Habits of Mind

Studies suggest that those students who succeed in college aren't necessarily the ones who succeeded in high school or who have high test scores, but those who engage in a certain ways of thinking or "habits of mind." Students may not arrive in our classrooms prepared to approach learning in these ways, so we designed our Freshman Writing Program to provide students with opportunities to practice these ways of thinking. We want our students to succeed in their college coursework and ultimately, wear a cap and gown; thus, we consider it our mission to help them achieve theirs.

In our inquiry-based writing program, instructors lead students to recognize and practice the habits of mind essential to inquiry:

1. Questioning and curiosity 
2. Looking for answers
3. Suspending judgment
4. Seeking and valuing complexity
5. Understanding that academic writing is a conversation
6. Understanding that writing is a process  

Inquiry-based programs engage students as active participants in their own education, promote intellectual curiosity and open-mindedness, and encourage students to value writing as a way to learn, to communicate, and to reflect.