Fairly Easy Transition

I am not entirely sure of how I learned how to write the kinds of essays expected of me at the university, but I believe my high school English teacher was a tremendous help. I had the same teacher for the last two years of high school because she was the AP literature and AP language teacher, and she had our class write all types of papers. My teacher had us write papers in MLA and APA formatting and was very specific in what type of writing she wanted. My last major assignment in high school was a paper in which we had to deconstruct different literary texts and movies. Needless to say, my high school English teacher pushed us past the basic high school essay.

I wasn’t required to take English 1010 or English 2010, so my first (and really only) major writing assignment that I have had so far at Weber State was my research paper for my Biomedical core class. We were required to write a research paper on the topic of our choosing by using medical journals as references for the topic. Although it was daunting to search through all the medical journals, I felt fairly comfortable writing the research paper itself. I brought it into the Writing Center to make sure that it was written correctly, and the tutor seemed to believe that I had accurately written the paper. Other than that research paper, I haven’t had very many intense writing assignments due to the many science classes I am required to take for the Nursing program.

I haven’t encountered a writing assignment that I have felt I did not know how to write, although I have been given assignments that I needed clarification on. Any changes to my writing that I have made in the past year and a half since coming to college have probably been from the tutoring training itself. Tutoring writing has helped me to become a better writer. I now understand that there are things that must be in every essay, and some things that can be left out. I have also learned the importance of peer review, although that isn’t so much about how to write a specific type of essay.

If I had left high school only having written “five paragraph essays” or written in a specific format for my entire life, the transition to college writing would have been much more difficult. I was fortunate to have had a teacher that taught us more than the basics taught in most high school English classes.