Although Auburn University ranks high in the U.S. News and World Report, a reported 85th in national universities and 38th in public universities, many freshmen lack the writing skills needed to survive in college and in the professional world.
According to the 2008 edition of the AU Report, the CLA revealed that a large number of new students did not display the writing skills their ACT scores suggested.
The same report said seniors showed better results than freshmen, indicating that those seniors developed writing skills during their years at Auburn.
"I'd rather write a paper any day," said Morgan Millener, senior in nursing. "In my major, we have to read a lot, and writing major points is just something we have to do."
Jessica Sims, third-year Ph.D. student and English composition GTA, recommends reading as a pathway to improved writing literacy among new Auburn students.
"One thing I preach a lot is how important it is to be good readers before you can become good writers," Sims said. "The hope is that being able to understand how people write will translate into their writing."
Sims also recommended that students stay on top of their revisions.
"Normally, I have two or three students who struggle a semester," Sims said.
"The main reason they struggle is because they don't stay on track and on top of writing assignments."
Her students have only one deadline, which is on the last day of class.
Sims said she believes one deadline is more beneficial than several spread out through the semester.
"This gives them all semester to revise," Sims said. "If they don't stay on top of revisions, that's when they get into trouble."
Outside of composition classes, several professors offer similar advice.
"The most important thing to remember (in regards to study skills) is to read the readings when they are assigned instead of waiting a few nights until the exam," said David Lucsko, assistant professor in history. "Students try to cram all the reading in one night, but that's bad practice."
To be truly successful, Lucsko suggested students, especially freshmen, be prepared and not procrastinate.
"College is more strenuous than high school, or it's supposed to be," Lucsko said. "Some people don't have to study through middle and high school; they don't have to put in as much work for an A."
Lucsko said similar patterns of ease are harder at Auburn than at other high schools.
"Students need to have the expectation that they will have to ratchet up the amount of time spent studying," Lucsko said.
Lucsko advised struggling students to seek additional resources, including the Miller Writing Center and visiting a professor's office.
"I couldn't think of any colleagues who wouldn't be happier to help students catch up or do better on their next exam," Lucsko said.
Aimee Callender, assistant professor of psychology, recommends students focus on retaining text as they read, as opposed to just trying to get the required reading finished.
"A lot of students tend to skip over the more difficult things," Callendar said. "It seems counter intuitive, but students tend to skip over that, with things that are easier to process."
Callender said that the most effective study methods are those that involve self testing, which is one of the reasons she likes to use the clicker system in her class.
"For classes with reading of a lot of expository text, like history and political science, outlining is really useful," Callendar said.
"Writing summaries is really useful because as you're reading or writing the summary, you realize what you don't understand."
Auburn offers preparatory courses, including the electives Success Strategies and the Auburn Experience, that help guide freshmen through the rigors of college.
"They're helpful," Lucsko said.
"I had a similar course as an undergraduate at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. It's nice to have the realities of college life hammered into your head."
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