We need to do a much better job of teaching our students to write effectively. Effective writing is far too important to be left to freshman rhetoric and composition courses or designated writing intensive courses.
By ghettoizing writing instruction in distinct courses, we inadvertently send our students a powerful message: That we don’t really value effective written scholarly communication.
Every publishing academic is a professional writer and an evaluator of scholarly writing. Therefore, we’re all equipped, at some level, to help our students write better. If we don’t, it’s because we’re too overwhelmed or too lazy or too lacking in commitment to be bothered.
