The Evergreen State College Guide to Writing Your Academic Statements

The Writing Center Presents

A GUIDE TO WRITING YOUR ACADEMIC STATEMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword..............................................................................................................................2 How to use this guide........................................................................................................4 What are Academic Statements at Evergreen?...............................................................6 Final Academic Statements in Context of Your Transcript.................................................................................................8 The Transcript as an Institutional Document ................................................................10 Reflective Writing at Evergreen Timeline........................................................................12 Why Write Academic Statements?..................................................................................14 Common Questions about Academic Statements.........................................................15 Getting Inspired: Materials for any Stage........................................................................17 Circle of Genres...................................................................................................................18 What to Talk About ............................................................................................................20 The Meaning You’ve Made out of Your Education .........................................................22 The Six Expectations of an Evergreen Graduate............................................................24 Your Liberal Arts Education...............................................................................................25 How Others See a Liberal Arts Education........................................................................26 Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities.......................................................................................28 Essay Styles to Browse ......................................................................................................30 Classic Essay Styles............................................................................................................32 Common Custom Essay Styles.........................................................................................33 Topic Sentences, Summary, and Analysis......................................................................34

Including Personal Information in Your Academic Statement.....................................36 The Process of Writing Your Academic Statement ........................................................38 Setting Up Your Setting......................................................................................................39 When to Write: When and how long should I work on my Academic Statement?...................................................................40 The Five Stage Writing Process: An Overview................................................................42 The Benefits of Working in the Order of the Stages ......................................................43 Applying the Five-Stage Writing Process to Academic Statements ............................44 Brainstorming Techniques................................................................................................46 Drafting Techniques...........................................................................................................48 Revision Techniques .........................................................................................................50 Editing..................................................................................................................................52 Proofreading........................................................................................................................54 Resources ............................................................................................................................56 Things to Remember .........................................................................................................57 Coloring Pages ....................................................................................................................58 Word Bank...........................................................................................................................60 Style Guide ..........................................................................................................................62 Formatting and Punctuation.............................................................................................63 Academic and Evergreen-Specific Nomenclature..........................................................64 Colophon ............................................................................................................................66

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FOREWORD You may remember being asked to write an Orientation Essay at the beginning of your time at Evergreen. You were provided with two prompts to choose from, which essentially boiled down to “reflect on your past and what brought you to this point in your education” or “reflect on your future and where your education could take you.” This assignment is the first of many reflective writing processes asked of Evergreen students.

When I first started at Evergreen, I did not understand how fundamental the process of reflective writing would be for my education. I approached the Orientation Essay how I approached every assignment at the time: just get it done the way it’s supposed to be done. It had not occurred to me that no one cared exactly what I wrote.

I wrote the Orientation Essay because I was told to do so, not understanding that the process of reflective writing was setting me up to be engaged in and accountable for my education. Writing the Orientation Essay was a process ultimately designed to serve me.

Now, as I begin my final year, I am looking back at my younger self for clarity and realizing that, while all these years have felt like grappling in the dark, I have had intentionality in my education.

I conceptualize my education as a blackberry bush. I started out with a small root system that over time has expanded and changed. Branches die, and new ones grow out.

Sometimes, the plant fruits. The brambles appear to be contained—a bush here and one there—but if you’ve ever tried to pull up a blackberry bush, you know that they are anything but contained. The vines weave in and out of the ground, tangling and expanding in ways that are unimaginable. Yet, they are all connected as one plant and one structure.

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This tangled mess has been my experience at Evergreen. I started out with a root system, an idea of what I wanted to learn, and a sense of exploration. The more I learned, the more I grew. The longer I was here, the more entwined my growth became.

The vines of my education weave in and out of the ground, popping up here and there.

It’s hard—almost impossible in some places—to understand how it all connects. I know it always intersects; as I contemplate my final Academic Statement, I recognize that all of my experiences at Evergreen have contributed to changing the person I was when I wrote my Orientation Essay into the person I am today. For me, the goal of the Academic Statement is to make sense of that mess, extracting the pieces that are most important and explaining how they are all connected.

For you, the Academic Statement may be something different. But, whatever it is and wherever you are in the process of writing it, I hope that you can let yourself pause.

Remember to take the time to notice yourself. Notice the ways that you think and feel about your education. Notice what you’ve learned and how it’s changed you. Let yourself acknowledge all the ways that you’ve grown, because you definitely have. Remember that the Academic Statement is yours. It’s not just some piece of writing that will open doors for you later.

It’s a document that represents you and your learning, and writing it is a process that is just as vibrant. Let yourself make the process meaningful, whatever that looks like for you.

I wish you the best, and hope that you can use this guide to make the most of your experience with the Academic Statement.

—Writing Center tutor, ‘21

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HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE As peer tutors and administrators at the Writing Center, we recognize that it can be overwhelming to work on a document that will permanently become part of your formal academic record, especially when the only requirements are that it’s 750 words and due before you graduate. We know from our sessions, our talks with our peers, and our own experiences that sometimes it’s hard to find the right strategies.

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We hope this guide will help you to: • Understand Academic Statement requirements • Use the processes you know work well for you • Explore techniques that may be new and welcome to you We also hope to point you in the direction of useful resources should you need them: • Writing Center tutors (of course!)

• Academic and Career Advisors • TRiO staff • First Peoples Multicultural, Trans, and Queer Support Services staff • Veterans Resource Center staff • Student Wellness Services Counselors • Student Activities staff • Your faculty and other trusted individuals We can’t provide a one-size-fits-all approach, nor tell you what your Academic Statement should be. At the Writing Center, we believe that there is no fundamentally right or wrong way to approach any writing. But we do know many approaches and many ways that an Academic statement could be. Not all of these resources will work for everyone, so pick the ones that feel right for you. You got this!

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WHAT ARE ACADEMIC STATEMENTS AT EVERGREEN? Overview

What are the Academic Statements, and what is the difference between the Annual and Final Academic Statement?

They are essays. These essays focus explicitly on the sum of your personal and academic experiences in college. Your Academic Statements show how you are developing your most valued ideas, expanding your range of skills, and achieving your most exciting accomplishments.

They are part of a cycle of reflection. From the time you apply for admission to the time you graduate from Evergreen, you will have many opportunities to make meaning out of your learning through reflective writing. Each quarter, you have the opportunity to reflect on your education through writing Self-Evaluations. When you write your Academic Statement, you will make meaning out of your past experiences and connect your past to your present (and possibly future) self.

They are drafted and published. Each year, you are asked to write an Annual Academic Statement, which is sometimes called Annual Revision or Academic Statement draft.

These annual drafts won’t be published in your transcript, but they are used towards writing your final Academic Statement which will be published in your transcript.

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Final Academic Statements in Context of Your Transcript

The Evergreen Transcript Traditional college transcripts are a few pages long, but your Evergreen transcript is likely to be 10–50 pages. The length of your Evergreen transcript will depend on how long you attended Evergreen and whether you choose to include Self-Evaluations.

Every Evergreen transcript includes:

Page 1: A Cover Sheet about Evergreen • Provides a description of how Evergreen operates by using interdisciplinary programs as well as courses, and how our system is based on narrations of academic achievements and credits instead of grades.

Pages 2 and 3: A Record of Your Academic Achievement • Your degree will be listed at the top and then the date, for example: “Bachelor of Arts, 2022”.

• If you transfered credits from other schools, the title of the institution and the sum of the credits you earned there will be listed by institution at the top of the page.

• Your Evergreen undergraduate credits will be listed by course/program title in chronological order. » Your transcript does not show the credits you attempted, but only the credits you earned. So if you lost one credit in a four-credit class, your Record of Academic Achievement will simply say that you earned “3 credits” not “3 out of 4” credits. » The credits you earned are broken down into a summary list. These are called, “course equivalencies,” and they describe the subject area you received credit in.

Pages 3 and 4: Your Final Academic Statement • This is the first page of your transcript that is in narrative form, in other words it is not a list or series of points with headings. It’s your opportunity to speak directly to the reader about the listed information they just read and how it relates to your academic experience. This is the page this guide is all about!

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Remaining Pages: Course-by-Course in Reverse Chronological Order • The remaining pages contain sets of documents for each course or program you took at Evergreen.

Each set includes: » Your faculty’s description of the course or program » Their evaluation of your achievement (a.k.a. “Faculty Evaluation of Student Achievement”) » Your Final Self-Evaluation (if you choose to include it) • These are listed in reverse chronological order in your transcript. This means your most recent course or program will be listed first and your first course or program will be listed last in the final pages of your transcript.

Your Voice in Your Transcript • Program descriptions and Faculty Evaluations of Student Achievement are written by your faculty. First, your faculty describes the course or program content and expectations. Then, your faculty describes how you’ve engaged with that course or program content.

• Your Academic Statement and Final Self-Evaluations are where you can add your voice to the discussion. They provide an opportunity to supplement or add to the picture that your faculty paint in their Evaluation of Student Achievement.

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The Transcript as an Institutional Document Did you know that some information you might include in your transcript is protected by law?

Protecting Privacy You cannot include the full names of other students who attend or attended Evergreen in your transcript. This is in order to protect that student’s privacy. This is part of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

Preventing Discrimination Some personal information cannot be inquired about by potential employers, or anyone making admissions decisions. This is part of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These acts are meant to prevent discrimination related to your: • Sex • Gender • Age • Race • Ethnicity • Religion • Sexual orientation • Parental status

• Marital status • Citizenship • Immigration status • Socioeconomic status • Physical or mental health or ability

• Personal history with drugs or alcohol • Housing status • Pay history (in some states)

You can choose to include this information in your Final Academic Statement for your transcript, but the fact that these laws exist does raise some questions you may want to ask yourself. These laws exist to prevent demographic profiling and discrimination in hiring practices for employers and admissions processes for institutions of higher learning.

Your transcript is part of your academic record for your whole life, so it’s important to be intentional about what information you choose to share. For more on this, see Including Personal Information in Your Final Academic Statement on page 36.

Requesting Your Official Transcript The Evergreen State College cannot share your transcript with anyone unless you approve it.

When you order your transcript, it will come in a sealed envelope. Most people who request a transcript from you require that Registration and Records send them the transcript directly, unopened.

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Name Changes and Gender Markers and Your Transcript There is a process being created for name change or pronoun change in your transcript. What we know so far is that there is conflicting information available about how to accomplish these changes and that the process can be time consuming. As you approach your final fall quarter, review your unofficial transcript and consider whether you have any undesired inconsistencies in your transcript when it comes to legal and chosen names and gender markers. To learn more about this process, connect with the Registration and Records office and with the staff at First Peoples Multicultural, Trans, and Queer Support Services. Staff at First Peoples is ready to help, but they ask that you start the process early!

Visit evergreen.edu/registration/changing-personal-info for more.

Institutional Woes? Don’t Do It Alone Did you know that there are on-campus resources available to support you while working on your Academic Statement? Be sure to use them and ask for help when needed. You may want to reach out to one or all of the following: • Academic or Career Advising • The Writing Center

• First Peoples Multicultural, Trans, and Queer Support Services • TRiO advisors

• Faculty (current or former) working in your field(s) of interest

Additionally, Student Wellness Services may be helpful if you need support for your mental wellness or are feeling overwhelmed by all there is to think about and do.

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REFLECTIVE WRITING AT EVERGREEN TIMELINE Admissions Essay: Before you were Admitted

Orientation Essay: Due your First Week at Evergreen

SelfEvaluations: Every Quarter

Evaluations of Faculty: Every Quarter

Before you even arrived at Evergreen, you reflected on yourself as a learner in your Admissions Essay. (It was optional for most.)

At the start of your first quarter, you may have reflected on the very beginning of your academic journey in your Orientation Essay. (This is recommended, but not required.)

At the end of each quarter, you will have written a reflection on your own performance in the class, on the work you completed, and on your own participation in the course or program. When you post them to my.evergreen.edu, you have options to “Turn In” the SelfEvaluation to your faculty or to “Submit” it to your transcript (which can’t be undone). If you do not submit now, you will have the option to submit it later.

Self-Evaluations are not required to be a part of your transcript (Required to ‘Turn In.’)

Evaluations of faculty are written to communicate to your faculty member and to the deans about the faculty’s performance as an educator. They are turned in via my.evergreen.edu and are not a part of your transcript.

(Recommended.)

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Annual Academic Statement: Every Year

Final Self-Evaluations: Your Final Year/Quarter

Final Academic Statement: Your Final Year/Quarter

This reflective writing is due once a year. It’s your opportunity to reflect on and describe your growth and goals as a student and to set goals for the future.

(Required.)

If over the years you’ve been saving your Self-Evaluations and have not yet submitted them to your transcript, you have the opportunity to edit and polish these before submitting them your senior year, if so desired.

(Recommended.)

This is the final opportunity to describe your education while you are enrolled at Evergreen. It becomes part of your transcript and is required for graduation.

(Required.)

Learn more: evergreen.edu/writingcenter/essential-reflective-writing-evergreen

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Why Write Academic Statements?

Annual Academic Statement: • It has multiple drafts. You are expected to write one annual draft each year.

If you enrolled at Evergreen as a first-year student, you might write 3-4 Annual Academic Statements. If you are a transfer student and have two years to study at Evergreen, you’ll only write one Annual Academic Statement (and one Final).

By investing in writing your annual statements, your final statement will benefit from your practice.

• It’s your own running record. It’s easier to write down concrete details on experiences, projects, and lessons as they happen than it is to try and remember them later. Writing your annual drafts provides an opportunity to reflect and create a record as you go. By engaging in an ongoing writing process, you will be able to see growth, change, and common threads throughout your cumulative time at Evergreen.

• It can help you make decisions. Looking back at specific details you find important can help you determine your goals and the next steps you need to take in order to achieve them. Having these ideas and experiences synthesized can help you make decisions about what to do next in your education.

Final Academic Statement: • A shared snapshot in time. Once submitted, your Academic Statement is a fixed, published document. Unlike many other schools, official Evergreen transcripts begin with the student’s own voice. Years after completing your education, you can look back at your Final Academic Statement to reminisce and reflect on the skills, abilities, and knowledge you gained at Evergreen.

• It’s great material. You can draw on your Academic Statement to help you write other relevant material. The Final Academic Statement is unique in that it is both a professional and personal document. This means that you can use it to write a wide variety of documents such as: cover letters, resumes, application essays, personal biographies, or a memoir— it’s not plagiarizing if you wrote it!

• Translate your learning. It’s one thing to talk to someone who’s gone to Evergreen about your education, but another to describe your academic experience to someone outside the context of Evergreen. Your Final Academic Statement is a chance to reflect on your entire time in college and synthesize, explore, and highlight key themes of your education for audiences in the wider world.

(Read more about Using the Goals of a Liberal Arts Education and the Six Expectations to Frame Your Academic Statement on page 25.

• It can be what you need it to be. It’s up to you how you use your Academic Statement. How you shape it will be based on what you pursue in life after Evergreen. It’s important to write your statement with your goals in mind, so you can tailor it to best suit your needs. Some students (typically in the sciences) design their Academic Statement to be less personal, more concise, and centered in acquired skills and knowledge. Others (typically in the humanities) choose to have a narrative structure rooted in what they did and what that means to them personally. Neither of these approaches are incorrect—use whatever works for your needs.

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Common Questions about Academic Statements Q: Does it matter if I do my Annual Statement or Final Statement?

A: Yes! If you don’t turn in your Annual Academic Statement, a hold is placed on your student account which prevents you from registering for classes. If you don’t turn in your Final Academic Statement, you won’t officially graduate, and you can’t send your official transcript to any graduate schools or employers.

It also might matter to you for various personal reasons. In the following pages, we hope you might glean how best to use the Academic Statement writing process to make plans, achieve goals, and know yourself.

Q: Can I change or edit my Final Academic Statement once it’s submitted to my transcript?

A: No! There may be very rare exceptions at the discretion of the deans, but as a general rule of thumb, it is unalterable once submitted.

Q: How much time should I spend on this?

A: The process of writing an Academic Statement will depend on your own personal goals and circumstances. Spend as much or as little time on it as you feel you need, but remember: the more genuine effort you put into your Annual Academic Statement, the more practiced you will become in reflective writing, and the more prepared you will be to begin writing your Final Academic Statement as graduation approaches. See When to Write: When and how long should I work on my Academic Statement? on page 40 for more on how to make time for your Academic Statements.

Q: How “high stakes” is the Academic Statement? Everything about it makes me think I should be freaking out—including the length of this guide.

A: Your Final Academic Statement is a serious institutional document that will be in your transcript forever. But it may not get very much attention depending on your next steps after college. Most employers don’t ask for a transcript, however, some may. When seeking employment in some fields, such as education, or when pursuing graduate school, your transcript will be a part of the hiring or admission board’s requested material.

As for this guide, the length is due to the fact that we cover a lot of things to speak to a wide range of people. Use what you like from this guide and ignore the rest!

It’s okay to feel daunted during this process. If you have many concerns, A.K.A. are seriously freaking out, be sure to get some support from any or all of the resources on page 50.

Q: Can I write my Final Academic Statement just for myself?

A: Yes and no. You can write your Academic Statement as a reflection just for yourself—just keep in mind that, while you are the audience now, you may have a different audience later. Graduate schools and some future employers may request your transcript, which will automatically include your Final Academic Statement. But this question brings up a good point; your Annual Academic Statements and the first drafts of your Final Academic Statement are, more than anything else, for you. They are great opportunities for you to practice self-awareness and powers of reflection in order to learn more about how you are growing into your own interests and expertise. No matter whether you focus on yourself or someone else as your audience, your Final Academic Statement should be something that communicates what is most important to you at this time and what you put into and got out of your time at Evergreen.

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Q: The information and advice I’ve been given about the Academic Statement is diverse and conflicting. How do I know who to listen to or which way is best?

A: There is a huge range of information available about how to write an Academic Statement!

This wide variety of information is because there are so many ways to write one, and people’s ideas vary based on their academic fields and experiences. It’s ultimately up to you to decide what you want to say to your audience.

Q: Wait...what information and advice? The Academic Statement was never covered in my courses or programs!

A: Many courses introduce and workshop Academic Statements, but not all. If you have missed out on this experience, ask your faculty to give you a run-down or come hang out with us in the Writing Center. We’ll help you out. You can also find more resources on page 50.

Q: What should I include? What should I not include?

A: You should include the things that have mattered most to you while pursuing your degree. You’ll also want to include what you think best describes how you’ve grown because of your participation in your college programs. As for what not to include, consider your audience and decide what is and isn’t appropriate for them to know about you. See What to Talk About on page 18 for a whole list of ideas. You might also consider the questions in Including Personal Information on page 36.

Q: How do I write my Final Academic Statement so that it “ages well”?

A: If you are concerned about your Academic Statement aging well, you might consider writing in more of an expository essay style (See Essay Styles to Browse on page 28). The blessing and the curse of the Final Academic Statement is that it will inevitably show parts of you as you are now that will likely change over the course of your whole life. In order to write an Academic Statement that ages well, try not to assert where you’ll be in the future too specifically, (e.g. “I plan to be a photographer at National Geographic Magazine”). Instead, generalize about where you see yourself (“I hope to always be near nature with a camera”). Also, consider the questions in Including Personal Information on page 36.

Q: I’m a senior, my Final Academic Statement is due tomorrow, and the Writing Center is already closed. Help!

A: While we don’t recommend putting the Final Academic Statement off until the last minute, we’ve all been there. We know it happens. Here are our quick tips for the last minute: • Be concise. Make sure to include your primary academic focus, as well as any events, skills, or projects of high importance or relevance. Read back through and remove the filler.

• Get a proofreader. It’s easy to glaze over things, especially if you are in a hurry!

We recommend running your statement through an online spelling and grammar checker, proofreading it yourself, and getting the opinion of a friend or faculty. Even if you think you don’t have the time, call up someone you trust because the last thing you want is a typo front-and-center on your transcript, and it will be much harder to catch it yourself if you are stressed.

• Don’t stress about meeting 750 words. Sometimes short and sweet will have to do.

Writing a really nice paragraph or three is always better than a rushed page or two.

• Use what you’ve got. Chances are, you have already done a lot of reflective writing here at Evergreen. Pull up your Orientation Essay, Evaluations by Faculty, SelfEvaluations, and past Academic Statement drafts, and reuse these materials when applicable. Compiling these writings can sometimes be easier and faster than starting from scratch.

• Check out examples and templates. This guide provides you with many valuable resources—use them! Check out Essay Styles to Browse on page 28 and Drafting Techniques on page 46 to give yourself an idea of what to expect and how to structure your Final Academic Statement.

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GETTING INSPIRED: MATERIALS FOR ANY STAGE While there is no universal Academic Statement template, there are many ways to write one to meet your specific goals. This section aims to give you some options for how you go about creating an Academic Statement that works for you. A student whose emphasis is in the sciences is going to have a different academic story, skill set, and goals than a student whose emphasis is creative writing. The qualities of an effective Academic Statement are contextual to the student.

Because readers should be able to come away from any Academic Statement knowing that you grew as a person through your education, parsing out the most important aspects of your education may require a good amount of freewriting, brainstorming, or talking with friends. This can be a lot of work but it will be clear in the final product that this time was well spent.

In this section we provide a variety of tools that have helped us describe our Evergreen experiences in hopes that they will help you in any stage of your process. These ideas apply to any stage but not necessarily every student, so pick out what speaks to you the most.

What Genre is an Academic Statement?

What genre of writing is an Academic Statement?

You can draw from writing genres that you are familiar with to help inform how to communicate with your reader. The chart on the following page shows how you might experience writing in these other genres to write your Annual or Final Academic Statements.

For more about how to style your Academic Statements, see Essay Styles to Browse on page 26 and Drafting Techniques on page 42.

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CIRCLE OF GENRES MANY GENRES CAN INSPIRE A FINAL ACADEMIC STATEMENT Research/Synthesis Essay Manifesto/a/x or Mission Statement

explores and cites existing literature

declares what you/ your group stand(s) for and what you/your group believe(s) are your group shows the influence principles of your beliefs and values on your academic story told through an academic or professional lens

explores and cites the literature of your education and/or narrative evals

Artist Statement introduction to your body of artwork; overview of your most valued ideas and how they show up in introduces your your artwork body of academic work; overview of your most valued ideas and how they show up in your academic work

Prologue introduces a book

Memoir introduces the collection of narrative evaluations in your transcript

FINAL ACADEMIC STATEMENT

showcases skills and concrete accomplishments gained/used in your undergrad that can help you in many cases

showcases your skills and concrete accomplishments and shows how you and your goals fit the one job

Cover Letter

tells your story through a personal and academic lens highlighting your strengths and abilities tells your story through personal, academic, and financial contexts; highlights your strengths and abilities, shaped to a particular donor and the way you will use funding from others to further your and the donor’s shared values Scholarship Letter

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shows how your academic story is influenced by who you are as a person told through a professional or academic lens

tells any part of your personal story through any lens

tells your academic story targeting one grad program and how you and your goals fit that program tells your academic story focusing on your undergrad

Personal Statement for Grad School Application

Created by Ariel Birks, Writing Center 2019

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What to Talk About The list below is here to inspire, but by no means do you have to discuss all of the components of your experience. You’ll have to choose which elements are most important to your academic story, particularly in your Final Academic Statement.

Curricular Activities This is the “meat and potatoes” of your degree—what you did in your classes, where you gained depth and breadth, how you are developing your thinking, and how you chose your academic pathway. These are the things we traditionally think of when asked what an education is all about.

• Area of Emphasis It is almost always important to signal to readers some subject in which you have focused your studies. How deep did you go? Why did you choose it? How many credits do you have in this subject? Earning 45 or more credits in a field allows you to call it your area of emphasis, and 32 credits in a field could be considered a minor area of emphasis. An area of emphasis is not listed on your transcript, but you are allowed to refer to it on resumes, applications, and your Academic Statement. If you have questions about declaring an area of emphasis, visit Academic Advising or the Career Development Center in LIB 2153 or call (360) 867-6312 for an appointment. See the Area of Emphasis worksheet on page 20 for more.

• Very Influential Classes Sometimes a course or program exemplifies a common theme in your education, helps to define your emphasis, or provides a significant shift in your perspective. Including these can give a helpful timeline and context, and can also be used to direct your reader to positive or important evaluations.

• Projects/Capstones Often a program description or faculty evaluation will not do justice to a large project or capstone experience. If a project was successful and relevant to your emphasis or future goals then it can be helpful to discuss it in an Academic Statement. This is especially true for projects that span multiple programs or even years.

• Internships or Independent Learning Contracts Internships and Independent Learning Contracts provide a different kind of experience than programs and are often more self directed and hands-on. They are often very meaningful experiences for students and usually cultivate many practical skills.

• Research Experience Discussing the particulars of what your project entailed right at the beginning of your transcript can be advantageous. Research experience is a competitive quality when it comes to applying for many graduate schools and jobs.

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Co-Curricular Activities A well-rounded student does more for their education than collecting credits and leaving. Being an involved and engaged student means taking advantage of opportunities all around you.

Many aspects of campus life can provide you with valuable experiences and connections. It can be helpful to have these things in your statement because they might not otherwise appear in your transcript or resumé.

• Clubs Being involved in a student club can be a driving social or academic force in your life. Clubs can also connect you to mentorship opportunities and provide you with leadership experience.

This can be impactful and relevant enough to include in an Academic Statement.

• Sports For many students, athletics is a big part of the college experience and their lives before college.

Most employers and graduate schools value someone who can work cooperatively with others, and some students exemplify this through sports experiences.

• Student Organizations and Volunteer Work Including these experiences can be a great way to diversify and add practical experience to your Academic Statement. These may already appear on your resumé but can be relevant since they exemplify community involvement and application of learning—just use your word counts carefully.

• Student Employment Many campus jobs and internships provide practical training relevant to areas of study.

Describing the way that your employment helped inform your education is a great opportunity to show off your experience and interdisciplinary connections. If you tutor a subject related to your area of emphasis or work as a lab or studio aid you might want to write about it.

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The meaning you’ve made out of your education A reader of your Academic Statement should be able to get a sense of you. You might link the bigger sections of your academic or co-curricular achievements by framing your time at Evergreen with who you are personally.

• Personal Stories and Anecdotes Personal stories can add intrigue and investment in your narrative if they’re done well and appropriate for your intended audience.

• Personal Values and Passions Bring your path to life. What makes you invested in the work that you do?

Where do your passions and goals come from? How have you held yourself to your own high standard throughout your education?

• Common Life Themes What important things keep coming up in your life? How do these things connect to common themes and connections in your education?

What impact have they had on your decisions at Evergreen?

• Relevant Personal History What in your life has pushed you here?

What experience do you have with your area of emphasis from before Evergreen? How does your past inform your education and uniquely qualify you to accomplish your goals? *Note: For a discussion of the pros and cons of including very personal information, see Including Personal Information on page 36.

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Extras These are mostly cosmetic additions to add weight to a point or narrative or guide the reader in a certain direction and may or may not strengthen your statement. See the Style Guide on page 62 for notes on how to include these items.

• Epigraph An epigraph is a short quotation at the beginning of a piece of writing which can set a mood or give background information if used well.

• Quotes You can use quotes in the Academic Statement the same way that you use them in an essay.

• Statistics/Data It can be hard to work with these in a way that will stand up to time, but a relevant statistic lends a lot of weight to an argument if you choose to make one.

• Personal Work The Academic Statement is accepted exclusively in written form with a strict word limit, but if you feel as though a few lines of poetry or writing sample frame what you have to say particularly well, go for it!

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The Six Expectations of an Evergreen Graduate Evergreen’s Six Expectations can be used to brainstorm for your Academic Statement.

For example, how has Evergreen helped you develop in ways that align with employers’ and graduate schools’ expectations of a graduate?

The Six Expectations of an Evergreen graduate are: 1. Articulate and assume responsibility for your own work.

2. Participate collaboratively and responsibly in our diverse society.

3. Communicate creatively and effectively.

4. Demonstrate integrative, independent, critical thinking.

5. Apply qualitative, quantitative, and creative modes of inquiry appropriately to practical and theoretical problems across disciplines.

6. As a culmination of your education, demonstrate depth, breadth, and synthesis of learning and the ability to reflect on the personal and social significance of your learning.

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Your Liberal Arts Education We hope this section will give insight into how your transcript’s audience, who is likely not familiar with Evergreen, might engage with your Academic Statement and transcript by explicitly connecting Evergreen values to those held by academics and employers outside of Evergreen.

Evergreen is a liberal arts school, but what does that mean?

How does an Evergreen education line up with widely accepted definitions of the liberal arts? The goal of this section is to illustrate a few connections between how Evergreen and others think about education. Here we will show some viewpoints of people who live and work outside of the culture and system of Evergreen through the well-known texts: Only Connect and Humanity, Diversity, and the Liberal Arts. Using the following skills and values to help plan your education can help you become a well-rounded student.

The Six Expectations are not the only way Evergreen has interpreted its commitment to Liberal Arts.

You might get inspired by looking at documentation on Evergreen’s founding as an experimental institution of higher education, the ideas that accompany that founding, and how they have changed over time. You can find this documentation in the archives in the library.

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How Others See a Liberal Arts Education Liberal Arts Means Liberating Ways of Thinking In their 2010 book Humanity, Diversity, and the Liberal Arts, Aaron Thompson and Joseph Cuseo claim that liberal arts education is for liberation—freedom from unexamined beliefs. The goal of this education is to cultivate “self-directed critical thinkers…with knowledge spanning many subjects.”

Liberal Arts Means Well-Rounded Ways of Thinking When students learn ways of thinking from many disciplines and connect them through unique modes of inquiry, they become well-rounded, independent thinkers. It is important to apply these ideas to different contexts and scopes, understanding the local and global significance of classroom learning. Cuseo and Thompson say that, “Learning and connecting disciplines of thought in the liberal arts means a student should be able to think and solve problems • concretely, • abstractly, • linguistically, • numerically, • objectively,

• subjectively, • imaginatively, • symbolically, • systematically, • and inspirationally.”

A liberal arts education seeks to promote self-awareness and self-development in students.

An educated person should develop not only an intellectual and vocational awareness, but also emotional, ethical, physical, and spiritual awareness of themselves before graduating (Cuseo, Thompson, page 10). At Evergreen, we add cultural awareness to that list as well.

That is to say, it’s important to learn about yourself and develop many different kinds of intelligence in college beyond the strictly academic. (For definitions of these ways of growing, see Cuseo and Thompson or the Evergreen New Student Handbook.)

Liberal Arts Means Being an Engaged Citizen In his 1998 essay, “Only Connect…” The Goals of a Liberal Arts Education, William Cronon frames the goal of education as developing the student as a whole person, who is not only an engaged and eloquent learner, but also an engaged citizen. Above all, Cronon places the ability to make connections as the most important skill of a student and citizen. He recognizes a liberal arts graduate through these qualities: • They listen and they hear.

• They read and they understand.

• They can talk with anyone.

• They can write clearly and persuasively and movingly.

• They can solve a wide variety of puzzles and problems.

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• They respect rigor not so much for its own sake but as a way of seeking truth.

• They practice humility, tolerance, and self-criticism.

• They understand how to get things done in the world.

• They nurture and empower the people around them.

Exercises to Explore Your Liberal Arts Education Exercise: “Liberal Arts” Freewrite This exercise helps you get some of your thoughts onto the page or into a sound recorder. Respond to this prompt: Now that you’ve read through three definitions of the liberal arts, what do you think your liberal arts degree is for?

How would you define the goal of your education for yourself? Write freely.

Then use your definition to help you analyze your experiences at Evergreen.

Exercise: Using the Six Expectations/Transcript Review Expectations Coding Key This exercise will help you connect your personal experiences and skills with qualities expected of college graduates. Completing it can help you find language to sell your strengths or help you identify gaps in your education to fill before graduating. You can find the Expectations Coding Key at evergreen.edu/institutionalresearch/teachingandlearning.

Compile a provisional transcript by printing out your current Academic Statement, academic summary, course descriptions, faculty evaluations, and any self-evaluations you have submitted to your transcript from my.evergreen.edu or by ordering an unofficial transcript.

Step 1: Compile a provisional transcript by printing out your current Academic Statement, academic summary, course descriptions, faculty evaluations, and any self evaluations you have submitted to your transcript from my.evergreen.edu or by ordering an unofficial transcript.

Step 2: Save or print a copy of the Expectations Coding Key at evergreen.edu/ institutionalresearch/teachingandlearning. Review the expectations. If you have questions about what they mean, you might consult with your faculty or an academic and career advisor.

Step 3: Read through your “transcript” and score yourself (or have a friend score you) according to the rubric.

Step 4: Ask yourself if your score accurately reflects how you feel you meet the expectations? Do you have some information to share with your audience that isn’t currently in your transcript, such as an area of focus, capstone project, or greater synthesis of your Evergreen journey?

Note: The transcript review coding key comes from the Transcript Review, which is a recurring event where faculty and staff read randomly selected transcripts of recent graduates to determine how they meet the Six Expectations of an Evergreen Graduate. The coding key is used to break down the Six Expectations into many skills and qualities that college students should possess, each meaningful outside of Evergreen.

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Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Talking about how you feel about your accomplishments is personalizing and compelling— the details around how and why you are so experienced and what those accomplishments mean for your future are what speak to graduate schools and employers.

If this is difficult, know that having trouble identifying your knowledge, skills, and abilities is normal. Being a student is all about changing what we used to think to what we now think and confronting our blocks to growth, so it makes sense if you are more used to looking at where you have room to grow rather than what you have to offer! If you need some perspective on how to talk about your strengths, see an academic and career advisor or trusted individual in your life. They can help give you some space to voice your insecurities and reflect back to you how far you’ve come.

If you are applying to a job or graduate school, you’ll also have a cover letter and/or application that you can tailor to each, so you don’t have to fit every detail into your Final Academic Statement. Elaborating on how you grew and what you are able to do now because of your knowledge and skills will enrich your Final Academic Statement and will help you write stronger resumés.

ABILITY: Examples of past outcomes you have achieved SKILLS: The things you do (verbs) to create effective work KNOWLEDGE: What you have to know in order to produce informed and effective outcomes, possibly drawn from a body of work For example, the ability to manage a farm comes from an integration of the knowledge of crops, soils, and irrigation with the skills of seeding plants, transplanting, weeding, and harvesting.

Because they’re intrinsically linked through your education, institutional or otherwise, it might be hard to think of your knowledge, skills, and abilities as separate components.

When it comes to your Academic Statement, use these as a launching point to ensure that you are talking about specifics.

Here’s an example of someone discussing their knowledge, skills, and abilities in a Final Academic Statement: “Through my time at The Evergreen State College I have learned far more than how to set up an interview to be pleasing to the lens and the eye; I have also learned how to dig for the story and reveal the details that make the narrative blossom. As a filmmaker, I know when I have asked the right question from the contemplative pause that must precede any answer of real importance.”

—Myron Avalos

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Essay Styles to Browse Now that you’ve thought about the many topics you can discuss in your Academic Statement, how do you shape your ideas into an actual Academic Statement?

We cracked open the old Purdue Owl Writing Lab website to give ourselves a refresher on the classic genres of essays: expository, persuasive, reflective, and descriptive. We also read through about 30 donated Academic Statements written by Evergreen seniors and found a couple other organizational strategies in use—chronological and linked by theme.

The writer who thrives on outlining and structuring their work before starting to draft might appreciate this collection of essay styles the most. However, you might gain inspiration by browsing the possibilities. Writing an essay is sort of like packing a suitcase: you’ve got to make everything fit in the space allotted, but you can organize your content in many different ways. When it comes to your Academic Statement, the important thing is to choose a style that works for you and your academic story.

First Person or Third Person?

Academic Statements are your own perspective, in your own voice; therefore we recommend that you write your Academic Statement in the first person (e.g. “I learned...”) as opposed to third person (e.g. “Silas learned...”).

Personal or Not Personal?

Choosing to include personal information in your Final Academic Statement is a highly individualized choice, and one you must make as you write. See page 36 for more about including personal information in your Final Academic Statement.

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Classic Essay Styles Expository Essay Expository Essays are usually written to collect information from a variety of sources into one place. These essays are often assigned in class to present your understanding of a topic or synthesize information. Their format includes an introduction to the topic, a thesis statement, and body paragraphs exploring evidence. A successful expository essay will lead the reader to seriously consider the thesis the author presents and take the information provided to be truthful and useful enough to keep reading.

If you were to write your Academic Statement as an expository essay, we would encourage you to personalize it.

Your research subject is yourself and your own materials.

Perhaps the thesis could be something like, “I have met the Six Expectations of an Evergreen graduate in the following ways.” This type of essay would present the facts and rely more heavily on evidence (your skills, experiences, evaluations) rather than pivotal moments.

Persuasive Essay A persuasive essay uses evidence to persuade someone of its thesis or main idea using your reasoning and your opinion. Persuasive essays typically have an introduction paragraph that contains some background information about the topic (which in this case would be you and your background), a thesis statement that articulates the main idea, body paragraphs with reasoning (not necessarily evidence, as in an expository essay), and a conclusion, which reframes the main idea and summarizes your thinking.

Ideally a persuasive essay will shift your readers’ thinking, causing them to take your side.

If you were to write your Academic Statement as a persuasive essay, your thesis could aim to prove that you gained something of importance from your education—or that you feel assured of your own skills and preparedness for your next goal.

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Reflective/Personal/Narrative Essay A narrative essay aims to tell a story to your reader. Narrative essays are personal and are written with rich details that bring the reader into the plot of your experience. Narrative essays often start with an introduction, several paragraphs of plot development, and conclude with either the end of the story or a pivot towards the beginning of a new story.

A successful personal narrative has readers asking “What’s next?” throughout. By the end, readers should come away understanding something about your character and your motivations.

If you were to write your Academic Statement as a personal narrative, you might describe an arc of who you were academically when you started at Evergreen and where you are now.

You might also tell a single story about your experience that ties your transcript together.

Descriptive Essay Descriptive essays aim to help readers gain familiarity with something. Descriptive essays are filled with details related to the five senses and the author’s inner thoughts. These essays articulate what they are describing and why it’s worth describing.

If you were to write your Academic Statement as a descriptive essay, you would describe what your education has been like, how it worked for you, and what qualities your courses and programs had. A prompting question could be, “What was a liberal arts education at Evergreen like for you?”

Common Custom Essay Styles The styles below describe other organizing principles you can use to form your Academic Statement. These are styles we see a lot in the Writing Center. As always, use whatever speaks to you. Mixing and matching essay forms is absolutely OK in an Academic Statement. What matters is that in the end, the essay feels cohesive as a whole and reveals what you found valuable from your time at Evergreen.

Chronological This style of Academic Statement takes the reader from the beginning to the end of your Evergreen journey, listing things in the order that they happened. The chronological Academic Statement is like a highlights reel, but it should be more than a list of your programs, so don’t skimp on the analysis or the descriptions of why those programs mattered.

Show who you were at the start of your education, and where you ended up. This is useful if you want to show a complete overview of your time at Evergreen.

In this style, each paragraph may contain a summary of a particular experience, program, or course, and some analysis. The analysis could include: • What new skills you acquired • How the experience amounted to a greater understanding • How this experience relates to your education as a whole • How this experience changed or affected you • How you grew through participation in a program • What you are prepared to do now because of the experience Your reader should understand the depth and breadth of your experience at Evergreen and what you took away from it.

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Linked by Theme This type of Academic Statement emphasizes you as the main character of your education.

What themes link your experience together and why are the connections you have made meaningful? Your statement might begin with an anecdote or a revelation you had about yourself or about your education and explore several moments and the journey that each of those moments took you on. You could focus on a theme that links these experiences together.

In this style, there is an introduction describing a theme of your education. Each paragraph contains a summary of an experience and describes how those themes are linked. Your skills and abilities come up, interwoven throughout the piece. By the conclusion, you have shown your reader how the theme unites your experiences at Evergreen and what that theme means to you.

Topic Sentences, Summary, and Analysis Each paragraph in an Academic Statement generally has a summary portion, in which the student lists the summary of what happened in the program they are talking about, followed by a sentence or two of analysis describing what that meant for them.

SUMMARY: What happened (normal) ANALYSIS: Why it mattered (bolded) TOPIC SENTENCE: What this paragraph is about (italicized).

As you’ll see in the following examples, you can spread this analysis throughout a paragraph, leave it until the end of the paragraph, or include it in your topic sentence. Topic sentences are traditionally the first sentence in a paragraph but sometimes they go in the middle or at the end to act as transitions between paragraphs.

When you read these examples, ask yourself: What would you do differently? How do you want to organize the sentences and paragraphs in your Academic Statement?

Note: The example Academic Statements featured in this section have been submitted anonymously and names have been changed.

At Evergreen, the vast array of interdisciplinary programs gave me a strong and diverse base of skills and knowledge that I will be able to use in nearly any career that I choose to pursue. Since transferring, I have taken eight separate courses at Evergreen, focusing on history, culture, and human connection. Each one built upon the last in elevating my cultural and political knowledge, as well as improving my self discipline and communication skills. Each of these courses utilized seminars as key elements of their curriculum. Weekly, and in some cases, daily seminars allowed students like myself to engage with diverse people and ideas in a healthy and fruitful manner. Often, students would be called upon to lead seminars, and through these exercises I gained a better grasp on both leading and listening to others. Group activities and other projects provided opportunities to improve my skills in collaboration.

—Clark Rodriguez

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In Scientific and Artistic Inquiry, I worked with colleagues off campus at a local stream to study the interactions between aquatic invertebrates and decomposing salmon. While the culmination of this research resulted in a presentation and display of illustrative prints that identified major organisms found, we frequently found the need to apply our lessons outside of the classroom. We often had members of the community approach us to inquire about our work. We were able to share the tangible implications that detrimental interactions on this stream would have to the aquatic ecology. We worked together to translate and communicate the research in a way that was accessible to a larger audience.

—Mandy Garrison In my first Evergreen academic program, we looked at modernism as a philosophy and movement, its impact on art and literature, and the way we think about intersections between the two. In this space, I read Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons, while learning about the Salons held in her Paris home. Through the lens of a radical reinterpretation of the ordinary, and through the study of artistic manifestos, I wrote a paper about my theory that Tender Buttons itself is a manifesto on gender roles. The reading and writing demands of It’s About Time provided me with a strong foundation on which I have built my Evergreen education.

—Roger Walls During this quarter, I also spent a significant amount of time preparing for a summer undergraduate research fellowship (SURF), including receiving Evergreen certification to operate the inductively coupled plasma mass Spectrometer (ICPMS) in order to get accepted for this competitive opportunity studying phosphorus cycling in Mt. St. Helens forest soils.

Through this research, I began learning chemistry, lab techniques, instrumentation, trouble-shooting, and an incredible amount of patience for myself. I presented to the Evergreen Foundation, which makes funding for the SURF possible, and participated in a poster session, for which my research partner and I presented our findings and made recommendations for future work. Following this project, I realized that I needed to develop my background in science further.

—Sarah Lester

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Including Personal Information in Your Academic Statement The information that you include in your Annual Academic Statement draft can be as personal as you wish because the audience is primarily you. Your Annual Statement also can be seen by your faculty from your previous quarter and from any class you are registered for.

Including personal information in your Final Academic Statement is a highly individual choice because the audience is much broader. No one can tell you the right way to tell your story, and sometimes a little personalization can go a long way to leave an impression on those who may read your Academic Statement in the future.

When you should think carefully about including personal information: Some of your personal information is protected by law. These laws exist to prevent demographic profiling and discrimination in hiring practices and admissions to institutions of higher learning.

Your sex, gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, parental status, marital status, citizenship, immigration status, socioeconomic status, physical or mental health, ability, personal history with drugs or alcohol, housing status, and pay history (in some states) cannot be inquired about by potential employers, nor anyone making admissions decisions.

Even though some of these pieces of personal data are requested as part of the application process for university programs, they are still protected from some audiences.

With the exception of financial information on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms, all demographic information is considered optional.

Admissions committees do not have access to your FAFSA, and demographic information is redacted from the copy of your application that the admissions committee sees. This means that the only way they will know any of these things is if you tell them in the form of your admissions essay, letters of recommendation, in-person interview, or in this case, the Final Academic Statement in your transcript.

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When including personal information may be beneficial: Sometimes, people’s identities relate directly to their academic study or professional work.

Someone whose personal experience adds expertise to a field they are pursuing may benefit from mentioning that experience. Examples of this might include someone who has gone through immigration, and as a result of that experience, was inspired to pursue immigration law, or someone whose personal exploration of gender identity inspired them to pursue becoming a social worker with a specialty in gender issues. If it directly relates to your field of study or professional pursuit, then you might consider including that information in your Final Academic Statement. Keep in mind, however, that anyone who requests your transcript will see this statement, and sharing such information may put you at risk of discrimination.

To share or not to share? Some questions to ask yourself: • Would I be comfortable bringing this up during an interview or professional introduction?

• If someone shared similar personal information about themselves in the first five minutes of meeting me in an academic or professional context, would it feel like they had crossed my boundaries or were oversharing?

• Does this information need to be in this document? Can I share this information in another place such as a personal statement, cover letter, interview, or informal conversation?

• Is there any chance I might wish to keep this information private in the future?

• In ten years, will this still be true and applicable to my field of interest? If not, am I okay with looking back at my Academic Statement as an artifact from a different time and place?

If you want to learn more about how to frame your personal information, see Essay Styles to Browse page 30 and What Genre is an Academic Statement on page 17. Every choice in this area is personal and wholly your own! Come chat with us at the Writing Center or talk to a trusted individual to get support.

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THE PROCESS OF WRITING YOUR ACADEMIC STATEMENT It’s Your Process There are many different ways to go about writing an Academic Statement; how we choose to engage depends on each of us and our experiences. Since there is no one-size-fits-all approach, we can offer ideas that have worked for some and supply questions that may help you create your own living document.

Getting Started: Shaping Your Mindset Are you having a hard time even thinking about your Academic Statement? If so, you are not alone.

Sometimes, it’s your own mindset that’s keeping you from moving forward. While they can be hard to get out of the way, acknowledging these feelings can open up space for new ideas. Journaling can be one of the paths to help you understand yourself, your perspective, and where you are at this point in time. Try asking yourself how you’re feeling about passing through an annual milestone or graduating from college.

You are a real person with real issues that can get in the way of writing. Writing this document gives you the opportunity to reflect and check in with yourself about your undergraduate experiences. Engaging in this process can be a worthwhile effort; the more time you put in, the more you’ll get out of it. In this section we hope to show some options for how you can set your process up for success.

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Setting Up Your Setting What gets you in the mood to write? Sometimes, setting the mood can transform the overwhelming task of writing into a way to relate and connect with ourselves. Here are some elements that make up a setting: feel free to circle an answer, or write in your own response!

What do I prefer?

Quiet spaces (at home, study room... )

or

Bustling spaces (cafe, Red Square)

Other: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Food during (nom, nom, nom...)

or

Food before (yummmm)

Other: ___________________________________________________________________________________________

Warm beverage or Cold beverage Other: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Caffeinated study or Caffeine free Other: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Writing in a group or with a friend or Writing alone Other: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Writing in the morning or Writing in the evening Other: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Warm lighting (dim and cozy)

or

Bright lighting (awake and focused)

Other: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Writing in short bursts (15-20 min)

or

Longer sessions (1+ hrs)

Other: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Writing from reading material (previous drafts)

or

Write from my mind

Other: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Writing by hand or Writing on a computer or voice recorder Other: ___________________________________________________________________________________________

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You may also want to consider what distractions might be in your mind or setting that could keep you from the task at hand. If you try to work from home, will you be distracted by household chores? Are there other assignments that you find more pressing at the moment?

Do you have something scheduled for today that’s pulling your attention away? Do you need to let someone know you’ll be busy?

If you find that you are having trouble staying focused, you may want to deal with those distractions first. That may mean anything from leaving the house to escape the dishes piling up to knocking out that pesky seminar paper that keeps nagging at the back of your mind. Your mindset and setting go hand in hand.

If you struggle with focus, or if you are a person with learning disabilities, you may benefit from working with the Assistive Technology Lab to discover awesome new tools and techniques to support you in addition to using the Writing Center. Check out www.evergreen.edu/access/ assistive-technology for more.

When to Write: When and how long should I work on my Academic Statement?

How much time you spend on this process is up to you. Ideally, the Academic Statement is something you will work on intermittently over your entire time at Evergreen. While it may seem daunting to work on one piece of writing over multiple years, realistically, you will only spend a few days from each quarter working on your Annual Academic Statements until you start working on your Final, when we recommend you spend several weeks, at least.

Most students work through many iterations over the course of several years in order to write an effective Final Academic Statement.

This process is for you; let yourself be in it. Here are some ideas for how you might approach managing your time: • Make it a routine. If you spend time during every quarter adding onto your Annual Academic Statement, then reflecting in the spring will be much easier. You could do this during evaluation week, maybe even with a friend, and reward yourself by doing something fun afterwards.

Hours Contracted for Academic Statement Work in Fall Full time program (12-16 credits) = Six hours of class time Part time program (8-11 credits) = Three hours of class time Less than 8 credits = No time required, but ask anyways! They may be willing to set aside some time to support you and your education.

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• Use the in-class time. Most faculty members are contractually obligated to dedicate time to supporting students with the Academic Statement each fall. This support is vital for students. As of this printing, there is no process for faculty to be held accountable if they don’t provide support. If you’re not getting this support, it’s up to you to take charge of your education and advocate for yourself.

• Don’t do it alone. Sometimes, it can be hard to remember your own accomplishments, but asking your family, chosen family, or friends to share the things they admire about you can be reassuring. Talk with your loved ones about what your education means to you; feel free to write things down as they come up, or even record the conversation (with consent, of course). Then, reflect on the important ideas, phrases, or recurring themes, and consider bringing them into your writing. It can be inspirational and motivating to celebrate your successes with loved ones.

• Give yourself a lot of time over a long time. Spreading out your work can relieve stress which may allow you to dive deeper into self reflection. If you work in shorter sessions, you will have room to set it all aside when you need a break. This is especially good practice if you don’t thrive under pressure, or if you find reflection to be laborious. Or… • Pressurize it. Maybe you know you work best under pressure, or maybe your deadline is approaching and a pressured time frame is all you have left to work with. Identify when you have a block of time you can dedicate to this work. Trust us when we say that starting the week, or even the month, before it’s due is plenty of pressure. Plan to give yourself enough time to realistically write, revise, edit, and proofread. If you thrive with concrete recommendations, the Writing Center recommends working on an Annual Academic Statement for a minimum of 6 hours outside of the time your faculty provides in Fall (divided in any way).

• Budget your time. For Final Academic Statements, imagine that revising, line-editing, and proofreading each take one full week. That’s three weeks, not even counting drafting! It might sound daunting, but your final quarter may be jam-packed, so finding the time may be more difficult. This process takes focus, so it will definitely take longer to do a thorough job. Make sure that you give yourself enough time by starting early in the quarter.

• Book your Writing Center appointments early and often. Consider making at least three appointments for your Academic Statement (especially for the Final). You could use the first session to brainstorm or outline, the second to get revision ideas for your draft, and the third to edit line-by-line. Alternatively, you could bring in your draft to get revision ideas in the first session, line edit in the second, and proofread in the third.

Your sessions could unfold in a multitude of ways, and tutors are flexible (we are students too, and know what you’re going through!).

Students not graduating: book your first appointment by week one to meet your week seven deadline.

Graduating seniors: book an appointment by week four to make your evaluation week deadline.

• Connect with faculty and advisors early on. As soon as you hit spring quarter, request a one-on-one appointment with a trusted faculty member and/or an advisor.

The better you know each other and your academic experiences, the more constructive this support can be. A faculty member in your field can help ensure you’re reaching your audience effectively.

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The Five Stage Writing Process: An Overview At the Writing Center, one of our best practices as writers and editors is to divide writing into stages: brainstorming, drafting, revision, editing, and proofreading.

The Five Stages of the Writing Process BRAINSTORMING (AND RESEARCH) Brainstorming is the process of intentionally generating ideas for a piece of writing.

Research is the process of locating materials to inspire and investigate ideas. You can brainstorm out loud, online, or on paper. There are no bad ideas in brainstorming!

DRAFTING Drafting involves beginning to write ideas down as sentences. The ideas may still be in development, and the sentences may be out of order or incomplete, but they’re there. Don’t worry too much about the quality of writing; developing your content is the goal here.

REVISION Revision is the process of changing your structure, organization, and ways of communicating your ideas. This could include moving paragraphs, restructuring content, or even re-drafting the writing so there’s a new main idea.

EDITING Editing is the process of refining your words and sentences. Revision looks at the piece as a whole, and how paragraphs fit together within it; editing examines what’s inside paragraphs, getting down to sentence level and word choice.

PROOFREADING Proofreading is best utilized when you feel that your writing is complete. It is simply the reviewing of punctuation, grammar, spelling, and formatting. Once this stage is completed, you’ve given the work your final stamp of approval.

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The benefits of working in the order of the stages • Why brainstorm before drafting?

If you are open to all your ideas before attempting to write them into sentences and paragraphs, you might come up with more material, which makes drafting easier.

• Why draft before revising?

As writers ourselves, many of us know the torment of the stifling inner critic, or the pains of having a final draft and realizing you’re missing content. However, sometimes time itself is the best revision tool. If you draft and just write without attempting to re-order your paragraphs or edit your sentences, you’re more likely to have many ideas in full sentences you can revise later, rather than a small amount of really perfect sentences.

• Why revise before editing and proofreading?

It can be immensely frustrating and time consuming to get caught up in the details of making a sentence or paragraph just right, and then deciding to scrap the whole thing because it isn’t ultimately relevant. If you revise before you edit, you will likely have cut irrelevant sentences and paragraphs before you spend the time narrowly focusing on editing and proofreading them. Timesaver!

• Why follow the stages at all?

Mostly, we identify stages and follow the writing process in order because writing is complicated and each stage requires different modes of thinking. Engaging in different stages is like wearing different hats. You may have one hat for generating ideas and another for analyzing them. If you try to wear them both at once, you may not be able to effectively wear either. Oftentimes, this ends up becoming confusing or even downright frustrating (which can cause writer’s block).

But wait! It’s not always possible to write in each stage, in order!

• Writing “out of order” is OK—and inevitable, too.

While we present the stages as having a beginning and an end, you may find yourself going back and forth between them.

In fact, it may be inevitable to go between drafting, revision, and editing. This is what lets you cultivate your ideas and reform how you present them.

• Whatever works best for you is the way to go!

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: writing is not one-size-fits-all.

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Applying the Five-Stage Writing Process to Academic Statements Gathering Materials to Research Yourself Your knowledge and experience are some of your best resources for crafting an Academic Statement. There are a variety of tools you can utilize in your process.

Below are some suggestions for materials to jog your memory—reviewing them can help you form an outline, draft, or find some direction before you sit down to work. Feel free to mix and match at your leisure, or switch up the order in which you do these exercises. You can also choose to skip some if these tactics don’t appeal to you.

Notes and Journal Entries You may have some of your best ideas written down casually somewhere.

Reviewing these may help you reflect or generate new material. Checking in with the main driving qualities that make you you may inspire a sense of direction.

Your Self-Evaluations and Faculty Evaluations of Student Achievement Your evaluations each quarter can be fuel for your Academic Statement.

Were there projects you found impactful, or moments you now recognize as turning points in your education? Consider how these individual experiences fit into your overall academic journey, and how the depth and breadth of your learning has propelled you towards your academic goals.

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Previous Annual Academic Statements If you have annual revisions of your Academic Statement, consider using these drafts as a jumping off point for creating later versions of your Academic Statement.

Examine each iteration for themes, achievements, and influential moments of learning. Maybe compare and contrast your more recent statements with your Orientation Essay to see the ways you’ve grown, and remember the goals you have since achieved.

Your Unofficial Transcript Sitting down with your transcript can help you distinguish which programs were most influential, create a relevant throughline (or map) of your time at Evergreen, and view your education as a cohesive academic journey instead of a smattering of courses and credits. Think about how you can tie programs and experiences together to tell a story and give that story meaning to someone who did not live it.

You can order your unofficial transcript through my.evergreen.edu, under the Transcript and Diploma Order link ($15 for an electronic copy, and $20 for a paper copy).

You can also construct an unofficial transcript for personal use (for free!) by printing out copies of all your faculty and self evaluations. These can be found under the Academic Progress link at my.evergreen.edu.

Meaningful Projects Consider looking through old projects for reminders of what you’ve learned and accomplished. Is there a thread that connects the themes of your earlier studies to independent work and/or a capstone?

Research your Field Researching your field(s) of interest may help you discover a framework for your education, and in turn, a structure for your Academic Statement. Try looking at job qualifications for language you can mirror. Additionally, faculty in these fields of study can be a great resource.

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Brainstorming Techniques You’ve gathered together the materials you need to remind you of your journey at Evergreen—now it’s time to start making sense of it all. The following are a few ideas to support you in deepening your reflections and furthering your process as you work on the Academic Statement. Feel free to use some and not others, combine them, or just use components that you like.

Engage in self-reflective practice.

Whatever it looks like for you, it may help to engage in a reflective practice even when you aren’t writing. Maybe it’s a free write, mind-map, a series of lists, or an outline. Or maybe it’s less words and more artistic—a painting, drawing, or song. Maybe it’s meditating, taking a walk, or taking a shower. Do what you need to do in order to get going, get flowing, and unravel all the pieces that have brought you to this moment of your education, as well as this version of yourself as a student.

Ignore the “ideal” for now.

Don’t worry about what your Academic Statement “should” be.

As you work through your process, set aside expectations of the final product. Let yourself explore your learning, education, and self. Don’t worry about the word count and let yourself imperfectly say everything you have to say. Afterwards, you can sift through everything to find what feels to be the most important content to keep.

Use visual representations or outlines.

Make a map, timeline, or other visual representation of your education and the important pieces. Reflect on the meaning and related themes.

Color-code your research.

If you have gathered your materials and don’t know where to start, try reading through with a handful of colored writing tools and code for various themes, activities, achievements, and skills—see where it takes you.

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Drafting Techniques There are no requirements for the formal structure of an Academic Statement, so the ways to approach the drafting of your Academic Statement are also limitless. However, sometimes having no confines can make it hard to know where to start. Here we have two possible options—the narrative draft and the self-interview approach—that may provide you somewhere to begin drafting. There are benefits and drawbacks to each process. Do whatever works best for you!

Narrative: Annual Academic Statement OR Final Academic Statement A narrative draft is text that is all related to tell a story or illustrate a point. It probably has a beginning, middle, and an end or a major takeaway, truth, or lesson.

Pros: When you go through the process of writing a narrative draft every year, you develop a form and voice that evolves with you as you grow and reflect. The process of writing out a full narrative annual draft of your Academic Statement each year allows you to gain skills in reflective writing through a low-stakes document before you have to write a high-stakes final draft for your transcript. Developing reflective writing skills in narrative form also makes an easier transition from annual to final draft and provides you a foundation for what your Final Academic Statement will look like.

Cons: Practicing and refining this form of narrative reflective writing can be rewarding, but many students find the narrative draft an intimidating challenge. If you’re in the early stages of writing or your education feels nebulous, it can be difficult to synthesize reflections into a cohesive form. Not only that, but you may be leaving out important details that won’t fit neatly into one cohesive narrative but should be explored. If the narrative draft does not feel like a functional approach for you, you may want to try our self-interview approach.

Self-Interview: Annual Academic Statement or FIrst Draft of Final Academic Statement There’s no real reason that an Annual Academic Statement can’t be based on a series of prompting questions. You can simply respond to a series of open-ended questions to generate an Academic Statement draft.

Pros: The value of completing the Annual Academic Statement is in the reflective process, not in the looks or end product. By thoughtfully answering open ended questions about your education and goals, you practice reflective writing in smaller, accessible chunks.

Additionally, it may be easier to compare your growth and challenges if you’re answering these same questions every year in your Annual Academic Statement. These can later serve as notes when you begin to draft your Final. Also, if you do a self-interview draft, you can always rewrite your answers into a narrative form.

Cons: It’s hard to know where to begin and end with the questions. In order to really capture the nuance and complexity of your experience, you might be asking and answering a lot of them. Also, it may not feel like a smooth transition into writing your Final Academic Statement in narrative form if you have gotten used to writing a selfinterview in your Annual.

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Example Self-Interview Questions • How would you describe your current area of emphasis? Why does your emphasis matter to you?

• Is this emphasis the one you had in mind when you came to Evergreen? When and how did you arrive at it? How has your emphasis changed over time?

• Were there major turning points in your educational direction? What were they?

What happened? Why did it matter?

• What has inspired you to study what you’re studying now?

• Where have you struggled during your time at or before Evergreen? Have you overcome this? How? • What unexpected connecting themes have come up for you between programs?

What about intentional common themes?

Why do they matter?

• What are your educational goals for the next year, and who can support you in reaching and clarifying them? What about long-term goals?

• What are your goals after Evergreen?

Are there any requirements you must meet at Evergreen to achieve these goals?

How do you plan to set yourself up to meet your goals and gain these requirements?

You can also do a self-interview using questions related to the Six Expectations of an Evergreen Graduate. The questions are pre-generated and broken down by whether you’re a first-year/ new transfer student or continuing student. These additional questions are online at evergreen.edu/academicstatement/ resources. Prompts for seniors are online at evergreen.edu/ academicstatement/prompts-for-seniors.

When you finish, think about what new ideas or revelations have come up for you in this process. Did you write anything that you would like to explore further? Was the process helpful? If nothing new or surprising came up, try coming up with a couple questions of your own. What are you curious about in your education?

When you’re done, copy and paste the questions and your answers into your my.evergreen account and turn it in as your annual statement—no fuss!

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Revision Techniques Many students don’t have much experience doing a deep revision of their work.

Revision is a critical stage to writing and can be as rich and reflective as drafting.

In our 10-week cycle, programs and courses don’t always build in enough time to perform revisions or rewrites; we are lucky if we have a chance to fix typos and punctuation. So why revise?

Let’s compare writing a draft to throwing darts in a dark room. You may have a loose idea of what you’re aiming for, but a draft is always only an attempt. No matter how accomplished a writer/dart-thrower you are, practice and time will yield more reliable and polished results—most likely, you won’t nail the words or order of ideas precisely on your first attempt. Now think of revision as turning on the room’s light and evaluating how you did. Did your darts mostly land on the left side of the board?

For your next attempt, you might know to aim a little more to the right. With each attempt and evaluation, you gradually build practice and new insight. The beauty of revision is that you can repeat the process as many times as you need to, and eventually, you might hit a bullseye.

There are three main strategies at the heart of revision: cut, clarify, and add. You might use multiple strategies at once (i.e. expansion in some areas, cutting down in others).

Your revision process might also look like a rewrite of the draft with renewed focus and clearer goals for your writing.

It’s difficult to describe how to know which strategies will be beneficial to your draft.

Some writers can get a good feel for which strategies will benefit their drafts through reading and some prefer talking through their draft with others. When in doubt, experimentation is key. On the following page, we provide some prompting questions based on the three revision strategies.

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Revision Questions for Final or Annual Academic Statements • What is at the center of your draft? Is this focus the one you want as the introduction to your education? Does that focus reflect on your education accurately?

• Are there ideas in your current draft that are rich and deserve more focus and attention?

• Are you going for a more professional tone, or a personal one?

• Are there ideas or stories that don’t seem clearly connected to the center of your draft? Should they be told in a different way, or do they belong to a completely different document?

• Does the draft show repetition? Is it intentional or not?

• Do the paragraphs flow logically in the order they are currently in?

• Which parts of your current draft feel like summaries, and which parts feel like narratives? Does the balance between the two feel right, or do you want to restructure certain pieces?

• Does your Academic Statement integrate well with the Self-Evaluations you’ve selected (if any) to be in your transcript?

• Is your sentence structure varied throughout the piece? Do most of your sentences begin with “I did X, I learned X, I improved on X”?

• Does the form of your statement complement the information you’re trying to convey?

• In what ways does the structure of your current draft serve the ideas you’re discussing? In what ways does it not serve those ideas?

• Are you using any undefined jargon that might alienate the audience?

Revision Questions for the Final Academic Statement • Will a reader who isn’t familiar with Evergreen be able to understand the content?

Know that some Evergreen terminology (program, ILC, etc.) is defined in the beginning of your transcript.

• Will this document age well over time?

• Are you comfortable with sharing sensitive elements of your identity and/or personal history to a potential employer or graduate school?

(See Including Personal Information in Your Academic Statement on page 36.)

• Is your draft over the 750 word limit? Where can you cut down, if so?

To see Revision exercises, stop by the Writing Center for our Revision Exercises handout or print your own at evergreen.edu/writingcenter/resources.

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Editing If you feel confident that your ideas are all on the page, it may be time to assess your sentences, word choice, and sentence structure. Does it come across the way you want, and does it have your desired effect on the reader? Line editing is distinct from revision because at this point of the writing process, the majority of the content and structure has been established. Main ideas are in the order you want them in. This is the stage where you can assess if the words “flow.”

By slowing down and examining each of your sentences line by line, you can shape your writing to meet your goals and communicate with your audience creatively and effectively.

• Line editing is a process that can be done both individually and in a group. You may find working in a group can help you see a new perspective on ways to turn a phrase or reorder sentences.

• Although there are no absolutes in ways one must write, you might consider using a style guide and spell checker at this stage. (see Style Guide section on page 62).

• Come back with fresh eyes. It can be helpful to take time away from a piece and come back to editing later with a new perspective.

This enables you to consider edits from a viewpoint that’s more akin to a reader rather than your inner-mind as a writer.

Editing Line-by-Line Exercise .

• Read the whole paper—preferably out loud. » Ask yourself if the paragraphs are in the best order. Which is the most intriguing/interesting? Which order best meets your goals for the piece? » Rearrange your ideas, if necessary.

• Re-read over the first paragraph. » Ask yourself if the sentences are in the best order. » Rearrange the sentences if you want.

• Now read the first sentence out loud. » Ask yourself how it sounds. Is there anything that could be changed to more effectively communicate what you are trying to say? Are the piece’s tone and style working with the information they are attempting to convey? Are there any changes that need to be made to “fix” the grammar or conform to a style guide if using one?

• Now re-read the sentence. Do you like the changes?

• When satisfied with the sentence move on to the next until you’ve finished the paragraph.

• Repeat until you’ve line-edited the whole piece!

Editing sentence-by-sentence is a time-consuming process, but the rewards are plentiful.

You will have a new understanding of how your words are actually landing with an audience. Good work.

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Proofreading As of this printing, Evergreen does not employ anyone to proofread your Final Academic Statement after you submit it. Any mistakes or inconsistencies that show up in your Final Academic Statement when you submit it will be included in your transcript. That makes each student responsible for submitting final drafts that are free from errors.

Mistakes in capitalization, punctuation, spacing, grammar, and spelling are sometimes the first thing a reader notices, even before they understand the content of what someone is saying. This puts a lot of pressure on these elements of the writing. To add to the pressure, innocent mistakes can make a reader feel like a writer didn’t spend enough time reviewing their work. Sometimes a writer might want to draw attention to their craft by making an intentional choice to break standard conventional grammar.

Typos, however, don’t have anything to do with the content or message. The spirit of proofreading is really to ensure that the writer gets their reader’s full attention for their ideas and craft.

Despite its importance, proofreading doesn’t come easily; it is notoriously difficult to catch your own mistakes on the proofreading level.

Every writer makes proofreading errors in their drafts. This is why professional writers (and faculty) have editors!

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What we suggest: Recruit multiple friends, family members, and faculty.

Recruit people to help you proofread your final draft just for errors. If you’re in a time crunch or you’re simply satisfied with your draft, make sure to let your reader know that you don’t intend on making big changes. Also let your reader know when you are only seeking feedback on grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. Help your reader accomplish this task at a time when they are free from distractions. For more about choosing readers to support you, see evergreen.edu/writingcenter/readers-your-final-academic-statement.

While the Writing Center doesn’t do proofreading for students, you can always come in and proofread with a tutor!

Be your own proofreader.

Proofreading your own work is particularly difficult. But, if you are proofreading your own work, make sure to: • Take it slowly and eliminate distractions.

• Read each word out loud and with your finger following along so that you carefully review each word, punctuation mark, and space as they appear on the page.

• Have a style guide and/or dictionary on hand.

• Follow your hunches—if you feel uncertain about one of your choices, double check it. Research or reach out.

• Consider reading the sentences out of order (e.g. backwards from the last sentence to the first). This can help you stay alert to the words that are actually on the page.

• Proofread more than once, but take a break between readings.

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RESOURCES

Looking for Academic Statement Support?

There are many people and places to turn to if you’re needing help with your Academic Statement. Below are some resources we’ve compiled and how they might be helpful to you at different stages in the writing process.

All-Campus Mentoring Day: During All-Campus Mentoring Day, students can participate in workshops and panels intended to help them reflect on their journey at Evergreen and beyond. Students also have the opportunity to meet with a volunteer faculty member to look over and discuss their Academic Statements. This event occurs twice a year, during week 7 in winter and spring quarters. For more information, contact mentorcouncil@evergreen.edu or visit the All-Campus Mentoring day website at www.evergreen.edu/mentoringdays.

Faculty: Faculty are a viable and direct resource when writing the Academic Statement. Not only are they knowledgeable on field-specific information that can help you cater your Academic Statement to a specific audience, but they may already be familiar with your academic journey as well. Faculty members who are teaching full-time programs should have at least 6 hours of in-class instruction around the Academic Statement each fall quarter. Connect with faculty mentors who align with your academic journey early and often; they tend to become busy near the ends of quarters.

The Writing Center: Of course, you can always come visit us in the Writing Center! Whether you’re feeling lost and don’t know where to begin or you have a complete draft and want another set of eyes to read it over, our staff of peer writers are here for you during any stage in the writing process.

For additional writing resources or to make an appointment, visit our website at evergreen. edu/writingcenter.

Student Support Centers: There are a number of on-campus advisory centers to reach out to when writing your Academic Statement. Academic and Career advisors, TRiO coordinators, and staff in First Peoples Multicultural, Trans, and Queer Advising are all here to support you in setting a path for yourself and achieving your educational goals. They know how Evergreen works and how to relate it to the outside world. Each advisor also has a field of specialty that you may capitalize on.

Trusted Individuals: Trusted individuals can come from many different environments and experience levels.

They may have field-specific knowledge (for example, an internship supervisor) or they may not. Because they know you well, they can help you reflect your most authentic qualities in your writing. Depending on their backgrounds, they can offer you perspective on how to communicate with others inside or outside of a professional and/or academic setting. They may also be able to help you identify Evergreen-specific language that doesn’t translate outside of Evergreen. However, it is important to note that certain trusted individuals might not be familiar with the Academic Statement, so they may not be able to answer questions specific to the assignment.

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THINGS TO REMEMBER • You’ve got this!

• Don’t overthink it.

• You are worthy, and your education is meaningful.

• Show ‘em what you’ve got (You’ve got a lot.)

• However far you’ve come in the process, you’ve worked hard to get to this point.

• Thinking about the Academic Statement is the first step.

• Wherever you are in the process is okay.

• You can’t write without a body. Take a break. Move around. Drink some water.

Have a snack.

• If you are stuck, that’s okay­—it’s part of the process, and we all go through it sometimes.

• While others may be able to help, only you can know what your Academic Statement “should” be.

• Your life and education are a lot bigger than this 750-word document.

• This is just one moment in your life. This will pass, and there are many more moments to come.

• You have overcome so much to get to this point. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

• Sometimes it’s hard to produce something you’re happy with, but things can change quickly.

• You don’t have to be an expert.

• At least this isn’t middle school...you made it through that, you can do anything.

• Growth comes out of challenge.

• You’ve been asked to do a really hard thing. It’s okay if you’re struggling.

• Remember: the first words that appear on the page do not have to be the last things you write.

• Let your process guide you!

• This is a piece of writing that you get to grow with.

• You’re a superstar—let your light shine!

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COLORING PAGES

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Word Bank How to Use These Word Banks Word banks in general are designed to remind you of terminology, introduce new vocabulary, and inspire you to delve deeper into how you describe your educational experience.

Academic Statement Examples Word Bank (from our samples) academic accomplishments appreciated area of emphasis blossomed broad capable challenge commitment/committed communication community completed comprehension concluded considered convey conviction cooperate

dedicated diligence disciplines diverse eclectic elicit encompassed established facilitated fascinated fruition fulfilled goals growth impact interdisciplinary navigate/d overcome

penultimate powerful practiced process/processed provided pursued quality reaffirmed received refined reflective research scholarship substantially support surmount transformed value

Word Bank adapted from the Association of American Colleges and Universities Essential Skills of Liberal Arts Education Rubrics Word Bank.

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Inquiry engagement with big questions exploration discovery Critical thinking holistic evaluation thorough comprehensive analysis Creative thinking imaginative originality embracing contradictions innovations divergence risk taking Written and oral communication development and expression of ideas articulation organization intentional language Quantitative literacy calculation measurement quantification derivation explanation analysis summary context

Qualitative literacy interpret codify summarize analysis summary context qualify describe Teamwork constructive collaborative cohesion Intercultural knowledge/competency community involvement reflection introspection multiple perspectives Ethical reasoning and action justice equity accountability transparency prejudice Foundations/skills for lifelong learning curiosity initiative independence transference application reflection Integrative/applied learning interdisciplinary connections self reflection personal and social responsibility

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Style Guide This style guide is adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style and the Associated Press style guide, as well as Evergreen’s marketing style guidelines. There is no official style guide for the Academic Statement, so whatever you choose to do with your language, we urge you to pay attention to your style regarding capitalization, punctuation, formatting, sentence structure, and more.

Other books might help you with your general writing questions, for example the difference between “effect” and “affect” and more. We recommend Strunk and White’s Elements of Style and Sean Williams’ English Grammar: 100 Tragically Common Mistakes.

The Text Editor on my.evergreen.edu There are limited options for formatting within the user interface for Academic Statements on my.evergreen.edu. Be advised: some options copy and paste well, and some don’t.

Create your document in Word and then copy and paste it into the text box on my.evergreen. Things like centered text will transfer over from Word, but are not available in the text editor. No matter how you choose to format your document, make sure you take a look at it after you’ve saved it to get a preview of the text.

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Formatting and Punctuation Spacing: You don’t have options for spacing in the text editor. Your lines of text will show up as single-spaced.

Justify: The my.evergreen.edu text editor only allows left-justify, so your line of text begins flush against the left-hand side. If you want to have a center-justification (say for a title or epigraph), you can import that from Word.

Paragraphs: Definitely use paragraphs to break up the text for the reader. Paragraphs are easier for the average reader to focus on than text that is not divided at all.

Indentation and paragraph spacing: You have two options here: indent paragraphs using “tab” key and leave no space between paragraphs or, 2) don’t indent but leave one line of space between paragraphs using the “enter” key. Whichever you choose is fine, just be consistent.

Block quotes: If you have a long quote (3-4 lines) you may use a block quote. When formatting a block quote in my.evergreen.edu, offset the quote from the main text into its own paragraph or textblock and indent the quote as a block quote. Because you don’t have the option to change your spacing or font size, the block quote will look similar to the rest of your text.

Footnotes: In Academic Statements, footnotes are not the norm. If you choose to use footnotes, make sure you include both parts: 1) the superscript number in the body text and 2) the footnote at the bottom. The superscript must be created in Word and copied over. The footnote at the bottom must be created manually in the my.evergreen.edu editor; it will not transfer over from Word.

Typeface and font size: You don’t have options for changing the font style and size. It will match the rest of your transcript and be an 11-point sans-serif font similar to Arial.

Font-style options: You can italicize and bold fonts within the text-editor or you can import these from Word.

Epigraphs: If you want to put an epigraph (quote or short saying at the beginning), center using Word and italicize the text. Use an em dash (—) with no space before the person the quote is attributed to.

Quotation marks: Use “double-quotes” around words, phrases, or sentences that are attributed to someone else or are hypothetically spoken. But heed these editors’ advice when they say to use ‘single quotes’ when a word is quoted inside another quote and you will be happy.

Dashes and hyphens: When using the hyphen, the en dash, or the em dash, you should put no space either before or after them. The exception is with a hanging hyphen (see, for example, the word “nineteenth” in the phrase “nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature”). By definition, a hanging hyphen will have a space after it but not before it.

Em dash: Use an em dash when separating thoughts. Also use when referring to Evergreen Tacoma.

On a Mac OS: Option + shift + hyphen. On PC: Alt + 0151. Turns this – into this —.

En dash: Use when referring to a range between numbers, e.g.: ‘04–’09 or 1979–2004. On a Mac OS: Option + hyphen. On PC: Alt + 0150. Turns this-into–this.

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For those curious about the differences between em dashes and en dashes: The em dash is the mark of punctuation many of us think of when we hear the term “dash”.

This kind of dash is typically implemented to create a strong break in the structure of a sentence.

Dashes can be used in pairs like parentheses—that is, to enclose a word, or a phrase, or a clause, like so—or they can be used alone to detach one end of a sentence from the main body.

Em dashes are particularly helpful in a sentence that is long and complex or in one that has a number of commas within it. They are also used when attributing a quote outside the body of text.

When in use with a quote, place a space between the ending punctuation and the em dash, as with epigraphs:.

Learning at Evergreen rocks. —Speedy Q. Geoduck The en dash is slightly longer than the hyphen but not as long as the em dash. (It is, in fact, the width of a typesetter’s letter “N,” whereas the em dash is the width of the letter “M”—thus their names.) The en dash means, quite simply, “through.” We use it most commonly to indicate inclusive dates and numbers: July 9–August 17; pp. 37–59.

Academic and Evergreen-Specific Nomenclature These are a few ideas for academic and Evergreen-specific language. For a further list of terms often used in describing education at Evergreen (and in reporting of student demographics and institutional research) see evergreen.edu/institutionalresearch/glossary. academic departments, buildings, and centers: Capitalize official names. On second reference, use lowercase if full name is not used, e.g. Center for Sustainable Infrastructure; the center.

Admissions, admission vs. admittance: The department that manages entry into Evergreen is called Admissions. If you went to school here, you applied and then were admitted. When you got your letter, it was an admission letter or letter of admission. Admittance usually refers to entry into a specific physical place, for example: no admittance to B Lot. degrees: Generally, two-letter degrees use periods (B.A., B.S.) and three-letter degrees use no periods (MPA, MES, MFA, PhD). Spell out the degree using lowercase letters within a sentence: bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, bachelor of arts and science. Use “doctorate” in sentences instead of abbreviations for most references. If you transferred in with an A.A. you have an associate’s degree. If you graduated from Evergreen’s undergraduate program, you will have a bachelor’s degree; if you graduate from Evergreen’s graduate program you will have a master’s degree (note the “’s”). If you list out the degree type you are enrolling in or have completed, capitalize the degree title: Master in Public Administration; Bachelor of Science. graduation years: Graduate years are formatted using the last two numbers of the year following the name: Holly Johnson ’79. If multiple degrees are listed, place a comma after the original format, then the additional degree abbreviation and year: Peter Boome ’08, MES ’14. emeriti: “emeritus” is used for singular masculine and gender-neutral references. “emeriti” is the masculine or gender-neutral plural. “emerita” is the feminine singular. “emeritae” is the feminine plural.

Always lowercase. Use “faculty emeritus,” not “emeritus faculty”. This is an honorific bestowed on meritorious faculty members upon their retirement; does not automatically apply to all retired faculty members. The term can also be used to indicate former trustees or retired members of other important groups. Not all retirees receive emeritus status.

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Evergreen: When describing, referring to, listing, or referencing Evergreen, only the following names are officially authorized: • The Evergreen State College • Evergreen • The Evergreen State College Tacoma • Evergreen Tacoma These names are not authorized or recognized by Evergreen for referring to the college: • TESC • Evergreen State • Evergreen College • Tacoma Evergreen faculty: In your transcript and reflective writing, use titles for faculty that work for you: faculty member Joye Hardiman or Joye Hardiman, member of the faculty; my faculty member, Joye Hardiman; my faculty members. Evergreen materials avoid using professor, teacher, doctor, etc.

However, at the Tacoma campus students often refer to faculty as “Dr.” and then the first initial of the last name. For example, Dr. H. So, use what works for you: Dr. J, Dr. Joye Hardiman, Dr. Hardiman. freshman, first-year student, sophomore, junior, senior: These words are not capitalized unless they begin a sentence. “Freshman” and “first-year student” have the same meaning except that “first-year student” is gender neutral. interdisciplinary: One word, no hyphens. on campus, on-campus: “On-campus” is an adjective: Students live in on-campus housing.

“On campus” (no hyphen) is an adverb: She has a job on campus. program and course titles: Capitalize only when referring to the formal name of the program or course. Programs are academic offerings of eight credits or more. Courses are those designed as fewer than eight credits. You don’t have to put quotes around a program title. (When I took Drawing from the Sea, I learned to notice that infinite detail can be present in something as vast as the ocean.) quarters/seasons: Lowercase for fall, winter, spring, and summer, and all derived words such as springtime, fall semester, spring 1998. Capitalize only when part of a title or formal name, e.g., Fall Equity Symposium, Winter Olympics.

Self-Evaluation: Capitalized and hyphenated.

S’gwi gwi ʔ altxw House of Welcome, The Longhouse: The Longhouse Education and Cultural Center is called s’gwi gwi ʔ altxw in the Lushootseed language or House of Welcome in English.

It may be called “The Longhouse” after first reference as “s’gwi gwi ʔ altxw House of Welcome.”

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COLOPHON This guide went through the five-stage writing process over the course of the summers of 2019 and 2020. It entered a designing and printing process over fall and winter of 2020-2021.

At the Writing Center, we are big believers in revising. We look forward to continuing to re-see and re-write this work. For now, we are happy to be sharing this draft with you all!

We’d like to thank the many students who came to the Writing Center and showed us all what we tutors and admin needed to know in order to support other students (and ourselves) with the Academic Statement.

We would also like to thank partners outside of the Writing Center for their collaboration and support. Thank you to Dean Elizabeth Williamson for helping to fund this project, the attendees of our Academic Statement Guide Summer Institute for offering their constructive feedback, and the Marketing office and Madison, the fabulous student designer, for collaborating with us to present this guide in this super slick form.

Thank you to every office on campus that our tutors and admin interviewed! Your knowledge is invaluable!

Finally, as editor, I’d like to thank the tutors at the Writing Center who have been incredibly dedicated to serving students on campus. For some reason, they wanted to stay anonymous, but I know who they are, and I hope you join me in thanking them. Their expertise on the Academic Statement is nothing short of phenomenal.

Managing Editor Ariel Birks, ’16 Designers Kurt Lorenz Madison Stekly ’22 Illustrations Madison Stekly ’22 Writers Tutoring Staff, summer of 2019 Editors and Coloring Page Illustrators Tutoring Staff, spring and summer of 2020 Proofreaders Sandy Yannone Matt Turner ’15

66 | The Evergreen State College | Writing Center

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