Students enter school to pursue a professional career. A professional is someone who has recognized ability, has confidence, is responsible, has belief in himself/herself, earns respect by his/her behavior, is honorable, is trustworthy, and demonstrates these traits constantly (has a reputation) (“What is a Professional?” par. 3).

In entry level composition courses, students work at developing a professional voice in their writing. The writing of a professional demonstrates ability, confidence, responsibility, self-belief, honor, and trustworthiness, earning the writer respect and a reputation. Good writing is good because it has these traits, and when it does, it sounds professional.

Students come to school with their personal voice, the voice they use with their family and friends, casual and conversational, regional or ethnic, informal and a unique expression of their personality. This is often the voice that emerges from their writing.

However, professionals have their own unique voice, one that is often specific to their field of expertise. A medical professional might refer to a spontaneous pneumothorax, which the average person would know as a collapsed lung. Every profession has its own unique vocabulary and means of expression. But all professionals also have what might be called a generic professional voice, that professional voice they use with other professionals in different fields.

In composition courses, students learn to write in this generic professional voice, which will become the foundation for the professional voice they find in their respective careers. And, as students mature as writers, they also begin to overlay their unique personality on that generic professional voice to develop a voice that is both professional and uniquely their own.

Students who fail to develop a professional writing voice may be unable to find jobs or be promoted. Often, the first contact a prospective employer has with a candidate is a piece of writing, whether a resume or letter of application. Four year schools often require students to submit an essay as part of their acceptance procedures. It is crucial for every student to develop a professional voice.

For students just beginning to develop as professionals, the key is to model their writing voice after the voice they hear in their minds as they read and not the voice they hear when engaged in casual conversation.