According to Dr. Bean’s class syllabus, the primary goal for this course is to, “help you develop the literacy skills you’ll need during your academic career”. In other words, this class was designed to teach students to write like professionals in an academic discourse community. Through several writing and research assignments, we acted as researchers on a quest to examine “how discourse—written, spoken, and digital—is shaped by social practice”. Although I felt I was a decent enough writer, I had doubts that I could accomplish such a tall order of directives. In the end, I found that I could do it, and I did it rather well, thus giving me the boost I needed to continue to move forward on my dream of obtaining a college degree.
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.
College writing meets standards beyond the limits of high school writing. Delivering a purpose backed by concrete evidence and arguments. Written in a professional manner college writing smoothly persuades the audience in the authors favor. Using correct information cited from scientific journals and other reliable sources college writing addresses all sides of an issue at hand.
Introduction
Academic writing skill is very essential for the college students. Through academic writing, the students can express their thoughts, feelings and point of view on a certain issue or topic. In presenting ideas about variety of issues, students need to follow certain rules in writing academic essays. Academic writing is a specific type of writing that is needed in writing formal essays in a certain course. To create a well-constructed essay, it is very important for the students to use academic writing style.
In high school, students are only taught the basics of writing. Once students reach college, professors expect essays to be detailed and original. College writing varies greatly from high school, leaving professors to teach proper and advanced writing techniques. For some, this may be an easy transition, while for others it may not be so simple. Proper writing techniques are in important throughout life and can be used when applying for jobs. In high school, papers could be done mindlessly and last minute. However, in college, students are expected to be much more thorough in their writings and dedicate time to doing so. All writers must be more illustrative, detailed, plain, and concrete.
Academic Writing. By Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2010. N. pag. Print
At the beginning of the semester, I had a different idea of what is considered as good writing. In my first rough draft for my first essay, “Post-secondary education and cultural backgrounds”, I demonstrated mostly of my preconceived idea of what good writing is suppose to be. I tried to sound intelligent by asking rhetorical questions and using big words improperly. I noticed that there was no harmony and organization on my essay as a whole. I had no idea what MLA was. With the help of the Writing Center and my determination on continually revising my essay, my scattered ideas developed into cohesive statements. I learned the use of topic sentences, thesis, reference page, page number, and other given structures on writing a paper. As I tried to develop my skills to becoming a good writer, my writing and knowledge has slowly grew into the accepted academic text.
‘Helping students meet the challenges of academic writing’ by Fernsten and Reda is an interesting study how reflective writing practices can be useful for marginalized students, who are struggling with “negative writer self-identity. The possible causes according to Fernsten & Reda are, “issues such as race, class and gender that are marginalized factors for many basic writers”, in addition to the expectations of the dominant academic culture. However, even though Fernsten & Reda illuminated the ‘potential conflicts’ within the academic world, they have failed to provide conclusive evidence that supports their argument regarding their solution. Their reliance on dated research that provides a one sided historical perspective, may no longer accurately reflect current socio/economic issues. In addition, education has been evolving to an inclusive curriculum approach, as immigrated children enter the school system in record numbers. “Persons obtaining legal permanent status in the U.S from the year 2000-2010 are roughly eleven million” (Homeland Security,pg.10/2010). Fernsten & Reda’s confidence of their own limited teaching practices without legitimate comparables from an empirical study leads to their underlying assumptions about the true effectiveness of reflective writing strategies and the causes they believe are associated to a student’s socio/economic background.
What makes a writer efficient in the academic setting? A skilled writer is someone who is able to properly use academic components in the correct situation and when needed. Without the use of these components writers are left with unpolished pieces of work and set forth on a downward spiral in their writing. Each writer is faced with a different scenario which tells them what components are necessary, this awareness of the situation and occasion is crucial when creating the image of being an expert. Specifically in the scenario of college, Academic writers in the college scenario are striving to become successful writers in academia before they graduate,In order to be able to present an efficient paper, a writer must use the basic components:
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