I had read Sondra Perl’s essay, “The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Students,” prior to writing an essay for my religion class and what I found was that I was much like the students in the writing study that Perl discusses. The problem that I have in writing academically is that, like the subjects in the study, I edit while I write. I do not allow the writing to flow to its completeness before trying to edit. I work so hard to sound like the student that I am supposed to be on paper that sometimes I get lost editing one sentence. As of right now, writing this blog, I have stopped to reread every sentence before continuing on. I did not realize that this is a problem that I have when I write until now.
Last night when I was writing my paper for my religion class the difficulty to articulate what I needed to express was being inhibited by concern with word choice. Instead of inserting a common word I would try to find a word that would make me sound more “scholarly”. In doing this I loose my train of thought and end up picking up in a different spot. This issue caused me to spend over four hours on a three page paper, which should have taken at the most two. There are several things that I did differently in writing this paper than I have done in the past that could have caused the frustration I was feeling in writing this paper.
My first problem was that I wrote this paper from beginning to end. Usually I would write papers in segments, never starting with the introduction. I would still construct a solid thesis, but would leave the introduction until the end of my process.
The second problem was that I did not come up with body paragraph segment topics. Usually I would have picked specific topics that I would want to cover. Once this is done I would start with the topic I was most excited about and move on. By the time that I am done with the body of the paper I am able to piece together the paragraphs, much like a puzzle. In this part if the process editing will take place in a minimalistic way. I just try to make sure that the topic sentences are clear from paragraph to paragraph. With my religion paper I used the template that the professor introduced. That professor’s template was to help guide us with our writing process, but obviously it did not work for me. I needed to come up with my own unusual template that made me excited about the topic assigned.
The third, and final, problem that I noticed was that I did not give myself as much time to work on the paper as I normally would. Once a paper has been assigned I immediately start working in it. I started out strong, but lost steam. I also think I became cocky about my writing, which made me feel that it was okay that I had lost steam. Last semester was the first time that I had gotten an A on a paper since my English 101 and 102 days (that was in 2005). The next time I took an English class (five years later) I was squashed my by professor. The university that I was attending, before I transferred here, prided themselves in their academic writing and expected all students to write the same way. I was never able to live up to the writing that they needed from me. So, when I repeatedly received papers that were above average at my current institution I became comfortable. I believed that I now had the skill that was needed of me and did not need to take the time to write a measly three page paper.
Will these mistakes haunt my grade? This is a feeling I will be carrying until I get my grade for my paper. With the anxiety that I feel I just hope I have a passing grade.
It was nice to read Perl and finally understand why I was having such a hard time writing academically. It has been a while since I have been able to write creatively, but once I get the time (and inspiration) I will analyze myself and see if I have the same difficulty as I do writing academically.
Not to make light, but it seems to me the only real “problem” you had in the assignment was the one of not giving yourself enough time. But maybe that’s the point, that the others weren’t problems except by the standards expected by the instructor. So many different stake-holders in writing, it’s a wonder we do as well as we do!
To be honest, I have a similar problem with allowing time. I’m always super, ridiculously excited when a paper is assigned because I have all of these fantastically creative (or at least recycled and refurbished) ideas that I want to put down on paper. But then, like you, I lose steam. There’s no joy in that part of the process, which is why I feel like I’m falling apart towards the end of my paper. I feel lost. Perhaps we both need to work on time and idea management?
I also have trouble with idea and time management. It takes me forever to decide what to write, but once I do, [I think] I’m good to go. It’s not until I actually start writing and revising that I start worrying about the quality of my work. I constantly doubt my writing ability, the significance of my topic, etc. There’s almost too much worrying involved in the writing process!
I tend to take the exact opposite in my writing. I do it all in one go (usually last minute) and send it off before I allow myself a chance to do any thorough, proper revision. Losing steam isn’t really a problem as I am powering through on the stress of a deadline. I pretty much always finish earlier than I think I will but I am still so fed up with a paper by the time I get everything down that I can’t really edit. Suffice to say, this really hasn’t benefited me as much as I wish it did. I’m sure that what really needs to happen is some kind of happy medium between these methods.
Just an update on that paper I was telling you about. Apparently I didn’t do as bad as I thought. I earned myself an A.