Expectations For College Writing

Why do some college freshmen find it harder to write an essay in college than in high school?” College freshmen usually struggle with the transition from high school writing to college writing. They do not know that the writing in college has a lot of differences. They also do not know that college writing has different rules. These students get confused with these rules. There are many other reasons cause these struggles. There are different styles in writing, for example: In college writing in college need to be done with at least two pages or more unlike in high school which takes four to six paragraphs. As a first-year student and English is my second language, I am really struggling to write a paragraph, spending hours to finish

The author, in this article, shows the results from conversations in writing. The results indicate that most students “spend a lot of time writing”, for various purposes. Also, the author introduces a report by professional organizations, which states that writing is

Chapter 2 of Successful College Writing written by Kathleen McWhorter focused on several different points. However, the main core of the chapter is mostly focused* on college writing and what is expected of it. It mentions* how college introduces you to new forms of writing, and also using sources to support your information and arguments in your essays. This chapter not only mentions the new writing styles you will experience, but also how to be successful in them by giving you helpful tips and aiding you in figuring out your learning style.

In Dan Berrett’s article, “Students Come to College Thinking They’ve Mastered Writing,” the idea of freshman thinking they are or must be a refined writer is discussed. Students may think this way coming into college, but their teachers do not. While students might feel satisfied and think that they are prepared with their writing skills, professors found that these students did not necessarily meet the expected level (Berrett 1). Many students reported that they would normally write around 25 hours every week. They said that most of those hours of writing was for more formal purposes like passages to make changes in society (Berrett 1). It was found that one reason the new students might feel this way is that their assumptions about writing differed greatly from those of faculty members and their expectations. One big thing that students will not get for a while, is that good writing is not just listed as a bunch of steps one is to follow that automatically make one’s writing good. Good writing requires one to be in different mental states; it requires the understanding of how to write for different audiences and different reasons (Berrett 2). Berrett includes in the article that writing is not just universal and that in order to do very well, writers must use different forms of writing specifically for their purpose (2). It seems as though students think that, before they even take a class, they are supposed to know everything about writing; in reality, they are supposed to learn new skills and enhance others (Berrett 2). Berrett says that many believe the schools these students previously attended with their test focus might cause these feelings about writing (2). Berrett ends his article by saying that students these days do not think that informal writing actually counts as writing, and that students should practice writing for informal purposes because it can help them (2). Even if they feel like it, students are not fully prepared to write in all contexts when they arrive at college.

Words are an essential part of everyone's life, from the time a baby is born words are encouraged to stimulate their growth because simply being able to say "milk" or "mama" provides the baby with a huge amount of power. In fact, they were even used to

When it comes to evaluating myself and if I am prepared for my first college writing course I believe that I am prepared to take my first college writing course. Before joining my ESC 021 class with Professor Kraft I felt that I was prepared and that I would be able to complete assignments without difficulty, but I was so used to the one on one sessions where I would go over the little mistakes or find ways to produce an exceptional essay that I forgot that I was own my own now. Through the short time in ESC 021 I learned my weaknesses and strengths as a writer. I now have the ability to receive feedback and effectively use my feedback to better my assignments.

The importance of college-level writing is a topic that is very much backed up and accompanied by facts and studies. Writing in the college-level is needed in order to master college work in any class. Basically all classes require you to more than likely submit some kind of research paper or essay. Writing for Learning to Improve Students’ Comprehension at the College Level by Fahad Alharbi as well as Luiza Costa Ribeiro, Writing Essays at College: Why it’s Important both go into detail on how important writing at this level is and all the skills learned for during and after college. As well on how you can benefit from them.

In “How Do I Write a Text for College” (The World is a Text, 2006), Patty Strong said that writing in in college is much more different than writing in high school and so as the purpose of it. In high school student were told to write texts depending on their prior knowledge while on an institution of higher education students have the flexibility to write not only about what they already learnt but what they are trying to learn. In addition, writing in college requires a higher level of critical thinking and understanding, but it will unequivocally expand their knowledge.

Academic writing is thought to have a basic set of rules that can transfer with a student from one writing situation to another. In reality, college writing is much more complex.

When I graduated high school, I already knew that I wanted to attend college other than going to the work force. I heard stories about college being fun and it is one of the greatest accomplishment a person can achieve. So, I began college right after high school. As I entered college, I learned that I will have to focus more on writing papers than having fun. In high school my teachers did not prepare me for college essays. I feel like I learned a lot more failing on my college writing assignment than passing on the essays in high school. Well now I have approached the end of the semester of college, and I am exhausted from the constant writing assignments. Although the assignments were difficult like I said it was also helpful. Each assignment helped me in different ways. The assignments helped me improved with my grammar, time management, and how to process before I begin writing. In English 1010 I had different types of writing assignments. I had to write a literacy narrative paper, analysis paper, research paper, and lastly an autoethnography paper which I am doing now. An autoethnography is when the author uses self reflects to write about their experiences about writing a paper. English is not the only subject that I had writing assignments in. I also had to write assignment in my business class. My English teacher had informed me that I will have to do an autoethnography. So, I used my paper in my business class to reflect on how I write by

English professor, Verlyn Klinkenborg, published an essay, “The Decline and Fall of the English Major” on June 22, 2013, about the reduction of the English major in colleges. The author declares, “Writing well isn’t merely a utilitarian skill. It is about developing a rational grace and energy in your conversation with the world around you.” Klinkenborg has taught nonfiction writing to various students at Harvard, Yale, Bard, Pomona, Sarah Lawrence and Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. The author has found that her students are able to assemble jargon, use proper syntax, and utilize thematic and ideological notions.

Society today places so much emphasis on attending a liberal arts college in order to get a degree and succeed in life. The only problem is that liberal arts colleges do not gurantee a job after graduation. Students are going into school expecting to graduate and be able to find a job, but then they find out it is not that easy. The value on liberal arts education is too high compared to the benefits. Results of interviews showed that after getting a job, the employee then had to learn on the job how to use the proper writing style required. Future research should look towards toning down the specialization of writing programs in higher education in order to cover a broader background and better prepare students.

College writing to me is a new chapter in my life. I am only a junior in high school, which means I have quite a ways to go when it comes to learning and maturing as a person. As I take on this new chapter I expect to see my writing change along with me, for I’ll have new experiences and feelings to put forth in my writing.

Writing a college-level essay can be tricky, especially if there is lack of inspiration or the ideas aren’t organized well enough to articulate into a draft. However, in the case of higher-level education; students are encouraged to stimulate their learning through writing, in order to acquire an analytical and understanding capacity to be successful in college. Coupled with planning, research, and hard work; writing essays for college becomes an easier task in a short time, resulting in the improvement of critical thoughts. In the article, Using Writing to Promote Reading to Learn in College, Hayes Christopher G, states that, “the written text allows both reader and writer to examine thoughts captured in time and recorded in words, thereby encouraging more complex thinking because constraints imposed by memory have been abolished by the written record” (Hayes 4). After all, more than any other invention, writing has transformed the human consciousness. This mastery gives society the ability to improve every day, by enhancing their personalities, considering that having a good use of language and information, will result in achieving great success. In the article: Reconsidering English Teaching for Improving Non-English Majors’ English writing Ability, Yuru Shen declares how, “it is self-evident that grammar plays a very important role in language learning, including English learning” (Shen 74).With this in mind, understanding that college level composition is important will

Over the course of this past semester, my ability to write has improved tremendously. Prior to undertaking this course, my expertise in writing was not as fine-tuned as it should have been. I had never previously been enrolled in a class specifically tailored to writing-- which was quite clear. Upon reading my past works, it becomes apparent that my writing style consisted of fluff, small words, and inconsistently structured sentences. These problems have, for the most part, been remedied with the coursework I have tackled in College Writing. Rather than long, drawn out papers that take an eternity to reach the primary point, my recent work is much nicer in terms of composition and grammar. I credit these improvements to the three primary