In the well-intentioned effort to help college writers find strong theses, we as instructors can put the cart before the horse. Let me explain. I was reminded of this problem a couple of weeks ago ...

Many of my first-year college students have been battle-trained in writing thesis statements by the time I get them. But rather than opening doors to thought, the thesis quickly closes them. Instead ...

Dry. Proscriptive. Wordy. Jargony. Boring. Many words have been used to describe scientific writing, very few of which would excite a reader to take a closer look into the contents of a paper. With ...