It is well understood that students will need to write in various discourse communities after receiving their degree. Because the accepted conventions of writing vary among discourse communities, it is rare for college graduates to enter their profession as "expert" writers.

Hubert Dreyfus and Stuart Dreyfus describe five stages of skill acquisition: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert. Conflating this skill acquisition scheme and post-college discourse communities into a single context creates a situation in which all first-year college writers are "novice" writers.

Recognizing that first-year college writers are "novice" writers is important because learners at the "novice" stage have a particular way of perceiving and judging the skill they are acquiring. Thirteen Challenges is designed to accomodate this particular perspective of "novice" writers.

Further, Thirteen Challenges is designed to support students as they advance into the "advanced beginner" and "competent" stages of skill acquisition.