Why Writing is Major for Your Major
Writing is an integral part of our lives here at Case, creating the environment that we live in, preserving the history of our surroundings, and helping to project the future of the city. More importantly, however, writing helps to define us as individuals, allowing us to express our ideas and engage in a dialogue with others. This is especially important as we move forward and declare a major area of study. As classes become smaller and topics more complex, the expectations placed on our writing will consequently become more intense and focused. Chemistry students will need to write up lab reports, while English majors will turn their efforts towards in-depth literary analysis. While these majors seem to have fairly identifiable writing components, I found myself wondering how writing is incorporated into another major, with less obvious writing roles: political science. Seeking information, I did what any other freshman with a question would do: I went straight to my R.A., Allison Lansell. Allison is pre-law, triple majoring in political science, psychology, and sociology. While I chose to focus the discussion on political science, these three subjects all focus on communication and interactions with people, and thus, I learned, are integrally tied to writing.
For her political science classes, Allison must do writing assignments which ask her to demonstrate her comprehension of the subject, while also helping her to practice writing tasks that she might encounter as a professional in the field. She said that her writing usually expands on the class reading, requiring her to question and apply theories, and think about the topic in-depth. Research assignments also require her to carefully hunt through other people’s writing, gleaning useful information that she may reorganize and contextualize to support her stance on a topic. For certain classes, she also writes “memos.” Memo format consists of a concise, one to two page paper in which the writer conveys as much relevant information as possible on the topic, editing out any “extra stuff.” Allison stressed that when writing memos, it is important that the information be conveyed accurately. When information is taken out of its original context, the author must present it in a way so that it retains the same meaning. Thus, certain principles emerged as central to successful writing within the major: the ability to read and summarize others’ ideas, the ability to recognize and provide context for those ideas, and the ability to write concisely and accurately.
But why are these writing skills relevant for political science students? As my discussion with Allison continued, I learned that the writing that Allison has done at Case has helped to prepare her for a summer internship with the Federal Trade Commission, which required her to use the same writing techniques. Often, she would be asked to find information on a topic and synthesize it into a brief report to be used for presentations later that day. Thus, the ability to effectively summarize various studies played a critical role in her ability to do this. Allison also spent time in the advertising department dealing with written claims, scouring the web for examples of false advertising (which is not only misleading for readers, but can also have very serious legal implications.) In addition, she also spent time looking for adults misrepresenting themselves in order to gain access to children’s chatrooms. As she looked for traces of their writing, her computer meanwhile tracked her moves through its own virtual written record. As she is looking to pursue a career in law, Allison knows the importance of being held accountable for one’s writing.
Allison’s experiences demonstrate that writing plays a central role in the study of political science, providing a forum in which to exchange and examine ideas. It allows information to be passed from one person to another without requiring a personal interview or conversation. Additionally, briefs and “memos” allow ideas to be shared around one’s own schedule, and referenced as needed. Writing also serves an important role in maintaining records of actions that have occurred in the past, providing important documentation. The subtle implications of writing are brought to light, as scholars search for meaning and truth in documents. The political science department states on their website that their mission is, “to provide information about and analysis of the political world… craft theory and gather data to understand policy choices and political conflicts.” Provide information… craft theory… gather data… understand choices… all goals that are effectively accomplished in communication through writing.
*Learn more about Political Science at Case Western Reserve Unviersity through written statements on their website (and think how writing is necessary to successfully achieve their departmental goals) :
http://www.case.edu/artsci/posc/
**Another kind of writing in that one might encounter in the political realm: the political cartoon. Although not as formal as the memos written by poli sci majors, this form of writing uses satire to comment on the political state of affairs (thus contributing to the discourse)
(image courtesy of http://www.louisiana101.com/ideas_regan_political-cartoons.jpg)
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