A research project designed to determine what is important to a freshman college student in writing and learning to write is described in this paper. The first section of the paper provides background information for the project, which involved collaboration between the researcher and a student. The second section describes data gathering procedures, which included interviews with students in a basic English class and class observations. The third section includes extensive tables of data and discussions of data analysis, while the fourth discusses the findings in the areas of defining writing ownership, ownership in the beginning writing student, and the consequences of claiming writing ownership. The final section reviews additional findings and examines the implications of the project findings for writing instruction. (FL)