Josh Krawczyk Writing Attitudes

Is it possible to engage students in forms and topics of writing that they invest in personally, perhaps even enjoy? Composition students complete essay assignments because they are required to in order to earn a score, but can instructors engage them at a deeper, and ultimately, more successful level? The study presented in this text answers that question. The attitdues of students concurrently enrolled in a major introductory course as well as a second-semester freshman composition course are compared to the attitudes of students in the same composition course, but of different majors. Findings indicate that students writing about their major, and with a support group of their peers with the same writing assignments, display a more positive attitude toward writing. Though this study examines only a small group of students at a midwestern Land Grant University, it provides groundwork for future research to improve writing attitudes and overall performance of writing students.