In Patricia Limerick’s article “Dancing with Professors”, she argues the problems that college students must face in the present regarding writing. Essays are daunting to most college students, and given the typical lengths of college papers, students are not motivated to write the assigned essays. One of the major arguments in Limerick’s article is how “It is, in truth, difficult to persuade students to write well when they find so few good examples in their assigned reading.” To college students, this argument is true with most of their ...
Several people have trouble writing college level essays and believe that they are unable to improve their writing skills. In “the Inspired Writer vs. The Real Writer,” Sarah Allen argues how no one is born naturally good at writing. Sarah Allen also states how even professional writers have trouble with the task of writing. Others, such as Lennie Irvin, agree. In Irvin’s article “What is ‘Academic’ Writing?” states how there are misconceptions about writing. Furthermore, Mike Bunn’s article “How to Read Like a Writer” shows ways on how one can improve their writing skills. Allen, Bunn, and Irvin are correct to say how no one is born naturally good writers. Now that we know this, we should find ways to help improve our writing skills, and
According to Runciman, there are many plausible reasons that students and other people don’t enjoy writing. Evidence, assumptions, and language and tone are the basis for which Runciman makes his argument. Overall, this argument is effective because reliable and well known sources are used in a logical fashion. Also, the assumptions made about the audience are accurate and believable. Runciman used his assumptions wisely when writing his claim and in turn created a compelling, attention capturing argument. The article was written so that students and teachers at any level could understand and easily read it. This argument is interesting, captivating, relevant through its age, and can relate to students and teachers at almost every academic level.
For the entirety of my undergraduate career I had the distinct ability to successfully write research papers, critical essays and journal entries. On the whole I feel that my writing was successful due to the fact that I received excellent grades as well as glowing comments of support from my professors. Please understand that I am not boasting about my grade point average, class rank or even attempting to claim that I am a good writer. However, I do feel confident in my abilities to write papers that speak directly to the question at hand while simultaneously addressing, although not necessarily adhering to, the professor’s point of interest. I must credit much of my success as an undergraduate to Mr. M of the High School English Department. My outlook on academic writing was drastically altered during the fall of 1997 with the help of Mr. M and a writing course entitled College Prep II.
The purpose of writing goes hand in hand with the development of the writing. A student must understand about what he is being asked to write. He must be able to ...
Every animal on the planet is capable of communicating, be it verbally, physically, or possibly by some means yet discovered. Writing on the other hand is a form of communication exclusive to human beings (and maybe the occasional ape). Children are taught to read and write almost as soon as they can speak. Writing becomes a part of everyday life, and because of this it is easy to forget that writing "is a means of "communication [one] must consciously learn" (Heffernan and Lincoln 3). For this reason writing in college can be a challenge for even the most skilled of writers. While the basics of academic writing may seem like common knowledge, knowing them and understanding them can prove to be quite different. In the writing center it is our job to help writers take what they know about writing, and begin to understand it. Understanding is the basis for ...
2. Joseph M. Williams and Lawrence McEnerney. “Writing in College.” University of Chicago. University of Chicago Writing Program. Date of access: April 23rd, 2014. http://writing-program.uchicago.edu/resources/collegewriting/high_school_v_college.htm
In “Writing to Learn: Writing across the Disciplines,” Anne J. Herrington finds different sources stating that writing is to be taken serious. Janet Emig says, "writing represents a unique mode of learning-not merely valuable, not merely special, but unique” (1) meaning that writing is far more essential than we ought to make it seem. Anne Herrington wants educators teaching in economics, history, chemistry or any other subject to guide their students into understanding why progressing their writing skills will be more helpful to them. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the educator; whether he/she wants their students to use writing as a way for students to adapt to different disciplines.
In Donald M. Murrays’s essay “What is Practical Education” he explains his reasoning behind why he allowed his students to write badly. He shares his own experience with police-like teachers who drove him to hate writing. In hopes of helping his students find their voice he allows his students to write the words down as they come, no matter how awkward they sound. Often times they find out that they have more to say then they thought. Rhetorical devices are used to help the readers relate to his point of view on writing.
College courses have evolved over the course of history, adapting to the ever changing ways students learn, speak, and write. But focusing on the writing aspect of education, do teachers/professors really grade fairly? The university is diverse and students come from so many different backgrounds, and writings cannot always be done exactly how an instructor desires it to be, or in the correct voice. Correct voice means that a student uses words that professors wants to see and construct their essay the way that they like to read. A student’s voice, the tone and form his/her essay is written in, is shaped by their culture, society, and factors outside the professor’s wishes. In this essay, I will address the problems that arise from the ways professors, mostly in the English discipline, grade or evaluate students’ writing. Instructors evaluate student’s writing with extremely high expectations, and need to change their grading style to help students today.
My third and final source is by Downs and Wardle, “Teaching about writing, righting misconceptions”. The main point of the article Teaching about Writing, Righting Misconceptions:(Re) Envisioning “First-Year Composition” as “Introduction to Writing Studies” is to inform the readers what FYC (first year composition) is, and all the changes needed to be placed in this pedagogy, or teaching to actually be effective in a student’s college life and even after graduation. The FYC has been using the same method of teaching for decades, and most of the professors teaching through this system do not even know half of what they’re supposed to know. Through the FYC, we as students are supposed to learn the basics of writing, but yet there are still issues
In her essay, “The New Literacy: Stanford Study Finds Richness and Complexity in Students’ Writing,” Cynthia Haven claims that writing, for the modern college student, has changed due to recent technology, specifically the internet. To prove this claim, the author turns to a study that began in 2001 at Stanford. This study’s goal was to analyze the writing habits of college students; however, the results yielded more than just that. The study found that students are writing much more than was expected, and much of what they write is not for a grade. So, these students write almost as much for their personal gain as they do for an academic one. Due to this, students are able to understand and utilize higher-level writing techniques, such as epistemic writing. Furthermore, they have
Writing is an important part of everyone’s life, whether we use it in school, in the workplace, as a hobby or in personal communication. It is important to have this skill because it helps us as writers to express feelings and thoughts to other people in a reasonably permanent form. Formal writing forms like essays, research papers, and articles stimulates critically thinking. This helps the writer to learn how to interpret the world around him/her in a meaningful way. In college, professors motivate students to write in a formal, coherent manner, without losing their own voice in the process. Improving your writing skills is important, in every English class that’s the main teaching point; to help students improve their writing skills. Throughout my college experience I have acknowledge that
Although adequate writing skills are indispensable for life, leisure, and employment, quite a few students do not learn how to write effectively. Since writing is an exercise in thinking, it is important to balance the process of writing with the mechanics of writing. The areas of the brain involved in the writing task are varied yet interrelated; therefore, a student’s individual needs will determine the method of instruction they receive. Many students who have low expectations for their own academic success will not make even minimal efforts to complete a...
Aptitude plays an important role in learning. If you have it, the job becomes simple. If you don’t, the final outcome is always doubtful. Some tasks, like playing a musical instrument, require a very high degree of aptitude. The average person would face great difficulty in learning such a vocation. Other, more mundane but crucial ones, like driving a car, cooking or writing can be learnt by most people with a reasonable level through training. English composition was never my choice subject and essay writing was not exactly the most joyful assignment at the high school but there were indicators that writing skills would play a crucial role in my future life, irrespective of which career I chose. Take, for example, Anthony Balderrama’s advice. “We spend more time writing in our professional and personal lives than we probably imagined we would back in school. What you may not realize is that these written exchanges can boost your career or hinder it, depending on how you treat them.”(Balderamma, 2009). Taking up Foundations of Academic Writing (FAW) I and II at the university was, therefore, a carefully thought out decision. The FAW syllabus tackles different aspects of academic writing in a systematic way. There is measured emphasis on different genres of academic writing, and there is lots of repetition. As a result, slowly but surely, change starts to happen. Now, as the course reaches the final stages, I can observe these changes in the quality of my writing and overall understanding of the subject. Writing an essay is no more the ordeal that it used to be in the high school.