Student And Graduate Level Writing

In Dan Berrett’s article “Students Come to College Thinking They’ve Mastered Writing”, published in the Chronicle of Higher Education on March 21, 2014, the author describes some issues regarding writing that first-year students face. Berrett claims that “the students’ notions about writing” do not meet their instructors’ expectations. I, as a freshman in university, agree with most of the author’s ideas. However, there are flaws in the article, which make it less convincing.

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.

As a researcher, the APA style helps to build credibility. By properly citing research references and displaying an understanding of the development of ideas, a researcher gives credit to original owner of intellectual property. This is not only the ethical thing to do, it documents the development of ideas. By using proper APA guidelines for in-text citations, referenced materials are acknowledged immediately. The full reference citations at the end of the article or paper allow the reader to easily find the referenced resources and understand the author’s ideas in the context of the current knowledge within the field (Hicks, 2006). This ability of readers to follow the development of an idea, or to refer back to an original concept, is essential in an academic setting. Presenting the information in clear, uncluttered sentences convey both meaning and focus. The aim of APA writing style is to eliminate unnecessary wordiness, passive voice, poor grammar, and The formal tone associated with academic writing demonstrates the ability of the writer to distill an idea or argument down to the most precise

1. Plagiarism is a dishonest, unprofessional and mindless act of fraud. Essentially, when an individual plagiarizes he/she is stealing another’s ideas, thoughts or work and presenting them as his/her own rather than giving credit where credit is due. To avoid such an offense, one can simply cite the sources of his/her work, use quotations marks for direct quotes and give credit to the individual who spoke the words or wrote them, as well as summarize knowledge gained in one’s own words.

As a writer in college, students will be challenged. Unlike high school writing classes, college writing will be more sophisticated and intimate. In high school, most English classes require students to follow the pace of the teacher, however, college writing requires students to work at their own pace. After reading these two articles by Sommers, my thoughts on academic writing has changed. One of Sommers’s students, David, best exemplifies my expectations of a college writer because his attitude towards the class demonstrates how I believe academic writing is challenging. As a student, David went against the grain of the class and “went beyond the texts [Sommers] offered and chose his own.” I believe that college students like David struggle to find or understand information in the given text.

As a competent and often high achieving writer at a secondary level, I didn’t believe that I had significant issues in my academic writing. The score I achieved in the PELA test was shocking (6.5) as it didn’t reflect my previous achievements as a writer previously. Through the reflection and analysis of my writing for this assessment, I discovered that my skills were “in need of toning” with the Writers Diet tool (writersdiet.com). Due to its broad analysis, I went further by using the Pro Writing Aid (prowritingaid.com) and Paper Rater (paperrater.com) to uncover the underlying issues of my writing style. Associating these writing aids with the advice from Grellier and Goerke (2014) allowed me to realise, and practice, tools and techniques I previously had little knowledge about. Improving my text will involve constantly referring back to my outlined elements of satisfactory academic writing, and actively using them when undertaking formal writing. The online tools have also become an important aspect in my plan for improvement as I can

After researching this topic, it makes me aware of the consequences associated with plagiarism and how it can have an effect on someone’s education. For some it may seem like a minor detail and it may come across as innocent, but by plagiarizing, you not only take the work of someone that worked hard on the research, but you also lose credibility and honesty within your school, with your teachers, and your classmates. It could also affect your future and your career. I believe these incidents can be reduced by educating students on how to conduct research and how to properly cite work of

Higher-level writing is vital for my current standings as a college student and my future endeavors. In order to receive positive responses on any papers or discussions, I must be able to properly write on a college-level. I have continuously worked on my writing skills throughout English 101 and 102 and hope the skills I have gained in these courses will prepare me to write on an intellectual level. Looking back at previous discussion posts, assignments, papers, and feedback from peers and my instructor, I have achieved a large amount of insight to higher-level writing. This past semester I was required to create four major papers including Rhetorical Analysis Essay, Annotated Bibliography, Exploratory Essay, and the Researched Position Paper. Each of these papers entailed vigorous research and time. My writing has progressively improved throughout the semester in quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing source material, as well as choosing academic appropriate sources; however, I must strive to improve in general writing skills covering organization, style, diction, grammar, and mechanics.

times. According to Moss (2005, para. 1), “Plagiarism - the attempt to pass off the ideas, research, theories or words of others as one's own - is a serious academic offence.” With the definition Moss gave, it can be inferred that plagiarism is not only committed in arts and literature but also in the field of science and politics. Even the educated class of the society can or may plagiarize. Writing a paper makes one inclined to commit plagiarism but with the proper knowledge of plagiarism, its types, and ways to avoid, one can evade its consequences. Imagine working hard to the point of sacrificing sleep then one day someone decided to copy the hard worked paper

“The students place a symbolic importance on their selection and rejection of words as the determiners of success or failure for their compositions” (381) was said in the “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers,” came as a surprise to me. Many would have thought that it was the usage of intellectual words that determined their success or failure. However, with this said, success seems to come through how well a writer can convey a discovery to the reader. This new concept of success based on elaboration and clarification can act as a possible challenge in the transition of writing in high school to writing in college. Similarly, in the “I Stand Here Writing,” there is a phrase that challenges students to think past the surface. “Being personal means bringing their judgments and interpretation to bear on what they read and write, learning that they never leave themselves behind even when they write academic essays” (425). One would question being personal in an academic essay. This came as a surprise, since I was taught that in high school, being personal in an academic essay was not acceptable. When I was asked to be personal, I automatically thought it was the request to hear about my life, not my judgement. Because of this new expectation to have a strong voice on every topic, this may come as a challenge to many, due to the unfamiliarity of being personal in academic

The following paper will increase ones knowledge on academic style writing and why APA format is used. Academic style is used everywhere however, why do we use this form of writing, and why do we use APA format in writing these papers. What are the most important aspects of using APA format in our writing? APA is a form of writing that is used everywhere; there are specific ways of using APA format and there are also rules you have to follow. These so-called rules are set in place so that people are given credit where credit is do. Therefore when people are working on publishing a paper it needs to be in APA format so others know that they did not do all the research on their own; they had help from others before them on the topic. If a certain

These two points show how Writing in the Social Sciences has helped me improve my academic writing abilities. The module achieved this by ‘fixing’ my perspectives about academic writing, as well as taught me that I should develop new skills for old problems. Academic writing doesn’t seem as troublesome, pointless, or tedious as it did once before. These skills and perspectives I’ve learnt from this course should go a long way throughout my academic

According to Debrine Mascle, in her article “Writing Self-Efficacy and Written Communication,” the importance of effective writing and communication skills continues to be essential to learning, working, and continuously living in our 21st-century (218). Writing is used to improve learning and to provoke critical thinking. Although there is extensive hidden writing fear among students, it can be overcome by immersing in it and by the help of valuable tools.

Plagiarism have different meanings base upon understanding and knowledge of what plagiarism really means. Plagiarism is taking someone else’s text or statement and claim it to be your own and not giving credit to the original author (Sue Thompson,

Plagiarism, “ is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward” (plagiarism.org). Most commonly seen in high school is simply copying and pasting a sentence or paragraph into a paper and not