How Humanities Graduates Excel at Communications
In anticipation of the release of my upcoming book The Well-Rounded Professional: Translating Humanities Skills to Career Success, I am writing blog posts about four of the critical skills developed in a humanities education. This week, I look at what might be the most obvious skill: written and verbal communications.
One of the constants in a humanities education is you have to read, write, and speak. A lot. Humanists have to be able to communicate effectively in order to graduate. Across the spectrum, from history to the languages, students need to be able to clearly structure and articulate an argument that convinces others. For English majors, the entire focus of their education is to be able to communicate and know how to use the written word clearly (and/or studying the ways in which others have successfully used the English language to the benefit of others). In history, students need to construct a sound argument and defend it.