Education Writing Advice from Individual CC Faculty Members
Dr. Leigh Ann Spell
Professor of Speech-Language Pathology
When completing writing assignments for my classes, please remember the following advice:
General Writing
Start your writing assignments well in advance of the due date! Good writing does not happen in one draft the night before an assignment is due.
Follow the following three stages when writing:
Pre-Writing Stage: Plan what you are going to write by outlining or using a graphic organizer to organize your main ideas.
Writing Stage (a.k.a. first draft): Write your paper in narrative form. Read it aloud to make sure the content makes sense and it is well-organized. You can also begin to check mechanics.
Re-Writing Stage: Make final additions/corrections in content development, organization, and mechanics (spelling, grammar, word usage, punctuation).
Some people have difficulty finding writing errors in their own work. If you are one of these people, use the Academic Skills Center for feedback on your paper drafts.
Clinical Writing
Make sure you read and understand what is required in each clinical writing assignment. What you will find professionally is that each setting uses a different format and requires different information for evaluation reports, progress reports, etc. This is true in classes as well. In some of my classes you might have to write a report in an education format while in others you will have to write a report in a medical format.
See General Writing advice above.
Scholarly Writing
Use APA citation format for all scholarly papers.
Avoid plagiarism by making sure that you cite information that is not your own writing. See the SLP Writing page for information on how to summarize and how to use APA citations correctly.
Use formal language. Do not write in the first person or use slang terms in your writing.
