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...”