Advice for Beginning Writers

Writing at Northwestern

Excellent writers enjoy a strong advantage in every field, from the arts and humanities, to the social, natural, and applied sciences.  For this reason, you can expect that writing projects—essays, lab reports, and senior theses to name just a few—will constitute a significant portion of your work at Northwestern, and that the demands placed on your writing will increase as you advance in your studies.

Sometimes, however, these new writing challenges take students by surprise.   Students who were praised for their work in high school or college may be startled when their work does not meet the exacting standards of their current courses. 

What has changed?  Not the fundamentals—good grammar, correct punctuation, and well-formed paragraphs are still the cornerstones of any well-structured document. In any course of advanced study, however, you will inevitably encounter new challenges: experts in your field who require not only that you write more than ever before, but that you write differently.   Thus while you may be accustomed to writing papers in order to demonstrate your basic knowledge of a subject, your professors may have other goals—that you advance an original argument, demonstrate new strategies for presenting evidence, speculate on the ramifications of research results, or interpret a significant passage from a text. 

Writing well is hard work and there is no alternative to simple practice.  But there are ways to help ensure that you are getting the most out of your efforts.  The next page offers some writing strategies—perspectives drawn from expert writers still working to master this difficult craft.

Writing Advice Page Two

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Resources for Writers

• The Writing Place is a peer tutoring center run by the Writing Program and located in the University Library. The Writing Place offers consultation on a variety of writing issues for undergraduate and graduate students. Sessions can be scheduled in advance; drop-in help is also available.
  
  Faculty who want more information about the Writing Place should contact the director, Dr. Barbara Shwom, bshwom@northwestern.edu.

• Resources for Writing in Science and Engineering

• Writing Resources for Graduate Students

• ISI in Linguistics and ESL in Linguistics offer help for non-native speakers of English.
  
  
• The University Library has extensive resources in print and online. Reference librarians are available to help students and faculty with library tools and collections.  Contact the Reference Department if you want to schedule an individual appointment with a Reference Librarian.