Newspaper-Based Creative Writing as a Teaching Tool

Abstract

Newspaper articles have been long been used in writing instruction, but this use has traditionally been limited to foreign-language or lower-level courses. We describe a newspaper-based writing assignment which is appropriate for upper-level college students in a variety of disciplines. This assignment, which uses newspaper articles as an inspiration for understanding lecture and textbook concepts, is particularly useful in economics due to a need for in-depth writing assignments involving high level analysis of economic problems. Excerpts from student writing are included to demonstrate the skills developed through this work.

JEL Classification: A2