All college students, not only those in their freshman year are required to demonstrate that they can communicate clearly and write logically. Writing presents a great deal of challenges and because many students have little previous writing success in high school, they perceive writing tasks as daunting. Having knowledge of the nature of the writing task will make college students better prepared for success.
Awareness of Discourse Community
Academic writers need to be aware of their discourse community, since their writing will be situated in a specific discourse community or context. Whether your discipline is music, art, law, medicine, economics, composition, writing, reading, linguistics, history, geography, science, mathematics, philosophy, sociology, psychology etc., familiarize yourself with your discourse community. The writer draws on the content, concepts, vocabulary, style, language, textual referencing and so on, from the discourse community. By reading and analyzing essays, poems, articles, books, book reviews, journals, theses, dissertations, and other literary works relating to their discourse, the apprentice writer becomes familiar with the expected norms of their specific discipline, since academic literacy tasks will vary because of the requirements of different disciplines.
Awareness of Audience:
- Who am I writing for?
- Who are my readers?
- How do I reach my readers?
Assume that you are writing not only to your professor, but to an audience of your peers. You can reach your readers not only through your content, but also your word choice and tone. When you assume that half of your audience will agree with you and half will not, you present counter viewpoints as you respond to opposing arguments.
Tone is the writer’s attitude towards the subject. Usually, the tone and language is impersonal, dispassionate and objective. However, some college writing can be done in a semi-formal style, with limited use of the pronoun, “I.” Present arguments logically, fairly and without loaded or biased language. Use an authoritative point of view and language that is neutral, non-confrontational but not colloquial.
The Nature of the Task
- What is my purpose?
- What is the issue?
- What specific questions surround the issue?
- What is the context and background of the issue?
- How do I manipulate this information?
College writing is expository writing designed to teach critical writing and thinking skills. The expository nature of college writing emphasizes the knowledge and information you gain in your college courses from lectures, textbooks and other reading of complex text and through research. The academic paper reflects techniques of argument and persuasion. In writing your academic paper, you are expected to analyze, criticize, synthesize, and organize the different viewpoints on the issue as you find meaningful patterns in the readings. In high school much of your writing came from experience; in college your literary analysis arises out of your readings.
Evidence-based arguments
Academic writing uses evidence-based arguments from scholarly sources. Use of evidence gives credibility to the paper. The writer’s goal is to present a logical argument from an objective viewpoint avoiding emotional and biased language. Follow the correct rules for your field or discipline (APA, MLA or other). Citations help to situate your work within the context of your discourse community. Do not plagiarize.
What genres are used
The essay is one of the genres used. Depending on your level in college your academic task will be writing essays for the purpose of argument and persuasion, exposition, description, and narration. At higher levels you may be writing a literary analysis, writing a research paper, research article, a dissertation or thesis.
Writing is a Process
Revision is a requirement as writing is a process. You may begin with a thesis and an outline of the major supporting points for your paper. These points include both those supporting your argument and those opposing. Write your first draft and then revise, rearrange, remove and replace, so information is aligned with your thesis. Leave editing of style, grammar, and mechanics for the end.
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