Stopping the Guessing: Using Inference to Help First-Year Writers Build Real Arguments – Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning
Many first-year writing students believe academic writing is about having the “right opinion.” They summarize readings, react emotionally, or make sweeping claims, but struggle to explain how they know something.
In other words, they guess.
I found that before students can write strong arguments, they must first learn how to move from evidence to conclusion. To address this, I redesigned the early weeks of my composition course around one foundational skill: inference.
This shift has changed how my students read, draft, and revise, and it requires no special technology, no major curriculum overhaul, and no additional grading time.
Step 1: Start With Objects Instead of Texts
Before we analyze essays, we analyze stuff.
On the first day of our inference lesson, I empty a bag of random objects onto a table:
a receipt, a protein bar wrapper, a parking pass, a paperback novel, keys, maybe something unexpected like theater tickets.
Students work in groups and are told:
Write down only what you can observe. No interpretation yet.
They list details:
- Three coffee receipts from the same place
- A mystery novel with a bookmark halfway through
This forces them to separate observation from assumption, something many have never practiced.
Only after that do we move to interpretation using a required sentence structure:
I can infer that ______ because ______.
That “because” is where the learning happens.
Students suddenly see the difference between:
- “This person is busy.” (a guess)
- “There are multiple receipts from different days and unopened mail, which suggests a hectic schedule.” (an inference)
Without realizing it, they are practicing claim–evidence reasoning—the core of academic writing.
Step 2: Teach Students to Evaluate Their Own Thinking
Next, students label each inference as:
- Strong — supported by multiple pieces of evidence
- Weak — possible, but under-supported
This is where they begin doing the evaluative work we later ask of thesis statements and research claims.
Instead of me telling them something is vague, they start noticing it themselves.
This mirrors what Bean (2011) describes as helping students move from intuitive responses to disciplined reasoning, but in a way that feels accessible rather than abstract.
Step 3: Reinforce the Skill Through Low-Stakes “Process Checks”
Rather than jumping straight into major drafts, I use short assignments I call Process Checks.
These are quick, focused writing tasks completed during class:
- Write one analytical claim using a quote
- Identify what a paragraph is doing rhetorically
- Revise a weak inference into a strong one
- Test a research question for clarity
They are graded simply:
Complete
– Developing
✘ Incomplete
That’s it. No rubrics. No long comments. No stack of essays to take home. It’s brief and focused.
This approach aligns with research showing that frequent, low-stakes writing improves learning more effectively than high-stakes evaluation alone (Elbow 1997).
More importantly, it keeps students practicing thinking rather than worrying about grades.
Step 4: Show How the Skills Transfers to Academic Reading
Once students understand inference through objects, we transition to texts.
Now when we ask, “What is the author doing here?” students no longer summarize. They look for evidence of rhetorical moves:
“The author builds credibility by citing classroom experience because he describes grading practices in detail.”
The structure remains the same:
claim → evidence → explanation
We simply swap the objects for paragraphs.
Students realize academic analysis is not mysterious and that it is the same reasoning they already practiced.
Step 5: Use Process Checks to Scaffold Larger Assignments
Each major paper grows out of these short exercises.
Before writing a rhetorical analysis essay, students complete Process Checks on:
- locating rhetorical appeals
- explaining a single quotation
Before the research paper, they practice:
- drafting one paragraph at a time
This scaffolding reflects what Ambrose et al. (2010) describe as breaking complex skills into component parts, but it feels to students like manageable steps rather than remediation.
Why This Works for Today’s Students
Many students arrive conditioned to look for the teacher’s answer. They have written formulaic essays but have not been taught how knowledge claims are constructed.
Teaching inference gives them:
- A repeatable thinking model
- Permission to slow down and examine evidence
- Confidence that analysis is a process, not a talent
It also supports equity in the classroom. Students from varied educational backgrounds can succeed because the method emphasizes practice and transparency rather than assumed prior knowledge.
The Unexpected Bonus: It Reduces Grading Burnout
Process Checks give me continuous insight into student development without increasing workload.
Instead of grading 25 weak drafts, I intervene early when misconceptions are still small and fixable.
By the time formal essays arrive, students already understand what it means to support a claim.
A Small Change With Lasting Impact
I did not redesign my entire course. I simply made one skill—inference—visible and repeatable.
When students learn to move deliberately from observation to interpretation, they stop guessing. They start reasoning.
And when they start reasoning, they begin to see themselves as writers.
Lisa Cosgrove is a lecturer in Writing and Rhetoric at Stony Brook University and has taught first-year composition, research writing, and developmental writing for over twenty years across public and private institutions. Her teaching focuses on scaffolded instruction, information literacy, and helping new college writers build analytical confidence through structured practice.
References
Ambrose, Susan A., et al. How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010.
Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011.
Elbow, Peter. Everyone Can Write: Essays Toward a Hopeful Theory of Writing and Teaching Writing. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.