Briefly speaking: Prized professor on writing skills

In 20 years of teaching at UC Davis, Brenda Deen Schildgen has identified one skill that all students, regardless of their discipline, should develop well: the capacity to write clearly and effectively.

“Writing is a foundation for lifelong learning,” said Schildgen, professor of comparative literature and recipient of the 2008 UC Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement.

In what is now a tradition, Aggie Family Pack visits with the winner of the annual $40,000 prize — believed to be the largest of its kind in the nation — to discuss an aspect of teaching or learning important to him or her.

As a scholar who works with literature in English, Italian, French, Spanish, Greek and Latin, Schildgen has long understood the importance of clearly communicating thoughts on paper. In addition to her research and teaching at UC Davis, Schildgen has been instrumental in building the campus’s highly praised University Writing Program and has been a staunch advocate for the development of writing skills not just in English courses but across all disciplines.

“Writing isn’t just knowing where to insert a comma or a semicolon,” Schildgen said. “It’s about knowing how to present an argument.”

‘Critical in all fields’

Writing skills will help a student be successful not only in their college years, but also in their professional lives. While writing may play a greater role in some fields, such as comparative literature, it is critical in all fields to some degree. Whether working on fiction, a critical essay or a scientific paper, students need to develop control over language both orally and in writing, Schildgen said.

Not all writing is the same and, while one style of writing may work well for one class or project, each assignment requires a different approach. Upper division classes in any discipline will require writing. For students in the sciences, the work they do in the humanities that tends to be heavier on the writing will help them think in different ways and use those analytical skills later in their science courses.

Practice

One of the biggest ways that students can improve their writing is to practice, practice and then practice some more, Schildgen said. She speaks from experience. She’s written five critically acclaimed books, edited four others, and authored some three dozen scholarly articles and more than a dozen invited book or article reviews.

“Writing is a central tool and critical to every undergraduate’s development,” Schildgen said.