This is a brief, ungraded writing exercise; in 45 minutes to an hour, write a letter to yourself, explaining your best argument for why you should follow through to finish your college degree.

WRITE using different rhetorical strategies to communicate purposefully in a variety of situations while employing an effective writing process.
Students’ achievement of the outcome will be measured by their ability to
• demonstrate awareness of genre and audience;
• create a text with a clear focus, either implied or stated in a thesis;
• illustrate or prove points with adequate detail and evidence;
• arrange ideas logically;
• use rhetorically appropriate language; and
• improve clarity and credibility through careful proofreading.
READ by applying strategies to understand a variety of texts.
Students’ achievement of the outcome will be measured by their ability to
• summarize the main ideas of a piece of writing and
• respond to and critique documents, including published and student texts.
THINK CRITICALLY by comparing and evaluating diverse viewpoints on a variety of topics and reaching conclusions based on available evidence and logic.
Students’ achievement of the outcome will be measured by their ability to
• demonstrate awareness of different sides of an issue through argumentation;
• analyze writing strategies and contexts; and
• evaluate sources for reliability, relevance, and usefulness.
USE INFORMATION by effectively integrating and synthesizing information from other sources into their writing.
Students’ achievement of the outcome will be measured by their ability to
• incorporate information from outside sources;
• navigate source documentation style guides; and
• document sources using both informal and formal citation styles to enhance credibility and avoid plagiarism.