The Transition into College Writing by Keith Hjorshoj

In the short essay, “Becoming a Writer,” penned by Russell Baker, he spoke of a memory from his past that later changed his perception of writing. After reading his piece, I reviewed the response questions listed below the essay to further my understanding of the piece. Almost like looking through a list of prompts as Russell did.

When you finish, reread the essay to check for all of the points above, and then proofread it to be sure your work does not contain errors in grammar or spelling.

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.

Writing is a skill that will help you succeed, regardless of your future. College students having to take writing courses makes them become the best writers they can possibly be. Some students feel that college writing classes should not be mandatory. Taking a college writing class broadens your education, perspective, and increases intelligence. A big part of college writing is the teachings of the literate arts.

Lao Tzu. Tao-te Ching. A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers, edited by Lee

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

Walking into the college writing room for the first time, I was hopeful of learning new skills and more about myself as a writer. Not only did I learn new skills, but overall a better understanding of how I write and how I edit. I still have my disorganizing writing style of a chunk writer, but now I know that having a simple outline can cut out hours of trying to paste the paper back together, trying to make sure it flows correctly. Instead of the old way of writing, I found a better way that still works for me. It’s much more efficient, especially of the deadlines that come faster than they seem. Writing in a classroom never worked well for me, but College Writing allowed me to experiment with what environment worked the best. I found out writing in low-lit library early in the morning with my headphones playing Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor op. 33 by Saint-Saëns kept me focused on my goals..

The first essay was a persuasive essay on the right for gays/lesbians to marry. I believe that my first essay could have been a lot better. I think if I had based my paper on the topic sentences that I put together in the outline my paper would have been a lot better than

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.

College Composition has helped me grow tremendously as a writer. While I am still not where I want to be as a writer, Comp 1 has given me the push in the right direction that high school never did. When I was in high school I had about a month total of grammar over those 4 years so writing was not a big part of my life at that point. Due to that, I knew coming into Comp 1 that I would struggle to produce something worth reading at first. Through countless revisions and reflections on each paper I have learned so much about the process of writing in such a short time.

Some of these errors included repetitive transitions, sentence fragments and general grammar and punctuation errors. After these errors were fixed, I thoroughly read through both of the essays in order to develop a full understanding of what else I need to improve. Following these readings, I fixed any further grammatical errors I may have missed the first time when I revised these essays earlier in the semester. Following this revision, I expanded on a few paragraphs where I felt as though my ideas were not explained well-enough. I expanded a fair amount on my paragraphs in Project #3 as I believe that I had left some ideas unexplained. One of these ideas include how children are the ones who will one day help to shape the future. I also improved on some further transitions that I found could use some refinement. After improving on these transitions, I simplified any overly-complex sentences I may have had in my essays. Throughout the semester, I have had a problem with writing overly-complex sentences. The process of revision has helped in clarifying this aspect of writing for me as well as aspects relating to transitions and sentence fragments. Through the clarification of these aspects, I believe I have grown as a

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.

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

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.

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