Comparisons of Academic Writing

Unit 3

250 Word Comparison

I had mixed opinions when I read this article. I understand the purpose behind the research and I can see the supposed validity of the article but it is harder for me to draw many comparisons in the big picture of academic writing. I surprisingly did indeed find some similarities, but it was also difficult for me to compare general freshman year academic writing to one of a science course.

Personally I would have appreciated the article a lot more if it wasn’t about a science writing based experience. Science writing in it by itself is so much different then any other writing and I think it requires a different outline and approach. Despite my claim I can still see many instances where this was not the case.

I was pleasantly surprised to see some of the grading criteria by the professor and in addition how the student was preparing their piece. From my past experiences in science courses, labs and journal responses needed to be written and explained in a completely different way as other work. It appeared that Dr. Carter had a different hope for her students. For example, Dave said that for his paper he likes referencing main points areas such as quality of specific evidence, quantity of information, relevance to the conversation as a whole and finally the manner he used and if it’s appropriate form of expression. [242]

It’s interesting to hear how Dr. Carter wanted her students to construct the paper. She was much more concerned with cohesiveness than content. “She repeatedly stated that what would serve these students in their subsequent academic writing was the ability to write coherent prose with a thesis and sub points, unified paragraphs, and explicitly connected sentences. In an interview she said, “Ideas aren’t going to do people much good if they can’t find the means with which to communicate them.” [244] I try to write in a similar fashion as to how Dr. Carter wanted her students to. The only reason this is surprising is I typically wouldn’t expect this type of feedback from a lab based science teacher. When I am writing a paper I try to do what Dr. Carter was hoping her students would do. It is difficult for me without carefully constructing my paper around a thesis with supporting points and claims.