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Strengths and Weaknesses in Writing Skills
Strengths and weakneses in writing skills
Strengths and weakneses in writing skills
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Effective Communication
In “Expectations for College Writing,” the author highlights general expectations of academic writing in the United States and presents advice to aid students’ performance in social and academic writing. The author warns his readers about employers’ and instructors’ expectations regarding students’ writing capabilities. In addition, the author provides recommendations to enhance their necessary skills. According to the author, to effectively convey messages students have to write with authority, understand their audience, and organize their ideas.
The author advises students to write with authority by demonstrating an understanding of the content and of their audience in their writing. The author likewise encourages
In this article written by David Bartholomae, the author discusses problems basic writers make and about how they must use the discourse (communication style) of the academic community they are writing to, to be an effective writer. Bartholomae believes that “Inventing the University," is being able to assemble and mimic the universities language(5). Which means, if a student wants to be an efficient writer, he or she must be able to speak the language of his or her audience. Bartholomae writes that a common mistake of basic writers is that they don’t use an authoritative voice, and tend to switch into a more passive voice. This could be due to the fact that students have difficulty establishing their mindset or attitude for an audience
In Downs and Wardle’s article, they argue and identify the flaws in teaching writing in college. Demonstrating the misconceptions that academic writing is universal, but rather specialized in each case. Citing studies and opinions from esteemed professionals, Downs & Wardle state their points and illuminate the problem in today’s many colleges.
Wardle, Elizabeth. "Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces." Wardle, Elizabeth and Doug Downs. Writing about Writing A College Reader. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin's, 2011. 520-537. Print.
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.
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
‘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.
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
This semester was my very first semester as a college student. Being the first, it was probably the semester I would learn the most in. I learned the expectations for writing that I will have to live up to for the next four years of my college career. Though my high school teachers were usually demanding because I was in the Honors English section throughout high school, writing in college has still ?raised the bar? for me. Also, in high school, we would have weeks to pick a topic, create a thesis, outline the paper, write the paper, and then revise the paper. In college, the time restraints are not quite as lenient. I?ve had to learn to manage my time and be more productive with what free moments I have. Strangely enough, I?ve found the college English experience to be much more rewarding and enjoyable than in high school.
During the course of this semester; the variety of writing styles and essays assigned to me in my communication skills class encouraged the development of my writing skills, as well as provided me with more self-assurance in my abilities. My writing, research, and presentation abilities enhanced through practice, determination, and the understanding I gained during this course. With every single writing assignment, I learned new innovative approaches and skills, which enhanced my abilities to improve my thoughts logically, enabling me to write more clearly, and to organize my papers more effectively. At the beginning of this semester; despite the fact that I already knew the terminology MAP: message, audience, purpose; I never really understood the significance of MAP. For this reason, my writing lacked clarity, organization, and my writings appeared less focused on the topics. As a result my research papers and essays did not flow as smoothly from one passage to the next. Furthermore, I was unaccustomed with the precise procedures used when writing an essay. For instance, my previous classes before college, although requiring a reference page, did not require me to include proper citations in my writings. After evaluating the quality of my writing toward the end of the semester, I recognized vast improvements in several areas of my writing. By concentrating on the beginning stages of my writings, I could distinguish ahead of time my audience and my message. As a result, my essays are clear, and I remain on topic. In addition to that using transition phrases efficiently also helps my writing to flow smoothly. The proper use of transitions makes my writings easy to follow from one topic to the next. I also learned that pre-writing...
“Writing has become one of the most neglected skills in the business world, yet one of the most important to productivity,” states Lin Grensing of the Associated Press; Mrs. Gensing based these findings on surveys with US executives (Hansen). If this conclusion is valid, then a key question follows -- Why are so many universities producing mediocre writers, considering that an individual who writes effectively will stand out in the work force? This question has been the subject of a long debate focusing not only on the importance of writing but the method needed to implement a solution. There are numerous concerns about student writing, and therefore many people have turned to different areas of education for the answer to improving students’ writing. One question, which deals with this subject is, “How do American students compare with international students, and are there any differences in the educational systems with respect to writing emphasis?” This “International Perspective,” the topic of this paper, is a comparison among cultures, students, schools, and their writing. There are hundreds of countries in the world, each with their own educational system in place. Although most countries view writing as a necessity for students, only a handful have begun the initiative of requiring writing in a university setting. Therefore, this paper will compare writing characteristics of countries with similar economic and cultural positions as the United States, including Canada, Britain, and Australia. Furthermore, this paper will identify the degree to which writing plays a role in each countries educational system and will develop an understanding of how countries view writing as a method to adequately prepare graduates for the business world.
Most of us don’t know what academic writing is, or what it entails. The majority of us are just as lost as the subject matter as our other classmates. The following two pieces, on academic writing, focus on what the individual should be doing, as they begin their college writing experience. The topics discussed relate to the main idea of academic writing and what it will involve for the novice writer. Academic writing proves to be a challenging skill to grasp and fully understand, but with effort and time, can be comprehended.
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. It has specific features which include academic tone in the essays. To achieve formality of tone, students must maintain the objectivity of their written texts. Unfortunately, some of the students tend to use personal pronouns
For many students, academic writing is a foreign language. Presenting the materials in new and interesting ways, like one would do in an ESL classroom, is crucial. Modern students expect classes to be engaging and practical. Classes should give students an understanding of why the subject matter is important, as well as how to use the information. Modern American culture has trained students to question the importance of everything, and, just like language teachers explaining why it is important to differentiate between ‘bored’ and ‘boring,’ mainstream teachers need to break down the concepts in a way that shows the effects on the students personally, how communication can drastically affect the way a person
Poor writing skills may lead to poor communications and result of this; it may be hard to be the valued members of society. College is also one of the society. If students are not good at the writing, they will have a hard time as the college students. Students should write a lot of academic writings clearly throughout their collegiate career. However, because of not proficient language skill, students’ paper may not attract readers’ mind. Their sentences do not convey the meaning very well, so the readers such as their professors or instructors think that students are not ready to move up to the next grade. The ability to comprehend a text in the content area is critical to students’ academic success. In the other word, improving the writing skill is the key point to have the successful college life. If students are ready to develop the language skill, they should consider how to improve