A Deeper Insight Into Writing

Yesterday (10/21), CIS writing and critical reading classes took to the cities to attend a University of Minnesota field trip.

The morning began with a free writing session in the Coffman Union theatre, where students imagined their life in 15 years, including where they would work, who they would work with, and what they would create.

After the free write, four panel members spoke about their careers and the writing processes involved in them.

Members included Julia Eagles, Michael Behrends, Kim Clarke, and Andrew Goodman-Bacon.

Goodman-Bacon is an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis who began the panel presentation explaining how he uses writing every day in economics, working closely with his colleagues every day.

Clarke is a librarian at the University of Minnesota. She explained how she is deeply involved in the research process through being a research coach. She also works closely with a writing team with whom she shares work at conferences.

Behrends is a creative director at Partyland Ad Agency. He is a copywriter who writes and edits the scripts of commercials. His biggest piece of advice to the students was to “not get too attached to your work.”

Eagles is a senior program officer at Midwest Climate and Energy. Her job, as she states, is to “explain complex information easily for others.” 

Each of these panelists spoke to the students on how they use audience awareness, the writing process, and research in their everyday work. Students took notes on these aspects of their job throughout the morning and were encouraged to try to apply this to their freewrite.

After the panel members spoke on their careers, a Q&A took place where students got to ask panel members about their jobs and their writing processes. 

Overall, students learned about how the writing process is different, but present, in every job. They learned about how to receive criticism throughout the process, and the effects that AI can have on writing. Though it may not be through writing the essays students are used to making, writing isn’t going to suddenly stop being relevant after high school. It is a skill that is taught now, but will continue to be implemented for years to come.