TheImportanceofGoodWritingSkills

　　Writingskillscanbethetickettobettercollegegradesandgreateracademicachievement.Thisarticleintroducesafewtechniquesforapplyingwritingskillstocollegesuccess.Butthisgoodadvicewillbelostonyouifyoudon'tbelievewritingskillsareimportantandcanhelpyouachieveacademicmastery.Ourjobistoconvinceyou.Tobeginwith,theoverwhelmingmajorityofinstructorswesurveyedsaidthatwritingskillsarecriticaltoacademicsuccess.

　　Andifyouseeyourselfasoneofthosecollegestudentswhowillsay"Phew"whenthesyllabusrevealsonlyexamsandnopapers,whathappenswhenthoseexamsturnouttobeessaytests?Thisarticlesuggestsafewwaystoraiseyourgradeonthoseexamssimplybyemployingtheprinciplesofgoodwriting--evenifyoustudynoharderandknowthematerialnobetterthanyoudonow.

　　Perhapsyou'veheardthatnoonecaresaboutyourgradesonceyouleavethehallsofacademia.Whilethatnotionholdssometruth,itisequallytruethatmostpotentialemployersdocareaboutwritingskills.Theycaresomuchthattheybemoanthepoorpreparationoftheentry-levelpoolofgrads.Inalaborforcefullofmediocrewriters,someonewhowriteswellisboundtostandoutandsuccedd.

　　Academiciansandbusinesspeopleviewwritingskillsascrucial,yetincreasingnumbersoftheseprofessionalsnoteasteadyerosioninthewritingabilitiesofgraduates.ThesummaryofastudypublishedinPersonnelUpdatestates:"Writingskills...ofexecutivesareshockinglylow,indicatingthatschoolsandcollegesdismallyfailwithatleasttwo-thirdsofthepeoplewhopassthroughtheeducationpipelinecomingoutunabletowriteasimpleletter."

　　In1988,LinGrensingreportedthat79percentofsurveyedexecutivescitedwritingasoneofthemostneglectedskillsinthebusinessworld,yetoneofthemostimportanttoproductivity.A1992surveyof402companiesreportedbytheAssociatedPressnotedthatexecutivesidentifiedwritingasthemostvaluedskillbutsaid80percentoftheiremployeesatalllevelsneedtoimprove.Thenumberofworkersneedingimprovementinwritingskillswasup20percentfromresultsofthesamesurveyin1991.Resultsofa1993studybyOlstenCorp.,aplacementagency,werealmostidentical:80percentof443employerssurveyedsaidtheirworkersneededtraininginwritingskills.

　　Theneedforworkerswithwritingskillswillonlyincrease.A1991reportbytheU.S.LaborDepartmentnotedthatmostfuturejobswillrequirewritingskills.