Over ten years ago now, the Royal Literary Fund (RLF) produced a document called Writing Matters. This report painted a damning picture of the state of academic writing skills for both undergraduate and postgraduate students in the UK.
In the introduction, it stated:
“Students are arriving at university without the basic skills which make coherent written work possible. […] To put the problem simply, an inability to employ the resources of written language means that a student cannot function properly.”
The report went on to suggest that a lack of writing skills may even contribute to students dropping out from their course altogether – and that’s a serious suggestion indeed. With a “lack of competence in the writing skills needed for essays and assignments” quickly leading to “demoralisation and jadedness”, the report advised that even falling behind on one essay can put students under so much stress that they struggle to keep up with the rest of their coursework. Eventually, they may give up the course entirely due to lack of support.
Was the RLF over-reaching with this suggestion? Absolutely not. The RLF is not alone in its thinking by any means, as a whole decade on, the academic writing problem persists. A November 2016 article in Times Higher Education, for instance, comments on recent research which revealed that “Most graduate student writers come into academia without the knowledge or skills of how to handle large, complex academic writing projects”. Again, it goes on to suggest that universities should prioritise academic writing skills or they run the risk of greater numbers failing to complete master’s courses and PhDs.
More than just spelling
To my mind, it’s patently clear that effective writing skills are fundamental to all undergraduate and postgraduate students. Being able to write a clear, coherent and logical written document is vital for them to demonstrate their knowledge and – perhaps more importantly – critical thinking. They don’t need to be poetic wordsmiths, but they certainly do need to feel totally confident in how to focus on an issue presented to them, build their argument, refine their thinking, structure their document and then turn their ideas into coherent words on the page.
Importantly, this is an issue that goes beyond grammar, punctuation and spelling (even though these things are important and can cost vital marks when poorly handled). What we’re talking about here is empowering students with an effective method for critical thinking and structured writing. That’s why this issue must be taken seriously and not simply addressed with ad-hoc remedial lessons. As the RLF highlighted a decade ago,
“This is no longer a problem affecting a few, to be dealt with peripherally by special needs units or specially-timetabled remedial classes”.
What’s more, as students pay more and more for their courses – and the student drop-out rate rises – it becomes more pressing than ever that universities give students appropriate support to cope with their studies. Quite simply, as the title of the RLF’s document stated so eloquently, writing matters in higher education – and I agree that it’s time for writing to receive the level of attention it deserves.
Paul Ayling is the founder and CEO of Writing Machine.
Read more about the state of academic writing here:
We have years of experience in helping companies improve their writing with our Structured Business Writing courses and think that students and graduates could make great use of it too in improving their own skills.