Successful College Writing Chapter 2 Summary

It is essential to understand that classes taken in grade school do not give students a full understanding of each subject. With the topic of writing, there will always be a new lesson to learn, an aspect to improve, or a differing way to explain. Author Craig Vetter states in Bonehead Writing, “This is your enemy: a perfectly empty sheet of paper. Nothing will ever happen here except what you make happen.” Each story, essay, or response comes from a writer’s experiences. With each attempt at a new piece comes an underlying story of emotions the writer is facing. Each person’s writing is unique and the ideas people have are related to their past experiences and what they believe to be familiar with when deciding which writing style to use. As a high school student, I have learned many things about writing that helped me become the improved writer I am today, but the most essential advice I have received is practice makes perfect. Although there is no actual perfect way of writing, I have discovered that each essay I write, my writing improves. It is easier to spot mistakes, find areas to improve, and ponder elevated word choice to use.

First and foremost writing has always been a bit of a challenge for me. My writing in high school was mostly regarding essays about a book I was assigned to read and analyze. I've noticed that there's a difference between my writing in high school and the essays i've wrote so far in college. My writing in college seems to be far more formal and includes complex wording. My writing in college tends to be longer than most essays i wrote in high school and far more detailed.

Think about your experiences of writing at college. Which types of assignments have you found helpful in strengthening your writing skills? Where do you want to improve your writing? What’s the most useful advice you’re received that’s helped you improve your writing. Be as specific as possible.

How can I become a better writer? Throughout my writing experiences, I have learned I have many weaknesses along with strengths. My experiences with writing has not always been the best, but over time, with lots of practice and instructions from my instructors, I can proudly say that I have gained a better understanding on the layout of essays and papers. As well as understanding how to write correctly my goal as a writer is to learn how to overcome my weaknesses and use my strengths to my highest ability. I have many strengths, weaknesses and goals that I plan to achieve and overcome in my college career.

In “Expectations for College Writing,” the author indicates the importance of thinking and communicating to succeed after college. A writer’s style acknowledges a social or academic expression. A writer’s skill to rationalize ideas and think critically demonstrates an essential technique for enhancing communication in the work environment.

Thonney states, “a study of scholarly research articles from six disciplines provides insight about academic writing that composition instructors can use to prepare students to write across the curriculum” (2011 pg. ). Moving forward, Joseph Williams and Lawrence McEnerney’s essay, “Writing in College” targets students currently enrolled in college which is clear from the title itself and its first opening sentence at the beginning of the first paragraph. The author states, “Some students make very smooth transitions from writing in high school to writing in college, and we heartily wish all of you an easy passage” (Williams and McEnerney page 1). Throughout the essay, the author provides a set of structure and tips that first year college students should know when writing an academic paper. Among this paper, we are able to see that there are students whose instructors are dissatisfied with their paper because it is “lacking something” ( Williams and McEnenery’s pg1 ), it isn’t “quite there” or “You haven’t change”. Both passages consist of informative research that first year college students can identify themselves.

“The Novice as Expert: Writing the Freshman Year” reflected my writing experience while I transitioned from elementary writer to a critical writer. Sommers and Saltz write, “freshmen need to see themselves as novice in a world that demands ‘something more and deeper’ from their writing than high school” (Sommers and Saltz 134). This line highlights the hardship that most students face when trying to write successfully. My earlier written works were much weaker than my current pieces because I often wrote for the sake of passing the class. While developing my writing, I focused on the new ideas that were introduced rather than limiting my argument to familiar techniques and ideas. Because of my new attitude towards writing, I began to demand

My high school years were not spectacular, nor were they terribly productive.I left high school without learning how to proficiently write an essay. However, CUNY's Borough of Manhattan Community College afforded me a desperately needed second chance. It was at BMCC that I sharpened many of the skills I should have mastered in high school. I was able to greatly improve my writing ability. I began college as a student who found writing a 2 page paper to be a terrifyingly daunting task, but due to practice and numerous resources offered by CUNY, I soon was able to compose papers consisting of 10-14 pages with confidence and efficiency.

College writing is a lot more difficult than it was in high-school. Obviously, this will be the case for everyone, but I am really not used to having the freedom to write what I want in my own unique style or be able to choose out of an array of articles. By the end of the semester, I expect to be able to have the rhetorical strategies nailed into my brain, similar to how everyone as children learned common

In this article, “College Success” written by Bruce Beiderwell, Linda Tse, Thomas J. Lochhaas, and Nicholas B. deKanter, they explain the differences of high school and college writing, expectations of the instructors, and the types of papers that are assigned. Most students who struggle in their writing are usually still going through their transformation into college, without even knowing it. Though, how can you see these symptoms? “Students who struggle with writing in college often conclude that their high school teachers were too easy or that their college instructors are too hard” (Beiderwell, P. 1). When going into college there are all sort of ways of writing an essay, in high school you were taught the five paragraph basic

Connell, C. M., & Sole, K. (2013). Essentials of college writing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education,

This semester was my very first semester as a college student. Being the first, it was probably the semester I would learn the most in. I learned the expectations for writing that I will have to live up to for the next four years of my college career. Though my high school teachers were usually demanding because I was in the Honors English section throughout high school, writing in college has still ?raised the bar? for me. Also, in high school, we would have weeks to pick a topic, create a thesis, outline the paper, write the paper, and then revise the paper. In college, the time restraints are not quite as lenient. I?ve had to learn to manage my time and be more productive with what free moments I

The transition from high school into college can be one that many students can struggle with. There are so many things that have to be adjusted to that things can seem overwhelming at times. This is something that those who choose to go to college have to go through though. One of the big things that students find difficult is the ability to adjust to the style of writing that is required in this higher level of education. They are accustomed to the typical format of shallow writing that is satisfactory to receive a grade that is good enough to get them through to the next assignment. Writing in college is useful to help throw those old patterns out the window and bring in better ones. Having different standards in the grading, volume, and description, writing in college helps to develop an individual as a writer by expanding them into a more competent version of themselves.

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

Professional scholars have their own perspective on what college level writing is and how it is done. A various number of scholars believe that college writing consists of well articulate writing skills and having the authority to make your work dynamic in every aspect. Well articulate writing skills consist of knowing how to explain yourself with legitimate grammar, and having the authority is knowing automatically how you are going to write, and having the ability to write coherently. Scholars like Elizabeth Wardle and Donald M. Murray have explained what college level writing is in their knowledge and how to distinguish those writing skills in your essay. College level writing in Elizabeth and Donald’s view consist of finding your identity.