{"id":723,"date":"2025-04-18T17:57:26","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T17:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/englishcomp1\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=723"},"modified":"2025-08-01T15:11:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T15:11:47","slug":"writing-and-communication-in-college-apply-it","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/englishcomp1\/chapter\/writing-and-communication-in-college-apply-it\/","title":{"raw":"Writing and Communication in College: Apply It","rendered":"Writing and Communication in College: Apply It"},"content":{"raw":"<section class=\"textbox learningGoals\" aria-label=\"Learning Goals\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><span data-sheets-root=\"1\">Describe methods for approaching different college writing assignments<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/section>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_894\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<img class=\"wp-image-894 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5208\/2020\/06\/25000555\/bright-1296538_1280-300x220.png\" alt=\"An icon of a head with a thought bubble containing a lightbulb.\" width=\"300\" height=\"220\" \/> <strong>Figure 1<\/strong>. Identifying the purpose or end goal of any given situation provides you with a sense of direction. It is no different with class assignments.[\/caption]\r\n<h2>Getting Started With Writing Prompts<\/h2>\r\nWhat exactly am I supposed to do with this assignment? What is the professor looking for? Is there a right or wrong answer? Every student asks these questions. Knowing how to think about how to approach an assignment is so important. When you are confident that you are going about your work in the right way, it makes doing that work so much easier!\r\n\r\nLet\u2019s take a simple prompt. Your instructor gives you this prompt for homework:\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">In 500 words, discuss the main idea of the article we read on the dangers of head injuries in American football.<\/p>\r\nLet\u2019s first focus on purpose.\r\n<h3>Purpose<\/h3>\r\nStudents often think the purpose of these sorts of writing assignments is to check to see if they have done the reading. That is NOT the purpose. Obviously, the purpose is for you to learn, but what?\r\n\r\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\" aria-label=\"Try It\">What do you think is the purpose of the homework prompt above? Jot down some ideas about the purpose below.\r\n<p class=\"p1\">[practice-area rows=\"4\"][\/practice-area]<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/section>As you may have discussed, the purpose of this assignment might depend on the course.\u00a0 For a composition class, the purpose would have been to practice identifying the main idea. For a psychology class, the purpose may have been to learn and demonstrate your understanding of some content knowledge about the brain and brain injuries.\r\n\r\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\" aria-label=\"Try It\">[ohm2_question <span style=\"color: #000000;\">hide_question_numbers=1<\/span>]36002[\/ohm2_question]<\/section>Often, instructors in college will offer prompts with many, many questions. Especially if you were taught in high school that it was important to answer every question in the prompt, it can be very challenging to think about how to approach this kind of prompt.\r\n\r\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\" aria-label=\"Try It\">[ohm2_question <span style=\"color: #000000;\">hide_question_numbers=1<\/span>]36003[\/ohm2_question]<\/section>\r\n<h3>Implied Questions<\/h3>\r\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\" aria-label=\"Try It\">[ohm2_question <span style=\"color: #000000;\">hide_question_numbers=1<\/span>]36004[\/ohm2_question]<\/section>Let\u2019s think about some of the ordinary situations in which we use implied questions. If you ask your father if you can have the car keys, what is the implied question? Of course, it's really\u2014Can I borrow the car? If your grandmother asks you if you would like her to drop off some cookies, she may be asking: Would it be okay if I came over to see you? We use implied questions in our everyday communication all the time.\r\n\r\nYou should look for the implied question or questions, especially when you see these words in a prompt: <em>discuss<\/em>, <em>examine<\/em>, <em>consider<\/em>, <em>explore<\/em>, or <em>comment on<\/em>. One way to think about this is to think about the different questions you might ask in relation to a broad prompt.\r\n\r\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\" aria-label=\"Try It\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">[ohm2_question hide_question_numbers=1]40703[\/ohm2_question]<\/span><\/section>Do you see how any of these (and probably more that you thought of) might be implied by the original prompt? As above, the point isn\u2019t that you need to answer all of these implied questions, but that you recognize that behind many prompts, there are other implied questions. Thinking about those unasked but implied questions can help you dig into the prompt and be more successful!\r\n\r\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\" aria-label=\"Try It\">[ohm2_question <span style=\"color: #000000;\">hide_question_numbers=1<\/span>]36005[\/ohm2_question]<\/section>","rendered":"<section class=\"textbox learningGoals\" aria-label=\"Learning Goals\">\n<ul>\n<li><span data-sheets-root=\"1\">Describe methods for approaching different college writing assignments<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<figure id=\"attachment_894\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-894\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-894 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5208\/2020\/06\/25000555\/bright-1296538_1280-300x220.png\" alt=\"An icon of a head with a thought bubble containing a lightbulb.\" width=\"300\" height=\"220\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-894\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 1<\/strong>. Identifying the purpose or end goal of any given situation provides you with a sense of direction. It is no different with class assignments.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Getting Started With Writing Prompts<\/h2>\n<p>What exactly am I supposed to do with this assignment? What is the professor looking for? Is there a right or wrong answer? Every student asks these questions. Knowing how to think about how to approach an assignment is so important. When you are confident that you are going about your work in the right way, it makes doing that work so much easier!<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s take a simple prompt. Your instructor gives you this prompt for homework:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">In 500 words, discuss the main idea of the article we read on the dangers of head injuries in American football.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s first focus on purpose.<\/p>\n<h3>Purpose<\/h3>\n<p>Students often think the purpose of these sorts of writing assignments is to check to see if they have done the reading. That is NOT the purpose. Obviously, the purpose is for you to learn, but what?<\/p>\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\" aria-label=\"Try It\">What do you think is the purpose of the homework prompt above? Jot down some ideas about the purpose below.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><textarea rows=\"4\"><\/textarea><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p>As you may have discussed, the purpose of this assignment might depend on the course.\u00a0 For a composition class, the purpose would have been to practice identifying the main idea. For a psychology class, the purpose may have been to learn and demonstrate your understanding of some content knowledge about the brain and brain injuries.<\/p>\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\" aria-label=\"Try It\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"ohm36002\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/ohm.one.lumenlearning.com\/multiembedq.php?id=36002&theme=lumen&iframe_resize_id=ohm36002&source=tnh&show_question_numbers\" width=\"100%\" height=\"150\"><\/iframe><\/section>\n<p>Often, instructors in college will offer prompts with many, many questions. Especially if you were taught in high school that it was important to answer every question in the prompt, it can be very challenging to think about how to approach this kind of prompt.<\/p>\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\" aria-label=\"Try It\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"ohm36003\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/ohm.one.lumenlearning.com\/multiembedq.php?id=36003&theme=lumen&iframe_resize_id=ohm36003&source=tnh&show_question_numbers\" width=\"100%\" height=\"150\"><\/iframe><\/section>\n<h3>Implied Questions<\/h3>\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\" aria-label=\"Try It\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"ohm36004\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/ohm.one.lumenlearning.com\/multiembedq.php?id=36004&theme=lumen&iframe_resize_id=ohm36004&source=tnh&show_question_numbers\" width=\"100%\" height=\"150\"><\/iframe><\/section>\n<p>Let\u2019s think about some of the ordinary situations in which we use implied questions. If you ask your father if you can have the car keys, what is the implied question? Of course, it&#8217;s really\u2014Can I borrow the car? If your grandmother asks you if you would like her to drop off some cookies, she may be asking: Would it be okay if I came over to see you? We use implied questions in our everyday communication all the time.<\/p>\n<p>You should look for the implied question or questions, especially when you see these words in a prompt: <em>discuss<\/em>, <em>examine<\/em>, <em>consider<\/em>, <em>explore<\/em>, or <em>comment on<\/em>. One way to think about this is to think about the different questions you might ask in relation to a broad prompt.<\/p>\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\" aria-label=\"Try It\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"ohm40703\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/ohm.one.lumenlearning.com\/multiembedq.php?id=40703&theme=lumen&iframe_resize_id=ohm40703&source=tnh\" width=\"100%\" height=\"150\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/section>\n<p>Do you see how any of these (and probably more that you thought of) might be implied by the original prompt? As above, the point isn\u2019t that you need to answer all of these implied questions, but that you recognize that behind many prompts, there are other implied questions. Thinking about those unasked but implied questions can help you dig into the prompt and be more successful!<\/p>\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\" aria-label=\"Try It\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"ohm36005\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/ohm.one.lumenlearning.com\/multiembedq.php?id=36005&theme=lumen&iframe_resize_id=ohm36005&source=tnh&show_question_numbers\" width=\"100%\" height=\"150\"><\/iframe><\/section>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"menu_order":17,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[]","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"part":88,"module-header":"apply_it","content_attributions":[],"internal_book_links":[],"video_content":null,"cc_video_embed_content":{"cc_scripts":"","media_targets":[]},"try_it_collection":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/englishcomp1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/723"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/englishcomp1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/englishcomp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/englishcomp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/englishcomp1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3521,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/englishcomp1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/723\/revisions\/3521"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/englishcomp1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/88"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/englishcomp1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/723\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/englishcomp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/englishcomp1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=723"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/englishcomp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=723"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/englishcomp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}