Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2003
Publication Source
The Second Draft: Bulletin of the Legal Writing Institute
Abstract
We now know that many experienced lawyers think newly-minted attorneys “do not write well.”1 Law professors complain that students do not write well when they enter law school. Undergraduate professors say their students do not write well when they enter college. I suspect the complaint continues on down the ladder of K- 12 education. Are students learning to write in college, high school, and elementary school? To shed light on the question, I surveyed students in my legal writing class about their writing experience. I wanted to know what kind of writers I was teaching. Had they been taught fundamental writing skills? How much writing had they done? To what extent was writing a component of their classes? What kind of and how much feedback had they received? The survey form I created was three pages long, with room for responses, and took about 15 minutes to complete. This article shows what the survey taught me.
Inclusive pages
6
Document Version
Published Version
Publisher
Legal Writing Institute
Volume
18
Issue
1
eCommons Citation
Wawrose, Susan, "Students’ Writing Backgrounds: A Survey" (2003). School of Law Faculty Publications. 94.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/law_fac_pub/94
Comments
Article was originally published in "The Second Draft: Bulletin of the Legal Writing Institute." It is provided here with the permission of the Legal Writing Institute; permission documentation is on file.