College Writing Habits

Imagine, a college freshman is handed back their first paper, only to receive a nightmarish grade. They rack their brain for how this could happen; they had always earned exemplary grades in their high school English class, but they were unprepared for the college standards of writing. Regrettably, too many college freshmen are met with this exact dilemma. Their high school teachers do not show them how to write, but instead what to write, and leave their students completely unaware of what awaits them in college. Consequently, college freshman are vulnerable to repeating their bad habits and continuing the cycle of lower level writing. Undoubtedly, students are unprepared for the requirements of college writing by reason of their high school’s …show more content…
Although this is a shock to most students, the writing structure in college is vastly different. College freshmen are often prone to reverting back to their bad writing habits, yet this practice is extremely detrimental to their grades. The also regularly overlook the process of outlining their plans. Providing and practicing their planning within a college-level structure is essential for a student to write successfully. Without structure, a student may ramble on and completely pass over the supporting points of their claim and make their response a confusing mess to readers. It also tends to leave their professors dissatisfied with their writing, as it fails to follow and form of order or …show more content…
The five paragraph essay is often the bane of many college freshmen. Although it is a form of organization, the five paragraph template is just that: a template. It constricts students in their creativity and independent thinking and limits them from learning how to organize an essay in any other format. The process versus product battle is also evident in the contrast between high school and college. Even though college focuses on the process of writing, high school is only concerned with the final product. Often times, high school teachers just want an answer and do not care how the student devised