Students are busy people. Many are trying to balance a full course load, extracurricular activities, an on- or off-campus job, and relationships with family and friends. Competing responsibilities require them to prioritize, and students are not likely to invest much time or energy in something for which they see little long-term significance. Our challenge as instructors is to make students' writing matter. When the rhetorical context of a writing assignment extends beyond the exchange of a paper for a grade, students see that their writing matters beyond an individual assignment or class. Consider the following suggestions for making students' writing matter: