A lot of my peers don't think about writing as reflectively as I can. It's just good to be asked questions about your writing and be forced to reflect."
African and African American Studies Major
"I'm so glad that I got randomly picked to be in [the Stanford Study of Writing], and randomly picked to be in the interview group, and then part of the [2005 CCCC panel presentation]. I love it because [my participation has been] a way for me to consistently have a chance to reflect on my writing. There's certainly feedback between what I submit, and then me thinking about the fact that I'm submitting it, and then us talking about it here, and then me going back and writing something next time in a different way.that's been awesome to learning."
International Relations Major
"[Being in the Stanford Study of Writing] was really good because it gave me the opportunity to reflect on my writing, [and] how I express my thoughts to other people."
Biology Major
"Writing really plays into the power structure of our society, and if you can write and communicate through writing, you have kind of an extra venue to convince people of your ideas. [Good writing] depends on what your purpose is and who your audience is and what you're trying to accomplish."
Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity Major; Bilingual Elementary Teacher
"Effective writing, I think, is writing that really meets the needs of what you're writing for: addressing the question fully, addressing the audience well, knowing exactly who you're writing for, [...and] being able to address five or six questions down the road that [colleagues] might ask. Effective writing will also be [...] something that somebody wants to read."
Political Science Major; Research Analyst, Defense Contracting Company
"Writing is a form of communication, [...bridging] worlds and people and relationships. [...] I think good writing would be the closest you could come to expressing something intangible tangibly. I feel like writing is communicating intangible things: [...] ideas, emotions, feelings, sensations, memory, and those are all things that really don't have words. Those are very profound things. When I think of writing, I think of it as something that should be used to express things of depth, things that matter."
Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity Major; Graduate Student, Education
"I feel like writing has gotten a lot fuzzier in general, in that it can take so many forms and it's less formal now than it was once. But I would say [writing is] a means of communication that's recorded rather than spoken and can be used for any number of purposes, from changing someone's perspective to making them laugh, act, cry, etc. [...] I think that effective writing is more about [...] impact. Good writing can be artful but not effective at driving change or impact."
Human Biology/Economics Major; Business Analyst
"I was always doing writing, [...but] I wish I could have had more constant interaction with a writing teacher, [and peer groups]."
International Relations Major; Law Student
"I would say, for the most part, the smaller classes in which we had to do lots of writing were probably best at preparing me because I do work in small environments where I feel like I know the other people who will be evaluating [my writing]."
Human Biology/Economics Major; Business Analyst
"PWR was terrific in absolutely every way. [The teacher] put in an amazing amount of effort to teach a great course and in particular supported me [as an international student] with great dedication. I thank her for that [and] judge PWR to have been the most significant writing experience although [my Writing in the Major course] obviously has a stronger relation to my econ work now."
Economics Major
"PWR stands out more strongly in my mind as a useful tool [...especially in] judging audiences and adapting in a way that was unique, [...and] getting me used to a thesis and things like that."
Human Biology Major
"So there are moments that are standing out in terms of writing. There's one I remember in PWR working with [the teacher] on the research paper in PWR. I remember that experience as being really important because she went through [my paper] and I've never seen my paper marked up as much. Really, it was covered.not just as a simple editing.but we sat there and stepped through stuff, and she literally taught me how to write a research paper."
African and African American Studies Major
"The Writing in the Major course certainly helped prepare me [for the workforce because it] was geared towards engineers, so it sort of assumed that we'd take on industry positions after college. Some of the assignments there were very similar to what I'm writing now. One assignment in particular was writing a memo to a boss or supervisor explaining some of the technical research you'd been doing. That circumstance [was] quite similar [to my current work because] the writing I do now is [brief], more frequent, [and] more like a day to day communication. [Also] almost any technical course I took involved some sort of problem set, so that writing was certainly good training for what I'm doing now at MIT."
Electrical Engineering Major
"I guess the majority of the papers that I look back and remember are ones that I felt were very hyper academic papers [in which] you had to figure out how your professor liked you to write. [...In my teacher education program] the actual crafting of the argument is much looser, [...] not as restrained, [...] more open to creativity, in that I am learning how to be a teacher that would be an innovator in the classroom, and someone who would be creating new and different types of lessons off of previous lessons, but adapting and changing [them so as to make] sense to me in the new context."
Drama/Human Biology Major; Graduate Student, Education
"[In the workplace] you don't always get a chance to go back and edit your first thoughts on writing, or good writing. In the past I've been able to go back and reflect on what I'd written, [...and write] many successive drafts. [Now] because of the emphasis on producing a good product from the start, [...] I would put more time up front. [...] You have to be prepared for the work to be seen, not necessarily presented to clients, but certainly reflective of your capability to get stages [done quickly]. So I think that there's a pressure to be writing well from the start and that increases the sense of intimidation or anxiety [about] the idea that you won't be able to finish something or get it into a shape [in a way] you feel comfortable with before you share it."
Human Biology/Economics Major; Business Analyst
"[In the workplace] I'd say that probably about half of our energy goes into framing things in ways that a diverse audience.and I don't mean typical diversity.but just how different people are from one another. [...] I feel like [if] I'm writing to someone who has less time for an interaction that I do, then I tailor my language in a way that I think will make it more immediately accessible to them. [...] I think about the audience and what will move them to action, whereas in college I thought about making people think rather than moving them to action."
Human Biology/Economics Major; Business Analyst
"I sent a letter home [to my elementary students' parents], but I spent a lot of time angsting about how to [...] show enthusiasm but competence, respect but authority in a short letter that also made me very available to all the parents in the classroom. [I tried] presenting myself as someone who came from a very educated background but [who] also wasn't intimidating, [and really worked to write the letter] in Spanish, knowing that I really wasn't capable of doing that on my own, so having one of my friends help me with that. The need of being able to [communicate] ideas in different languages is definitely present in education, and honoring the diversity of different students by being able to communicate in those different languages is definitely a huge priority of mine."
Drama/Human Biology Major; Graduate Student, Education
"[Following graduate school], I guess I'm more relaxed with writing because I think part of it [is because] it's not fun to write when you're really wrapped up in it, and I'm trying to be less of a perfectionist. [...] Of course I'm not completely cured [but I have] an acceptance that it'll never be perfect: you know, you can write it once and it'll be pretty good.or you can write it ten times and it'll be pretty good."
Drama/Human Biology Major; Graduate Student, Education
"I wrote this poem a while ago. I miss the freedom of being able to freely sow and freely plant little black seeds of ink. I miss that, just being able to do that. It is kind of like an aching. There is kind of like a loss because all these things, all these emotions, all these memories. I've lost them forever because I haven't been able to somehow engrave them in a place that won't be corroded by time. My memory goes; I forget things. And writing is a form of communication, which is so key to me. [...Writing] bridges worlds and people and relationships, so there are definitely really deep interpersonal level losses and a sense of a kind of abandonment. Losing touch with people, friendships, relationships, family, because you're not able to communicate."
Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity Major; Graduate Student, Education