College Writing

College Writing Study Guide • “I don’t know what the teacher wants, and I don’t know what makes good writing.” • “Nobody ever told me I was good enough.” Almost all of these quotes come from misunderstandings about writing or from educators’ failure to properly demystify the writing process. Let’s go through each of them, and try to discover what’s really being communicated. If you write how you speak, that’s �ine: most of us do. Usually this is a problem because novice writers don’t punctuate a spoken sentence correctly. Most spoken sentences include several short independ- ent clauses, and novice writers will run these independent clauses together, creating massive run-on sentences that are ultimately confusing. Another problem indicated by the “I write how I speak” quote is that sometimes we speak in informal or collo quial English; some improving writers contend that because they don’t speak in Standard Written American English, they can’t become goodwriters. This is �lat wrong. While it’s true that we often speak informally, it’s also true that – just as often – we are called upon to speak formally. Our language constantly changes based on our audience. Not only that, nobody speaks in Standard Written American English. It’s true that there is an extent to which that learning good academic writing is like learning a foreign language, but it’s also true that your past experiences with writing don’t mean that you can’t improve. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the overall college enrollment rate for eight- een- to twenty-four-year-olds in the United States was “41% in 2018” (par. 1). Just by being in this course and pursuing your advanced degree, you are already in the elite 59% of Americans. So the next time you think that you “don’t write smart,” remember that you’re already smart. All you have to do is write like you, share your thoughts and your point of view, and that will be “smart enough.” When young writers state they don’t write “with voice,” they are once again thinking that there is a secret “code” that professional writers have access to, which we’ve somehow kept from you all this time. There is no code; there is no correct “voice.” Creativity cannot be taught, but it can be cultivated and improved. A simple de�inition of creativity is “juxtaposing two things that have never been juxtaposed before.” Creativity is putting two things in conversation with each other. Exploring the kinds of associative connections that your mind natu- rally makes is the heart of creativity. Most of the time, improving creativity is more about giving your- self th e con�idence and permission to express what you’re thinking , and there are few places on the planet like a writing classroom, which will always be a welcoming environment for creative expres- sion. And even if you’re not particularly creative, that doesn’t mean that you can’t be a good writer. Good writers come in all shapes, sizes, and genres, and it doesn’t require an extraordinary amount of creativity to write some persuasive, factual arguments such as the ones you will be required to write for this exam. If there is any sense of mystery about the expectations for a particular assignment, then you should ask your instructor direct and speci�ic questions about what is confusing you. More generally speak- ing, however, most writing instructors simply want to read good writing: cogent, thoughtful

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