Writing in Early Childhood Studies
A degree in Early Childhood Studies will prepare you with the knowledge and skills to effectively work with young children and their families from birth through eight years of age. Writing is an important communication and learning tool throughout this work. As you enter the program, we expect that you will have the ability to read academic texts and write responses, write personal reflections, integrate personal experiences with newly introduced information, organize observations of children relating to development and assessment, and organize thoughts and ideas into narrative writing format.
By the end of your coursework, we expect that you will also be able to conduct and report research using APA style as well as write newsletters to parents and letters to editors in standard English (and Spanish when possible).
Types of Writing
Students in the Early Childhood Studies Program should expect to use writing in numerous ways, including the following:
- Anecdotal records of children
- Case studies
- Journal entries
- Research papers
- Reading responses/reflections
- Quick writes
- Observations, goals, practices and reflections (student teachers)
Recommended Practices
In order to succeed at the writing tasks above, students are recommended to use the following practices, where appropriate:
- Group activities and presentations
- Brainstorming
- Graphic organizers
- Personal experience connections to text topics
- Compare/contrast websites from professional organizations, state and federal education sites and academic texts
Formats
Students in the multiple subjects credential program will typically use the American Psychological Association Format (APA). We suggest that students use the following sites to help them cite properly:
- Broome Library Research Page
- Purdue OWL
Advice
To become more proficient at writing, you may wish to do the following, as needed:
- Become familiar with the Broome Library Research Page
- Practice proficiency with proofreading and editing of mechanics, spelling, grammar and paragraph structure. The tutors at the University Writing and Multiliteracy Center can help you learn to become a better reader of your own writing.