Writing Skills In Nancy Sommers's I Stand Here Writing

Learning to read and write are both considered to be fundamental human skills, that we begin to learn from the day we start school. As time advances, as do our minds, and we are expected to evolve in our reading and writing skills. Finishing high school is a large milestone for the lives of young adults; however, there is so much to learn in order to reach the next big milestone. To be a writer in college can challenge our preconceived thoughts on how we write. Although some skills remain unchanged, high school graduates are faced with overcoming new ways of doing a skill that seems so simple that it is practically innate. The definition of writing skills for college students is much different than high school. However, considering we have come so far it is time to go over the information we already know and challenge ourselves with ideas that we are yet to learn more about.

One of my assumptions of scholarly writing is using creative ways of writing as a way to affect the reader in a way a regular sentence would not be able to. In the essay I Stand Here Writing, the author, Nancy Sommers, has a way of manipulating sentences

It became clear to me that her essay was a narrative; however, Sommers was able to compose it in a way that it remained academic. In general, if I were asked what I consider scholarly writing I would answer research projects as well as informative essays. Sommers says “ I am a writer, not a cook, and the truth is I don 't care much about the chicken. Stories beget stories. Writing emerges from writing” (420). She is a writer that can paint with her words as she explains herself in her essays. While reading I Stand Here Writing, I noted that personal narratives can be just as scholarly as research projects. It does not matter the genre of the writing, as long as it can captivate and inform in its own