Latest Draft 1301.36

Freshman year of college has always been viewed as the wild things students do, the new friends they make and of course tough academics. A unfortunate fact is that not every single entering freshman makes it through four or more years to complete his/hers bachelor’s degree, with the highest drop out rates after only the first year of college. It makes all Universities question their effectiveness in teaching pupils, their way of conducting the learning process for undergrads pretty much their way of running everything in their institutions. Now after years of research they have came to the conclusion that what students face the most difficulty with is requirements in writing and reading at college level. What is popularly called “College readiness” means students own ability to successfully complete all college level tasks and meet deadlines now students don’t come with that “readiness” and it shows most noticeably in their research/synthesis paper. Even though that is a major factor in college success they have found that  students have not been properly prepared to complete those tasks by their high schools or previous school, and for many different reasons. It is shocking and very tragic to see perfectly capable college freshman failing, dropping out or withdrawing from school because they cannot perform their college tasks and assignments. 

So many factors can be blamed for students unpreparedness in their college reading and writing starting with the rules we are all taught since elementary school, “you need at least 5 paragraphs, an introduction, body, and conclusion”, brainstorming, don’t go off topic, catchy opening sentence, your conclusion should summarize your whole paper and etc. All those rules we have been taught for years now do not mean anything in college, instead we need a new mind set, a whole new way of looking and thinking about our writing and reading and even more specifically in our college research paper. In college writing to start off you’ll need the eight habits of minds, like discussed in “Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing”, which include curiosity, the drive to discover and explore more beyond your present limits, openness “your willingness to consider new ways of thinking and of being”, engagement your personal involvement in subjects or your own work, creativity, persistence always engaging, responsibility, flexibility, and metacognition you are never taught how to use these skills in your writing. In contrast your given tons of rules to follow never questioning any idea because you see the teacher as sort of a person who has the right answer to everything that strictly interferes with flexibility, one of the 8 habits of mind, what Mike Rose concludes in his study of writers block is that students facing writers block take these rules and use them like “algorithms” instead of “heuristics” and students who did not face writers block “brought plans to the writing process that were more functional, more flexible, and more to information from the outside.” .Rules used like “algorithms functions are constant, procedures are routine, and outcomes are completely predictable” writing is never constant in that way and much less always produces something “predictable” the opposite is quite true every paper or writing is unique like the individual writing it. But as we try to implement those rules, and every other preconceived skill learned from high school we find that students get stuck, experience writers block and even end up writing “what they think others want them to write rather than looking to see what is is they want to write.” as mentioned by Sondra Perl in her research with the whole composing process. 

How could we ever drift off to create some masterpiece of a research paper full of insightful research, of knowledge, of authority, of rhetorical appeal, and good reflection when all we see is black and white, wrong or right, like Kelsey Diaz points out us students strive to find the right answer or “the truth” in everything as if that was all that existed, but there is much more than that, another strong point Diaz mentions in her paper is that all no matter where a writing comes from either from a professional or not their still a human being, a human being with their own purpose of writing. In addition Penrose and Geisler go on to say that the difference in thinking between a graduate and an undergraduate (freshman) is that when it came to their research paper and how they saw their multiple, conflicting sources, the graduate made knowledge from his opinion that came from his sources,  which they say as“Texts are authored. Authors present knowledge in form of claims. Knowledge claims can conflict. Knowledge claims can be tested.”. A freshman would know nothing about challenging a professionals writing much less a knowledge based claim they view as fact.

Research Paper (Latest Draft)

When writing an essay, have you ever found yourself staring at the paper or computer screen thinking, “What the hell am I supposed to do?” Trust me, you are not alone. There are many students out there staring off into space thinking the exact same thing. Its hard to get started because you do not know how you are supposed to write something. You feel that the writing should just come to you, flow through your fingers, even. But, is that really the way the writing process works? Do experienced writers simply sit down in front of the computer and just type up a book, or do they struggle just like us? Many students do not realize this though because, in high school, they were not taught this way. They do not know that there are different ways to writing and that no one writer can function in the same way that another writer does. But, I believe that, taught the proper strategies, a student can be extremely successful in his/ her writing. All they need is the proper guidance and their own will to practice at it.

The way you are taught to write in your high school classes is not what you will use in the college level english class. You will need to delve deeper into meanings and come up with your own ideas of thinking.

High school writing is very simple. First, you write out an introduction, followed by a body composed of three paragraphs and concluded by restating what was said in the introduction. You are encouraged to write objectively and sources are what make up the majority of the essay. In college, however, according to Miss Kelsey Diaz, “...the writing you do in high school and the writing you do in college are two totally different things”. Not only will you not be writing objectively or using the five paragraph essay, but, you will use sources as little as possible.

Another idea students learned in high school was to always try and “grab” the reader’s attention in the introduction, or, the beginning of the essay. This is more of a hinderance than a helpful strategy though, because students focus so hard on trying to make the introduction interesting, they forget about the rest of the essay. A scholar, Mike Rose, uses the example of Ruth, a college student, who could not continue her work because she felt it was “bland” and that was unacceptable in her high school english class.

It is a common misconception among many students that if they have a large vocabulary and do well on major exams, then they are properly analyzing what they are going over. This, unfortunately, is not so. It is said by Haas and Flower, “Our students may believe that if they understand all the words and can paraphrase the propositional context of a text, then they have successfully read it.” Even though the student grasps the defenitions, they fail to see the underlying meanings of what they have just read.

During writing many students have a problem with getting their main point or meaning across to the reader. It becomes difficult because they branch off into example that do not pertain to their specific subject.

Every writer or reader is not the same. While searching for information to put into their essay, they will interpret it in another way then someone who is looking up the same information. This is not a bad thing, it just means that because they have a different way f taking in their information, they will have a different way of giving it out. This is where they writer needs to think about the type of audience that will be reading his/ her paper.

When writing in high school you were taught to use as many sources as you could because the more quotes you had supporting you, the more likely you would be right. But, what would end up happening was: a paper full of quotes and your statements, simply, supporting them. This is why, according to Miss Kelsey Diaz, in college you use sources at the bare minimum, she says, “...you’re analyzing the meaning of the source, not regurgitating quotes.”

After taking in so much information, after a certain amount of time, a writer tends to understand and know what they happen to be writing about. When they write it begins to flow more easily out of them, they seem to “know” what to write and how to write it. As Sondra Perl says, “...this focus of writer’s attention is felt sense.” You begin to really feel you know what to write. Every writer has this, it is just a matter in being confident in what you know and have learned to use it. This is also a process known as retrospective writing.

Actually getting your point across in your writing is probably the most difficult part of the writing process. This is called projective structuring; it is so hard because, again, each writer is different and you can never be sure as to how the reader will react to and understand your writing.

Something students must always be doing is drafting out what they are writing and revising it along the way. No one draft can be perfect.

For some reason many students believe that writers can sit for a long period of time and write out a masterpiece. This is very untrue; Sondra Perl says, “Few writers I have seen write for long periods of time without returning briefly to what is already done on the page.”

Because your ideas, the themes and the information will be changing as you write, students will need to learn that they will write more than one draft for a paper. Diaz informs us, “You will have to completely restart a paper even though you think you’re almost done.” Two scholars that agree with Miss Diaz, [Tierney and Pearson], say, “We define drafting as the refinement of meaning, which occurs as readers and writers deal directly with the print on the page.”

The writing process is always changing because different writers have different styles. But, putting that aside, over time, critics and other writers begin to notice that aspects of the process change.

Throughout the history of the writing process, it was the common belief that it was a linear one. hat following step by step and not looking back, one could create a well- written paper. But, over time, this thought process changed, this theory began to be questioned. Perl points out that she and many critics of the writing process question this “linear” process.

According to Sondra Perl, there are two types of writing. One is the traditional way: a writer begins writing and builds from that writing into the ending. The second, she believes, is her own style. Perl’s style of writing is constant drafting and revising. As you write your paper, you go back and revise what you have written, it is a process that backtracks so that it is able to move forward.

Yet another important part of the writing process is the planning of what is to be written. Without the planning, the writer would not be able to organize their thoughts or how they want to use the ideas that are floating around in their mind. Planning helps so much because it brings about two more important processes. The first would be goal setting. After planning something out, the writer can set a goal for themselves and then get to it. This is helpful because it makes the process seem to go by a little faster when the goal is met. The next would be knowledge mobilization. As a writer is planning out what they shall write, the knowledge to back up these ideas begin to come to the writer’s mind and they know how it shall all come together, finally.

Like “felt sense”, in everyone there is a “monitor” which keeps the writer on the proper subject of what they are to be writing about. Tierney and Pearson say, “The monitor in us keeps track and control... Our monitor decided if we have planned... properly.”

In all honesty, writing rules will not help a student to write better, they will just hinder the student and cause many more headaches than necessary. This is why the rules should merely be thought of as guidelines, guidelines that can be bent, twisted and played with until everything falls into its proper place in the paper.

Now that you have finally transitioned into college, take into consideration that you shall no longer be writing objectively, there will be no more “attention grabbers” and say goodbye to the five paragraph essay. As a writer, yes, you may want to use them as guidelines, but never follow them exactly. You will cause yourself unwanted stress. Diaz says, “...you will never write another five paragraph essay again.”

Writer’s Block is yet another result from restricting writing rules and the low tolerance of freedom. Feel free to let these shackles fall away from you. In a study made by Mike Rose, he found that “...the five students who experienced blocking were all operating with either writing rules... that impended them rather than helped...”

If taught properly, students can be taught the proper strategies they need to be successful writers and readers. For example, teachers could have class discussions and really guide what the students are looking for; eventually, they will be able to search for and find these things on their own. Next, student can go through writing and reading workshops that teach them the skills they need for the writing process and the ones they need for reading in between the lines of what they are going over.It is not a simple process, but, with determination and the proper guidance, it can be done. As Mike Rose said, “...these strategies are readily identifiable with some practice... Later twenty minutes’ instruction... Students could identify the strategies in the reading of others...”

essay #3

Students in high school are blocked by the teacher and the authority that is given to them. In high school good readers keep selected information and look for facts and just repeat them back and they also believe in there truth while an experienced college writer reads as a rhetorical reader like hass and flower say” that rhetorical reader is someone who keeps knowledge in their mind and transfers all knowledge in a way they can understand or there meaning”. The definition of meaning like berthoff says is “Meaning is something is created by some ones experiences and what they’ve done that is what”. Some people ask questions such as “how to understand more of what you read? the answer is rhetorical reading what rhetorical reading is in the words of Haas & Flower they say that rhetorical reading is” rhetorical reading is the reading and as you read you comprehend and understand the meaning by what you have done , seen or expiercinced . The way people get Sources and write better is because “Students simply need to gain more knowledge about the topic in order to write about it with authority” that is what Penrose and Geisler say. The way students gain authority is by knowing what your writing about and freeing your mind. Some people make assumptions like” all you do in research paper is plug in facts and there sources:” while in reality what you are supposed to do is get the facts and challenge them with facts or opinions of other writer’s or thing you’ve seen to prove your point. Teachers in high school destroy chaos which is not so good because in college teachers encourage chaos because they know that threw chaos they will create meaning. A other question people have is “what is the difference between h.s. writing and college writing.” The answer to that are high school research deals with gathering information and plugging it into the essay while challenging, proving and then put into the paper along with all the challenges and proof you’re just done. In the passage of Penrose and Geisler they compare roger a experienced writer to Janet a freshmen in college and found that roger would look for challenging articles to prove point while Janet wouldn’t and she would just push articles away that challenged her ideas while roger accepted them and proved they were wrong or proved his own option with his sources and experiences. Roger wrote with more authority because he knew more of the topic then Janet did. The main things students must learn is rhetorical reading because they need to understand that just because you say something does not mean that the reader will understand you. A good example of this is not in reading but rhetorical while in conversation once I went to Houston and I went to a country store and asked for a “cinch “ the person behind the counter was not rally country he just worked there so he pulled out a pair of cinch jeans and what I wanted was a cinch for my saddle to put under the horse so that the saddle would not fall. That to me is a good example of rhetorical thinking and understanding. The reason I think that it is a good example is because person behind the counter thought of “cinch “ as the pair of jeans that urban city “wanna be “ cowboys wear while I ( the real country boy) wanted a cinch that goes on a saddle so in his head as he heard the word he thought rhetorically the jeans because he was used to that and had experienced the meaning and name of the jeans while I was used to and understood cinch and I was use to the kind that straps saddle to the horse.

Marlen Estrada 1301.36 Research paper draft 2

Freshman year of college has always been seen as the wild things students do, the new friends you make and tough academics. A sad fact is that not every single entering freshman makes it through the four or more years to complete his/hers bachelor degree, with highest drop out rates after only the first year of college. It makes all Universities question their way of running things in their institutions but after decades of research they have came to the conclusion that what students face the most difficulty with is college requirements in writing and reading  what is most popularly called “College readiness” and not only that that’s what is the major factor in college success but that students have not been properly prepared to complete those tasks by their high schools or previous school. It is shocking and almost sad to see perfectly capable college freshman failing, dropping out or withdrawing from school because they cannot perform their college tasks and assignments.

So many factors can be blamed for students unpreparedness in their college reading and writing starting with the rules we are all taught since elementary school, “you need at least 5 paragraphs, an introduction, body, and conclusion”, brainstorming, don’t go off topic, catchy opening sentence, your conclusion should summarize your whole paper and etc. All those rules we have been taught for years now don’t mean anything in college, instead we need a new mind set, a whole new way of looking and thinking about our writing and reading  and even more specifically in our college research paper. In college writing to start off you’ll need the eight habits of minds, like discussed in “Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing”, which include curiosity, the drive to discover and explore more beyond your present limits, openness “your willingness to consider new ways of thinking and of being”, engagement your personal involvement in subjects or your own work, creativity, persistence always engaging, responsibility, flexibility, and metacognition you are never taught how to use these skills in your writing. In contrast your given tons of rules to follow and never to question that strictly interfere with flexibility, one of the 8 habits of mind, what Mike Rose concludes in his study of writers block is that students facing writers block take these rules and use them like “algorithms” instead of “heuristics” and students who did not face writers block “brought plans to the writing process that were more functional, more flexible, and more to information from the outside.” .Rules used like “algorithms functions are constant, procedures are routine, and outcomes are completely predictable” writing is never constant in that way and much less always produces something “predictable” the opposite is quite true every paper or writing is unique like the individual writing it. But as we try to implement those rules, and every other preconcived skill learned from high school we find that students get stuck, experience writers block and even end up writing “what they think others want them to write rather than looking to see what is is they want to write.” as mentioned by Sondra Perl in her research with the whole composing process.

How could we ever drift off to create some masterpiece of a research paper full of insightful research, of knowledge, of authority, of rhetorical appeal, and good reflection when all we see is black and white, wrong or right, like Kelsey Diaz points out us students strive to find the right answer or “the truth” in everything as if that was all that existed, but there is much more than that, another strong point Diaz mentions in her paper is that all no matter where a writing comes from either from a professional or not their still a human being, a human being with their own purpose of writing. In addition Penrose and Geisler go on to say that the difference in thinking of a graduate and an undergraduate (freshman) when it came to their research paper and how they saw their sources is that the graduate saw “Texts are authored. Authors present knowledge in form of claims. Knowledge claims can conflict. Knowledge claims can be tested.”  What it is that a freshman would know nothing about challenging a professionals writing much less a knowledge based claim they view as fact.

I would like help or advise in the arrangement of ideas and how I presented them, an I clear in what I want to say, etc. and How could I rhetorically improve my claims. Among anything else that could possibly improve my quality of writing.

Draft # 2

When a high school graduate enters college life, it can leave one quite lost. There really is no comparison when it comes to rigor, academic work and self determination. Everything is based off of you and what you are willing to do to improve your grade or learn more. For someone who isn’t prepared for this, it can be quite dramatic. This is where the question of, what are students really being taught in high school, comes into play.
This is interesting because one wonders, how is a student to be successful in college if they have no idea whats going on around them? Who is responsible for this unawareness? And, lastly, how is a student supposed to break free from the criteria of high school and move on to the higher level learning and working of college?
Take for example writing, how would one write in high school? According to some scholars, you have a basic format. You write your intro, have a body of three paragraphs, draw your conclusion and then you’re done! You have an amazing essay that will get you a good grade. But, this isn’t so. Next thing you know your teacher is giving you your paper with all these red marks on it and you are left baffled.
“But Mrs, I did exactly what you said, why are you crossing out a bunch of sentences and telling me to add stuff here and there? Why are you leaving me with all these unanswered questions that I don’t know how to solve?” This would be any students response when they think they have written a wonderful paper. They see all the red marks and think that its all negative feedback, they don’t realize that their teacher is giving them a form of Peer Review, only trying to help them improve their paper. As I myself have done, the student will look at all these marks and decide only to focus on fixing the grammatical errors they see. Then, the student, will think, “Now, I’m done.”
At this point the teacher should step in and explain that he/she isn’t trying to ruin this paper the student worked on so hard, but only trying to help. Many teachers in high school don’t do this though because they don’t know to do it, or so one would assume so. So they leave it alone and students are left thinking they did really well on their paper and so, they continue to write in this way.
I brought up this first example because it now leads me into my second example: research papers. In high school, basically, a research paper is a student reporting on various sources they read about off the Internet or, very rarely, in a book. What I’ve now learned is, a real research paper yes, does use sources, but the student must take authority! They can’t go based off what sources say, because not everything will coincide. When writing, you want to find the truth. Funny thing about the truth, its different to everyone that witnesses or hears something. So not only may sources differ, but you must take into consideration that the writer of whatever source you are using may be biased. Take for example softball. I adore the sport and my favorite team is the Texas Longhorns. If an umpire calls an out on MY team, I’ll scream and yell that I SAW her slide in safe! But, a fan of the opposing team will most definitely say that the umpire was correct. It has to do with perception and biasedness.
I’ve learned a student must decide what THEY want to believe and use the sources to BACK UP what they are writing about.

3rd draft Essay