Richard Straub's Document 'Transforming Students Into Professors'

On February 22, 2016 author John Warner published an article on Just Visiting entitled “Kill the 5-Paragraph Essay.” Warner creatively talks about how rudimentary of a structure this type of essay holds. Writers are locked inside a cage of regulations and guidelines making them unable to write the essay as they please, but rather having to piece together regulated sentences and paragraphs because that’s what they have been told would score high on certain test questions. The article targets people of all kinds, but is more directed towards early college aged students. The purpose behind this article is to get them to expand their horizon, disregard all the regulations they have been previously taught and start to write in a much more open-minded sense.

Writing an essay has always been a difficult and tedious task in my opinion. The writing process I followed when creating the original assignment consisted of research, a rough draft, a small amount of editing, and a final draft. Researching the topic was the first step I took in writing my paper. I searched for credible and useful information that would have a positive effect on my essay. After gathering my information, I worked to create an outline that would assist in the organization and structure of my essay. I then used my outline to begin a rough draft by inserting research, as well as my own thoughts and ideas. After editing and revising my essay, I ended with a final draft. The editing done to the paper was basic and done solely by myself. I did not use any resources such as the writing center. Along with this, peer reviews were not helpful as my group did not strive to make any meaningful corrections or provide any constructive criticism. Because I had little corrections the amount of editing or revising done was limited. Throughout the duration of this class, the process in which I write an essay has changed.

I observed Dr. Jenny Crisp’s English 98 class on January 19, 2016. The class began at 12:15 PM and lasted until 1:20 PM. The room that the class met in was on the third floor of the Liberal Arts building, and the room had individual computers for each of the students to work on. The class was divided into two sections on this day because Dr. Crisp had scheduled an introductory visit to the writing lab, which began at 12:45. Prior to the visit to the writing lab, Dr. Crisp guided the class in a discussion on the topic of revision in regards to the first paper that the class had submitted. The stages of revision were discussed and the students were shown where additional help could be found within the book. Dr. Crisp told the students that the reason that their grades on the essays were significantly lower was because the essays were lacking in detail and had Type One errors. She stated that revision is important and that could help bring up the grades on the essays.

We were asked to write 4 essays throughout the entirely of this course. Each of the essays included an original version, followed by a revision memo, and last but not least a final revised version of the essay. After we completed an essay, the professor would grade our original essay and provide feedback on how to further improve on our final revised essay. We then would have to take his corrections into consideration and write 2 paragraphs on how to fix our mistakes called a revision memo. The first essay we were asked to write an “Argument Description”. For this essay, it was required for the students to find the writer’s primary and secondary claims of a particular essay chosen from the Best American Essays book and describe how they work. Secondly, we were asked to write an “Argument Analysis”. In this essay it required the same work as the “Argument Description” essay, but we were asked to find the implications in the claims stated. The next essay, Professor Stuart asked us to write was a “Genre Analysis”. Our final essay was called an “Argument in Literature”. (DESCRIBE THE ESSAYS COLLECTIVELY)

When I first started taking this class, I had a hard time writing my essays. The main reason I had a rough time was because the last time I had written an essay was in my freshman year of high school. I have improved on many things along the way. I now continue to improve even more. One major aspect that I have improved on is my revision process.

A freshman college level English Composition course aims to improve students' abilities with writing, critical thinking, mechanics and usage, punctuation, grammar, and vocabulary. By studying English 101 at Luzerne County Community College, I will work diligently to improve in all of these aspects. My main focus is to develop skills specifically to create clear and concise thesis statements, strong and persuasive essays with cajolement, and to develop different perspectives on narratives and other essays. These writing skills may also improve my critical thinking and reading skills.

Murray is insightful not only to instructors but also to learners. Murray argues that the challenge facing writing is the fact that teachers have treated it as a product rather than a process and the same concept passed on to students. The author holds that the main problem with this view is that students get to receive irrelevant criticisms that are not related to their learning goals. While I tend to agree with the author based on the arguments presented, it is notable that Murray has paid little attention to the idea of education in the contemporary world. In most learning institutions, the outcome of the writing is considered more than the process. As a teacher paying attention to the process of writing but not be consistent with the students, who are mostly driven by

In L. Lennie Irvin’s “What Is ‘Academic’ Writing?” Irvin presents the reader’s with the necessary skills to probably compose a colligate level paper. Doing this, Irvin exposes common myths of writing. These myths include that writing is simply a trait that cannot be improved. He explains by stating if one wishes to improve their writing skills they must think about the way they present an idea rather than fretting about the grammar. Irvin also clarifies terms such as analyze and argument. While these are just some of the major points, Irvin thoroughly explains to students new to college how to compose a collegiate level essay.

At 11:15 on Monday, August 17, 2015, my first official college class, English 1101, began. In general, I had no idea what college classes would be like let alone how college English would be. Even though this class taught me a great deal in one semester, it took a large amount of time and effort to make the adjustment from high school. The simplistic writing style of high school was put to rest the moment the first college English class began. As a result, I learned quickly that college writing is complex and less systematic than high school writing. Five paragraph essays with three strict body paragraphs were no longer the norm for writing. Even though my professor helped guide my writing, I was no longer coddled through the whole writing

Throughout the school year of 2015-2016 at the Founders Academy, I have wrote numerous essays, with generally positive results. Several of the essays exceeded expectations, while others reached expectations to a modest extent, but all of the essays were supported by the writing skills that I had learned that year, regardless of my strengths or weaknesses with these skills. These techniques vary extensively, from comparing and contrasting ideas in a text to editing and revising essays for quality results, which is proven in my writing portfolio.

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

I entered my first-year college composition course believing I was equipped with the knowledge, skill, and ability to write an efficiently researched and well-organized essay. In high school, I learned how to create the traditional five-paragraph paper with its introduction of a thesis, explanation of that claim through three sections riddled with supporting quotes, and conclusion that restated the author’s substantiated statement. This was the prescribed formula I had learned and grown accustomed to using for book reports, compare-and-contrast papers, and research essays and, from my bestowment of high grades and praise, I’d never thought to question or deviate from its pattern. When I attended my first college writing class, I thought

Many students have struggled with essays for their English class. They have difficulties due to many issues, the least of which are poor writing skills. Each person has their own area of writing which gives them the most trouble. If this lack of skill is not addressed then a student can be certain that his or her grade will fall. Personally, I have the most difficulty with conclusions, transitions, and comma usage. To address these issues I conducted research and found three effective sources; The Little seagull Handbook, Smart-words.org, and grammar.ccc.commnet.edu. These three sources assisted me in improving each of my three skills, which I struggle with.

All through this course, I have taken in various systems for composing different sorts of essays. This class has truly enhanced my written work abilities; I can now effectively think of enough words, which was a major issue for me before this class. I couldn't have done these without the inside and out rules gave all through this class from the instructor's assignments and lecture notes.

I have been writing since I have been in Middle School. I have realized that by college it was easier for me to write down my thoughts in order for me to remember what I have said or done. Writing out my thoughts gives me a sense of recollection, knowledge, and pacification that gets me through my day. I pictured writing to be as simple as jotting down a few sentences, but as I got farther in school I realized that there is more to it than just writing sentences. English has been my most difficult subject I have ever endured, but I have somehow been managing to make excellent grades and achieving all requirements. First in the essay, I will discuss my experiences in the English life that I’ve taken so far up until college. The second part will list my struggles in creating a thesis, a work cited, and properly citing my sources used in the papers.