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Research Foundations

Writing as thinking.

The university teaching principles and published scholarship that inform EssayArc’s approach to developing thoughtful, independent writers.

This report brings together Write to the Top, a review of six leading university writing programs, and a study of 146 scholarly works. Explore how these foundations shape our writing exercises, focused feedback and student–PLF conversations.

Download the report

PDF · 12 pages · September 2026

Cover of Writing as Thinking: The Research Foundations of EssayArc

Inside the report

University writing pedagogy

Teaching principles from Brown, Duke, Swarthmore, Princeton, Carleton and Harvard.

Published faculty scholarship

Named faculty works, the source-selection method and sentence-pattern comparisons across four disciplines.

Learning through revision

How the research informs student authorship, focused analysis and meaningful conversations with a PLF.