Signs of the Times #5 – Advancing the Common Good with Good Writing ft. Connie Snyder Mick Ph.D

Connie is the academic director at the Center for Social Concerns and the co-director of the Poverty Studies Minor. She recently published a textbook, Good Writing: An Argument Rhetoric. Connie shares her experience as a writing professor and what it means to create a space where students come from different disciplines and backgrounds to think about social concerns and wrestle with them in a meaningful way through writing. She shares that, “Good writing is in fact writing for the common good, ethical writing that persuades others to think and act in ways that advance humanity.”

Connie also discusses what it’s like to question the preconceived conventions of writing in today’s climate where there is an erosion of legitimate discourse. The writing course is more important than ever to articulate values and teach students to have the confidence and skillset to enter public discourse in a valid and reliable way. Connie’s book is available on the Oxford University Press website and any major bookseller.