Writing for college requires depth and critical thinking. When you write an essay, a research paper, a lab report, an analysis, a piece of creative fiction . . . or in this case, a blog . . . you are being asked to cogently string together pieces of your intellect, your ability to think critically about complex information, and your ability to phrase your knowledge in such a way that your reader (someone other than yourself) can understand.
There are baseline requirements for college writing: you must yield to accepted spelling, punctuation, grammar, syntax and form rules. There are sentence and paragraph level expectations: that you can use a variety of sentence patterns - simple, compound, complex, compound-complex, that you can transition from one written thought to another in a logical manner, and that you can embrace a college level vocabulary with finesse and proficiency. There are accepted patterns for writing college papers based on the traditional five paragraph model. There are expected protocols for eliminating tangential thinking on paper and keeping a thesis in focus throughout.
But when all is said and done, your grader (generally your instructor) does not want to be bored by your writing. To cinch an "A" for a college level paper, go the extra mile and strive to inspire, entertain, or at the very least, provoke.
You really have no idea how many papers professors read every single day; don't let yours be flat, stagnant, and simplistic. Let yours be sophisticated.
1 comment:
I love how the ideas expressed in this entry closely resemble that of Mr. Kapica's- a man who truly loves his craft. I don't think someone should go into a carrier until they are as zealous about their craft as him.
He called me out- I have no passion (for anything). But, that considered, does that mean i have to share his passions?
It's the Audience i think. Not everyone in the room is an ecstatic college freshman, most of them are mindless high school seniors (such as myself) that look at this class as another loop to jump through.
The only papers these students have been taught how to write are stagnant, flat, maybe not simplistic but definitely nothing in depth. Nothing that actually digs deep to get a greater idea from the writer.
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