Preparing for University: Writing Prep Class

I have always dreaded writing essays for English classes. I’m not terrible at it, I always manage to get a mark in the 90s, but it’s the most tedious kind of assignment for me. High school English essays have a lot of rules and rigidity, which is cool if you want a strict guideline that’ll ensure a high mark if followed correctly. But, for someone who doesn’t like constricting her thoughts, essays are a nightmare. I’ve never liked the formula of ‘Introduction starts with a general statement, has a few lines relevant to the topic and then ends with the thesis statement.’ Thinking of the general statement was always scary because I didn’t want to be too vague, but we weren’t allowed to mention the book/material in the first line, so it was hit and miss. Some teachers were kind enough to provide us with a thesis statement, or at least a template, but the ones who showed so much confidence in us that they thought we could do it ourselves, oof I never liked them.

Then the body paragraphs had a fixed structure too: Topic sentence supported by two arguments and sufficient evidence, and a concluding sentence, just as vague as the first one. The conclusions were easier to write because they were just summaries of the essay, but even they felt like a waste of time.

One of the prep classes I signed up for was for Academic Writing. It was only a week-long, with 3 assignments and links to several amazing resources. If you think I got through the class, you are mistaken. It was fun to start but I never made it to the end. It was somewhat self-guided and the fact that the Life Sciences class started at the same time didn’t help. I prioritized Science over English, like always, and ended up only reading the first module of the writing course.

But in that module were so many links to both, the University’s Academic Writing help websites and various other universities’ tips and tricks sites. The module focused on how reading is an important part of writing. So, the first few links were for resources to help you build the habit of critical reading or reading and asking questions about the content (why it was written, what’s being proven, why this was style chosen etc.). And, the next few links led to sites explaining essay writing in university.

My favourite thing to come out of taking this class was a link to UofT’s academic writing website. It has helpful tips for every possible step in essay writing. And my favourite part of the website is their explanation of the differences between high school and university writing.

Here is a summary of what the page has to say (click on the image to be taken to the website):

Other than the resources, I don’t think I gained much from the class. It would have been so much better if the amount of work stayed the same, but they gave us more time to do it. I probably would have gotten more done if the prep classes weren’t happening side-by-side.

Most of the work in the following modules was about summarizing and paraphrasing and the difference between the two, quoting and, finally, emailing. They wanted to cover things that would be essential skills in university. I still have access to the content, and I do plan to take a closer look when I have the time, so keep an eye out for part 2.

I still have to write the most important post of this week, so I am going to stop here. As always, till my next post, toodles! – Aarushi