It's not set in stone
I don’t really remember any specific class where I learned academic writing. As I look back on jr high and high school, I see my experience of academic writing as more of a collection of various classes and such where I learned and relearned the basics. Nearly every time we had an essay assignment, I would hunker down and review how to write an essay. Many times in these high school classes we students would buddy up to collaborate on what we were supposed to do. By now I feel I have a better grasp on how to write an academic essay. I’ve had the five paragraph essay outline ingrained into my brain so many times that it has finally stuck. I’m sure my high school teachers would be pleased. How to set up an outline for a paper took the longest to learn, yet has helped the most. Doing this makes the left side of my brain happy. I’ve been able to apply it to many other papers I’ve written for various classes. Unfortunately, being the way I am, I still struggled with coming up with the words I wanted to put down.
I always thought writing was a concrete thing, that once I wrote something down it was set in stone. I understood that I could edit what I wrote, but the idea that I could even revise or change completely my thoughts once they had been written didn’t sink in until I had passed some time in college. I suppose I had my own meaning for the concept of “editing.” In my English 1010 class I was able to practice a "free-er" writing style since I was allowed to write however I felt or whatever I thought on any subject or on any of the articles in our three books. On one hand, this may be considered by some to be too easy or undesirable for one reason or another. For me, I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was totally the opposite of what I was required to do in previous English classes and how I tended to write. Looking back I needed this excessive freedom to really become more comfortable with writing and start to enjoy doing it. I’m glad I was able to experience choice and open writing since it offset my obsessive worrying about words and appearance. I now need to use the best of both worlds. A nice middle ground is what I strive for.
There are times where I still struggle with trying to find just the right thing to write. These are times when I revert back my tendency of trying to write the whole essay perfectly on the first go. Hopefully, I catch and remind myself that it’s ok not to have just the right word, and that it’s ok to put down my entire ideas even if they don’t sound quite right. After all I’m going to go back it once I’m done; I don’t need to be so anxious if my paper’s not perfect the first time I write it. I am still learning and trying to improve my writing. When a new paper is assigned, the rules and structure of writing are renewed to me. Every time I put a pen to paper or fingers on a keyboard, I learn something new about myself.
I always thought writing was a concrete thing, that once I wrote something down it was set in stone. I understood that I could edit what I wrote, but the idea that I could even revise or change completely my thoughts once they had been written didn’t sink in until I had passed some time in college. I suppose I had my own meaning for the concept of “editing.” In my English 1010 class I was able to practice a "free-er" writing style since I was allowed to write however I felt or whatever I thought on any subject or on any of the articles in our three books. On one hand, this may be considered by some to be too easy or undesirable for one reason or another. For me, I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was totally the opposite of what I was required to do in previous English classes and how I tended to write. Looking back I needed this excessive freedom to really become more comfortable with writing and start to enjoy doing it. I’m glad I was able to experience choice and open writing since it offset my obsessive worrying about words and appearance. I now need to use the best of both worlds. A nice middle ground is what I strive for.
There are times where I still struggle with trying to find just the right thing to write. These are times when I revert back my tendency of trying to write the whole essay perfectly on the first go. Hopefully, I catch and remind myself that it’s ok not to have just the right word, and that it’s ok to put down my entire ideas even if they don’t sound quite right. After all I’m going to go back it once I’m done; I don’t need to be so anxious if my paper’s not perfect the first time I write it. I am still learning and trying to improve my writing. When a new paper is assigned, the rules and structure of writing are renewed to me. Every time I put a pen to paper or fingers on a keyboard, I learn something new about myself.
posted by Renee at 3:42 PM
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