Why are writing and speaking important?
Learning how to write a well-defined and convincing paper and learning how to prepare and deliver an impressive speech are the two most important academic tools that you will acquire during your undergraduate studies. The better you develop these tools, the easier graduate school and/or your future professional life will be. Luckily, you have ample opportunity to practice these skills, since most classes at Columbia College require a written paper and/or in-class presentations. Writing and presenting are actually vital in understanding. Whenever you write about an art work, the actual process of writing helps you to observe the art work more in depth. The same happens when you set out to prepare an oral presentation for your classmates. Hopefully, your thinking and writing process develop like a continually expanding spiral. The art object becomes the anchor around which the spiral is evolving. For instance, when deciding what to write or speak about, you will select an art work from a
