What's in it for me?

Including writing in courses has both short- and long-term benefits for teachers. In the short run, teachers are better able to gauge how well students grasp information and where they need elaboration of key concepts. In the long run, as more teachers incorporate writing into more courses, students become more and more practiced at using writing as a communication and learning tool. Especially for more advanced or specialized work in the discipline, teachers reap the benefits of having students who are better grounded in the fundamentals and ready to engage in more sophisticated analysis of ideas.