A faculty guide to self-authoring: why structured reflective writing about the past, present, and future can help community college students persist, and how to build it into the courses you already teach.
the short version: writing goals down in detail, with obstacles and plans, changes what students do.
The Self Authoring Suite, developed by Jordan Peterson, Daniel Higgins, Robert Pihl, and colleagues, asks people to write in a structured way about their past, their character, and their future. It draws on two well-established bodies of research: expressive writing, which links writing about meaningful experiences to wellbeing, and goal-setting theory, which shows that specific, challenging goals with a plan behind them outperform vague intentions.
For faculty, the appeal is practical. Many students arrive without a clear answer to the question "why am I here?" When that answer is fuzzy, a bad week can become a withdrawal. Self-authoring gives students a structured way to build that answer themselves, in their own words.
At McGill University, academically struggling students who completed an intensive online goal-setting program raised their GPAs and were more likely to stay enrolled full time than a comparison group.
Morisano, Hirsh, Peterson, Pihl, and Shore (2010), Journal of Applied Psychology
At a Dutch business school, requiring all first-year students to complete a written goal-setting program was followed by a narrowing of both gender and ethnic minority achievement gaps across multiple cohorts.
Schippers, Scheepers, and Peterson (2015), Palgrave Communications
Decades of expressive writing studies connect writing about significant experiences with modest benefits to health, mood, and in some studies, academic performance.
Pennebaker (1997), Psychological Science, and follow-up work
Be honest about the evidence. Much of the strongest support comes from the program's own developers. A large independent field experiment at a Canadian university that used a short online goal-setting exercise found no meaningful effect on grades or persistence (Dobronyi, Oreopoulos, and Petronijevic, 2019).
The pattern across studies suggests that depth and integration matter. A ten-minute form students click through is unlikely to help. Writing that is specific, revisited over time, and connected to real course decisions has the best chance. Treat self-authoring as a well-grounded practice, not a guaranteed intervention.
past, present, future. students can enter at any point.
The original program has three components. You do not need all three. Most faculty start with the future, because it connects most directly to course and program goals.
Based on expressive writing research
Students divide their life into a few periods, identify experiences that shaped them, and choose some to write about: what happened, how it affected them, and what they take from it now.
The goal is meaning-making. Students who can explain how their history connects to who they are tend to carry less of its weight into the present.
Based on personality and character research
Students reflect on their strengths and on the habits that hold them back, with concrete examples from school, work, or relationships, and choose one strength to use more and one habit to work on.
Based on goal-setting and implementation intention research
Students describe two futures three to five years out: the one they want and the one they fear if things drift. They then translate the wanted future into a handful of specific goals, each with reasons, first steps, likely obstacles, and a plan for meeting those obstacles.
The contrast between the two futures is the engine. It turns a wish into a decision.
The full Self Authoring Suite is a commercial product available at selfauthoring.com, and some institutions purchase licenses. Everything on this page describes how faculty can design their own activities based on the same research.
grade the effort and the specificity. never grade someone's life.
Collect reflective writing as an assignment only the instructor sees. Never use a discussion board for it.
Students decide which experiences to write about and how much to share. Offer an equally weighted alternative for anyone who opts out.
Assess whether goals are concrete and plans are realistic, not whether a student's story is "good."
Short, staged prompts across several weeks beat one long assignment. Depth comes from returning to the writing.
Tie goals to a program of study, an advising appointment, a certification, or a transfer plan so the writing leads somewhere.
Require if-then plans: "If my shift changes the week of the exam, then I will..." This is the step with the strongest research support.
Return to the plan at midterm and at the end of the term. Revision is the point, not a sign of failure.
Typed responses, voice memos, or short video reflections all work. The thinking matters more than the medium.
same research, different courses. pick the one closest to yours.
Choose a course type to see a sample design and a sample student prompt.
Sample prompt
Imagine it is three years from now and things have gone well. Where are you working or studying? What does a normal Tuesday look like? Who is around you? Write as concretely as you can. Then write the version where you let things drift. What is different, and what decisions led there?
The key move is a firewall between the private writing and the graded product. Students learn that reflection and publication are different decisions.
Sample prompt
Think of a moment when you felt like a capable learner, or a moment when you felt like you did not belong in a classroom. What happened? How do you think it shaped the way you approach school now? You will not share this freewrite with classmates.
This supports professional identity formation and gives instructors early insight into students who may need coaching.
Sample prompt
Describe a moment during this rotation when you were at your best. What did you do, and what strength did it draw on? Then describe a moment when stress changed how you acted. What would you do differently, and what is your plan if that situation happens again?
Keep it short and allow voice memos recorded at the end of a lab session. Many trades students think out loud more naturally than they write.
Sample prompt
What certification or job do you want to have in two years? List the steps between here and there. For each step, name one thing that could get in the way, and what you will do if it does.
Sample prompt
Think about an adult who made you feel safe and curious as a young child. What did they do? How does that memory show up in the way you want to work with children?
The result can feed directly into a resume, cover letter, interview preparation, or a transfer application essay.
Sample prompt
When you started this program, what did you believe about yourself as a student? What do you believe now, and what changed it? Write about the first six months after you finish here: what has to go right, and what is your plan if it does not?
try it. you can copy the plan straight into your course shell.
Choose a few options and get a starting design you can adapt.
AI can push on a plan. it should not be the keeper of a student's story.
Self-authoring works because students do the thinking. If an AI writes the reflection, the benefit disappears. But AI can be a useful sparring partner after a student has done the hard writing, especially for testing whether a goal plan holds up.
Sample student prompt for stress-testing a plan
Ask students to submit a short note on what the AI questioned and what they changed, or chose not to change. That note is where the learning shows up, and it doubles as a transparency statement about how AI was used.
tell students the limits of confidentiality before they write, not after.
Reflective writing, especially about the past, can bring up painful experiences. A few safeguards make it safe for students and manageable for you.
for the curious and the skeptical.