The Novice As Expert: Writing The Freshman Year

Downs & Wardle’s “Teaching about writing, Righting Misconceptions: (Re) Envisioning “First Year Composition” as “Introduction to Writing Studies” talks about several ways to refer to writing and our response to it. As well as the misconceptions students have towards the proper way of writing and how they have managed to break the “college writing” stereotype and discover their own way of writing.

Upon entering Columbia College, writing was one of my weaker areas. It was very important that I gained the necessary knowledge and confidence to become a better writer. I didn’t know how to express myself and felt as though my writing was not my interest. As a result of taking English 101, I have gained a better understanding on how to properly research and build a satisfactory paper. Every paper that was assigned seemed like a struggle to complete. Before entering this class, I did not know the meaning of a thesis or why it was important, however, I obtained this skill quickly. I noticed that every paper has an argument and the thesis helps clarify the rebuttal. Now, I have a new outlook on writing. It’s a way to express my thoughts and allow others to see things through my eyes. There is no doubt that I still have a long way to go, but I know if I continue to write, I will get better. Just as I developed more skills in class, the various papers assigned helped to better structure the writer in me. In addition, the subject areas were not only interesting, but very informative and made it much easier to write about my experiences.

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.

As stated above, this section of the book specially emphasizes change of focus of your compositions when you start college writing. In high school your writing assignments are mainly executed using your personal opinions and your own self encounters. On the contrary, college writing is much more factual and involves critical thinking. Instead of your writing being inspired by your emotional thoughts on a subject, your words now need to be backed up by scholarly sources that can prove your information. This, however, does not mean that you will never write about yourself or your personal opinions, it just means that you need to provide proof for your beliefs. College writing also introduces you to different genres such as essays,

Everyone on the planet has a goal set in life, but only a handful attempt to improve to obtain their goal by studying the subject their goal is in. In my English class, English 101 this quarter I was astonished by how much I had progressed as a writer sharpening my writing skills and also learned a lot about writing that I hadn’t learned before. In my writing portfolio for this quarter I had to write an autobiography essay, a research essay, and this reflection essay to develop my writing skills better. The writing assignments were fun to do because it challenged me to work on essays of different styles that were new to me. The essay assignments helped me grow as a better writer that gave me the self-confidence and skills to take on the world on my own.

In Dan Berrett’s article, “Students Come to College Thinking They’ve Mastered Writing,” the idea of freshman thinking they are or must be a refined writer is discussed. Students may think this way coming into college, but their teachers do not. While students might feel satisfied and think that they are prepared with their writing skills, professors found that these students did not necessarily meet the expected level (Berrett 1). Many students reported that they would normally write around 25 hours every week. They said that most of those hours of writing was for more formal purposes like passages to make changes in society (Berrett 1). It was found that one reason the new students might feel this way is that their assumptions about writing differed greatly from those of faculty members and their expectations. One big thing that students will not get for a while, is that good writing is not just listed as a bunch of steps one is to follow that automatically make one’s writing good. Good writing requires one to be in different mental states; it requires the understanding of how to write for different audiences and different reasons (Berrett 2). Berrett includes in the article that writing is not just universal and that in order to do very well, writers must use different forms of writing specifically for their purpose (2). It seems as though students think that, before they even take a class, they are supposed to know everything about writing; in reality, they are supposed to learn new skills and enhance others (Berrett 2). Berrett says that many believe the schools these students previously attended with their test focus might cause these feelings about writing (2). Berrett ends his article by saying that students these days do not think that informal writing actually counts as writing, and that students should practice writing for informal purposes because it can help them (2). Even if they feel like it, students are not fully prepared to write in all contexts when they arrive at college.

From writing thoughtful poems to research papers, I have experienced composing a diverse portfolio of literary analysis and criticisms throughout the school year. I started out the year writing minimally. By the end of the year, I noticed I was able to express my ideas and thoughts in a more clear and concise way on paper. Ultimately, each composition allowed me to widen my horizons as a writer and see how I could improve as a writer.

It is a common occurrence for high school students in their senior year to experience declines in motivation and performance; most call it ‘senioritis.’ When students contract seniorits they become lax, neglecting their homework, turning in late papers, and generally losing effort. The majority of seniors continue on to graduate, only to receive a rude awakening once they enter college. While students may be able to graduate from high school without putting in too much hard work, college is indisputably a different story. In the documentary,”The Expos 5,” five college students provided a first hand look into how they learned to navigate the difficulties of expository writing. I related best to Arpan and Yasmeen, but I learned great lessons from all of the students.

Essay 1 was about a Mission Statement that I had to write for myself something personal which explains something that is truthful and explains who and what I am and what I am strving to achieve when searching my name “Brian Mamuyac”. What I did to prepare for this assignment was that our instructor gave us the prompt ahead of time and I created a rough draft and when we had to meet up in the computer room I just had to type up my essay and turn it in. The challenging part of this essay would be understanding the prompt because I had no idea what a Mission statement was and what I was supposed to do. For Essay 1 I was marked down for redundancy, repetition, grammar and spelling and also clutter. What I can do to prevent the errors in my next version would be to understand the prompt and directions more and have more ideas to write about myself.

While auditing courses for her own education and interest a professor realized that the students were relating to her as if she was a student. She was behaving as a student, asking questions, going regularly to class and doing the required readings and in turn the other students began sharing insights, gossip and opinions she would never hear as a professor. Rebekah Nathan (pseudonym assumed by the author, Cathy Small, for purposes of the book) recognized that “even after my fiftieth birthday, I could still be a student, and treated by other students as, more or less, a peer”(Nathan, 2005, para. 71). She decided use her sabbatical to study campus life through a student’s viewpoint, instead of the professor-student perspective.

As seniors about to embark on a journey into the adult world, it’s important to be prepared for what college professors expect in an essay. The article, What do College Professors Want from Incoming High School Graduates, was very insightful on how different the rules are. It states the different skills and mindsets an incoming freshmen must have to succeed in more advanced writing classes. It explains how high school and college writing differ, also how the two are similar. In order to be successful in school and in life one must become independent and open to change.

From the early beginning of the school year to the current day, my writing skills and knowledge have improved and broadened over time. If not drastic, the change is noticeable nevertheless. For almost an entirety of eighth grade, assignments of varying difficulty challenged me to a degree. To be frank, some seemed as though they were beyond my comprehension and ability. However, determination amalgamated with knowledge obtained in advance helped me to overcome my doubts, for I exceeded my expectations; surprisingly good grades and comments are a delight, owing to the fact of that I don’t tend to think of myself as being proficient at writing. Consequently, the assignments given to me this school year shaped me into who I am as a writer.

A journey into something unknown can be a very nerve-racking experience. For myself, this journey was into Composition 1 this semester. Coming into a college level writing class as a junior in high school was an exciting feat for my academic career. However, I was scared for the next step I would have to take. Little did I know that through the next fourteen weeks of writing I would grow exponentially. This class helped me to experience physical growth, emotional growth, and make critical improvements for the future.

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

As students, writing typically carries a different and old way of communication. Many times, students are taught how to synthesize other’s work in a formal tone. In doing so, students enter into a conversation. As they attempt to enter into this conversation through writing, what should they expect to gain? Writers should have a specific goal and motive in order to engage a targeted audience. Margaret Kantz, a famous author explains the importance of developing creativity from textual sources. In fact, Kantz states that writers should “have a goal of saying something new” (Kantz, 436). In doing so, writers should attempt to enter into a conversation with the intent to leave