Writing Skills Topics

All users have access to the Writing Skills topics in the Study Plan. Each topic has activities and exercises aimed at helping you gain mastery in a subject such as sentence fragments, adjectives, and paragraph development.

When you see a date or the text "Required" next to a Writing Skills topic, your instructor has assigned that topic. The date is the topic's due date. Specifying a due date is optional, so when you see "Required," that means the instructor has assigned the topic without a due date.

As you work with these topics, you can use the drop-down list at the top of the topic list to control which topics are listed. Click this link for descriptions of the drop-down options.

To Do List: Shows all topics you have yet to master. (Mastered means you passed, or accomplished the goal of, the topic.)

Mastered Topics: Shows all topics you have mastered and any that you have exhausted (answered all the questions but not mastered). These exhausted topics are flagged as alerts, and the alerts are sent to the instructor.

All Topics: Shows all topics in the Study Plan.

 

Tip: Click this link to view a video on writing-skills topics.

To work through a writing-skills topic:

1. Click the Study Plan tab.
2. Click the Writing Skills tab.
3. Click a topic grouping to display its topics.
4. Click a topic.

   The Study Plan displays the topic's Review Materials and Activities. An asterisk (*) indicates that an activity is required.

5. Click a Review Materials link or a link's View button to watch a video refresher of concepts and examples.

   The Review Materials are typically brief, animated videos that summarize the topic's concepts. When you are in an eText course, the Review Materials also include a link to the relevant section in the eText.

6. Click either the Recall Exercise link or its Begin button and work through the exercise sets.

   Recall exercises test your knowledge of the subject at hand through a series of multiple-choice questions.

   Once you start work on an exercise set, the Begin button changes to New Set or Resume. A Resume button means you stopped midway through a set and clicking the Resume button restarts the exercise where you left off. A New Set button means you have one or more additional sets to complete.

7. Click either the Apply Exercise link or its Begin button and work through the exercise sets.

   Apply exercises test your ability to identify concepts.

8. Click either the Write Exercise link or its Begin button and select a question or statement to write about. Then write a draft and click the Save button as you work. To complete the draft at another time, click the Save and Return Later button. Click the Save and Submit button to submit the draft to the instructor.

   A Write exercise is an exchange with the instructor, who reviews and grades your drafts. (Your instructor determines whether or not you have access to the Write exercises.)

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