LibGuides: College Writing I: Writing Goals

Writing Goals

One way to improve your writing is to learn more about the types of writing you may encounter in your future. When you have found some specific examples of writing as it is used by people in your field, then you can analyze it to discover the elements that make it up. This list of elements can become goals for your own learning. What do you want to be able to do as a writer?
The tools below can help you create your writing goals.

Exploring Careers

Handshake
This system provides customized job-search features to UMass Lowell students/alumni and recruiting employers, including job, internship, and co-op posting and searching; and online job applications; and job applicant profiles.
O*NET Online
This is the USA’s primary source of occupational information. Central to the project is the O*NET database, containing hundreds of standardized and occupation-specific descriptors on almost 1,000 occupations covering the entire U.S. economy. The database, which is available to the public at no cost, is continually updated from input by a broad range of workers in each occupation.
Focus 2
This tool is provided by Career Services at UML. It offers a series of quizzes ad tests (including personality and work interests) that can help you identify what kinds of careers may be a fit for you.
Candid Career
A career development video library. Filter by major or by career and find 2- to 4-minute videos of folks giving insight into what they do.

Writing in Academic and Professional Fields

Michigan Corpus of Upper-Level Student Papers
This collection of student papers includes a range of majors, and is searchable by major, topic, or genre. Each of these papers was written by an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, and each was graded A by the course professor.
UMass Lowell Student and Alumni Presentations
The videos here include presentations at the Student Research and Community Engagement Symposium, interviews with students about their writing, and interviews with UMass Lowell alumni about the writing they do at work.
Articles and books about writing in professional fields
These resources are available free online to UMass Lowell students and community.
Honors Projects by UMass Lowell Students
This archive features projects completed by Honors alumni.
DSpace@MIT
A digital repository for MIT's research, including peer-reviewed articles, technical reports, working papers, theses, including undergraduate.

Professionals Describe Writing on the Job, 2022

Police Reports

These two reports were written by Lowell police officers. A defense attorney shared them with us. Police officers have to appear in court to testify about the events they describe in their reports. The attorney told us that one of these reports is good, and one is bad—so bad, in fact, that she was able to get her client acquitted after peppering the police officer with questions about errors and confusions in the report. Can you tell which is which?

Police Report 1, Redacted
Police Report 2, Redacted
Working Backwards Ch. 4
Ask your instructor for the password.

College Writing I

Writing Analysis Table

Full Writing Goals Guide

Writing Goals