by Osvaldo Maldonado

As a young boy, I always had a deep interest in the sciences and was an avid reader of scientific books. My interest only gradually grew throughout my educational journey, which transformed into a passion: becoming a scientist. Indubitably, to become a great scientist, one must be able to effectively communicate their work, findings, theories, etc., in both oral and written form. As someone who did not share the same interests, much less confidence, in the language arts, I figured I would struggle in this aspect of science. I never really considered myself a strong writer and never really put in effort in improving, unlike in the sciences where I put in effort to grasp concepts and recall facts and information with ease. However, taking this WIP course has made me realize the importance of being able to explain your thoughts and ideas to the world in an understandable manner through effective writing.  

Taking this WIP course has made me realize the importance of being able to explain your thoughts and ideas to the world in an understandable manner through effective writing.

Of course, strong written communication skills are desired, if not essential, to any field of study. Therefore as a TA for a WIP course, I felt a great sense of responsibility in teaching writing to guide students in improving such skills. However, as mentioned earlier, I did not view my writing skills as highly proficient which made me feel inadequate to teach writing to such impressionable students. Despite that, I recognized that I could still offer some value to their writing experience and help them become better writers. I was determined to enhance their effective writing skills to some degree, mainly in the form of feedback.

What really guided me in providing valuable feedback was a book titled The Elements of Teaching Writing by Katherine Gottschalk and Keith Hjortshoj. In Chapter 3, the authors describe basic methods for responding to student writing and to essentially avoid approaching their writing with grading as a goal. I implemented some of their suggestions in my responses to students’ writing, and by doing so, the students could sense that they were taken seriously as writers. Consequently, many students took it upon themselves to make adjustments based on my feedback. They started to see common faults within their own writing such as making unsubstantiated claims or lacking logical flow/organization. Concurrently, I was learning ways to avoid poor and fallacious writing in my own writing, which was invaluable to me.

This exchange between instructor and student also demonstrated that writing is a process. I believe it began to alter the mindset of “first draft is last draft” that many undergraduate students uphold coming into college. Since the course I instructed dealt with scientific writing, students were guided through the multiple components that comprise a scientific paper, more specifically a peer-reviewed article. Because this style of writing was most likely a first for many, I made sure to provide encouraging and reassuring feedback, along with constructive criticism, so as to not discourage them from improving their writing or diminish their morale.

Through this method of providing feedback as well as guidance, I hoped to have developed in my students a sense of motivation to become better communicators in general. And more importantly, I hoped to have cultivated an appreciation for writing and its nuances.