Professor Dr. Nancy Sommers

Biography

Nancy Sommers studies the writing development of college students. She is the principal investigator of the Harvard Study of Undergraduate Writing, which tracked the college writing experiences of 400 students from the Harvard Class of 2001 to understand the complex role writing plays in undergraduate education. For over 20 years, Sommers has led Harvard's Expository Writing Program and served as the Sosland Chair in Expository Writing as a senior lecturer. In addition to directing Harvard's college writing program, she established and directed the Harvard Writing Project, a cross-disciplinary writing program that conducted a series of studies sponsored by Harvard presidents, focusing on the culture of undergraduate writing. Acknowledged as an internationally recognized leader in the field of writing studies, Sommers is also a prize-winning writer. Her articles such as "Revision Strategies for Student Experienced Writers," "Responding to Student Writing," and "Between Drafts" are widely read and anthologized in the field. She has produced films like "Shaped Writing", "Across Drafts," and "Beyond Red Ink," which have received international recognition in celebration of student writers. Additionally, she is a blogger for the Huffington Post and the author of four college writing handbooks including Writer's Reference, Rules for Writers, Pocket Style Manual, and Bedford Handbook.

Research Interests