A Checklist to Guide Graduate Students' Writing

Abstract

Many graduate students are poor writers because graduate school demands higher quality and more variety of writing skills than undergraduate school, most students write without revision under heavy time pressures, and instructors often lack the time to guide them toward good writing. Helping students improve could happen in different ways. A structured modeling process might help, but it would be time intensive for faculty and students. Peer review writing groups might help students improve their writing, but they would require extensive student time as well as giving and receiving feedback, a process with which they may be uncomfortable. A process that might balance time and effort for all involved is a checklist for mechanical errors. Some existing checklists are brief but limited in scope; others are comprehensive but time consuming. The present manuscript presents an intermediate length checklist for mechanical errors. It has the advantages of encouraging interaction between faculty and student, having flexibility to be adapted to particular needs, and focusing on mechanical errors thus freeing up faculty to focus on substantive issues such as content and organization.

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