The New Literacy: Stanford Study Finds Richness And Complexity In Students Writing By Cynthia Haven

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Summary of Haven’s Essay: In her essay, “The New Literacy: Stanford Study Finds Richness and Complexity in Students’ Writing,” Cynthia Haven claims that writing, for the modern college student, has changed due to recent technology, specifically the internet. To prove this claim, the author turns to a study that began in 2001 at Stanford. This study’s goal was to analyze the writing habits of college students; however, the results yielded more than just that. The study found that students are writing much more than was expected, and much of what they write is not for a grade. So, these students write almost as much for their personal gain as they do for an academic one. Due to this, students are able to understand and utilize higher-level writing techniques, such as epistemic writing. Furthermore, they have …show more content…

He references a study that began at Stanford in 2001, specifically focusing on a student named Mark Otuteye. Otuteye is one of the participants in the aforementioned study; in fact, he was one of the most distinguished ones. The goal of the study was to examine the writing habits of college students. So, the researchers asked students to submit everything they had written both in and outside of class. Otuteye submitted around 700 writings, varying from essays written for class to poems which he wrote for nonacademic reasons. Both sides of this issue of writing skills are looked at by Keller. One side embraces the cultural-richness that comes with the “new” form of writing. Meanwhile, others believe that it is corrupting the perfected system that is traditional academic writing. The author examines both sides by using sources from each in order to inform the reader. Keller leaves his conclusion rather open-ended, allowing the reader to decide for him or herself which side to

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