14 Quantitative Literacy and Writing with Data

What is Quantitative Literacy?

“Quantitative Literacy” refers to your ability to effectively read, understand, analyze, and write about data. Developing quantitative literacy skills will help you understand and evaluate data, assess risks and benefits, and make informed decisions (Core Curriculum Glossary).

Many courses across UTSA have been redesigned to integrate quantitative literacy.  Courses with the “Q” designation enable you to develop your data-reasoning skills. These skills referred to as “Empirical and Quantitative Skills” by the State of Texas, must “include the manipulation and analysis of numerical data or observable facts resulting in informed conclusions” (Core Curriculum Glossary). The student learning objectives of quantitative literacy are for you to (a) acquire basic quantitative literacy and numeracy skills, (b) effectively communicate the results of your quantitative analysis, and (c) draw conclusions from data for explanation and argumentation purposes. You will be developing these skills in both WRC 1013 and WRC 1023 courses.

Using data in writing is more than just including numbers in your sentences, though. Whether you collected the data yourself through your own experimentation or are using existing data sources to support your own writing, here are some things to remember when you write using data evidence.

1. Be specific. Always use real numbers and/or percentages.
2. Do the math. Avoid vague terms like “more” and “less.” Instead, tell your reader how much more or less? For example, by what percentage did a factor increase of decrease?
3. Know the proper terminology and use it. Refer to the Glossary of Terms below.
4. Follow your style guide for the particulars. Every citation style has its own recommendations for when to use a numeral or when to write out the work, whether or not to cite data you’ve collected yourself, how tables and figures are formatted, etc. You can’t memorize all of these tiny details. Use your resources.