Essay Available:
Pages:
5 pages/≈1375 words
Sources:
3
Style:
APA
Subject:
Literature & Language
Type:
Essay
Language:
English (U.S.)
Document:
MS Word
Date:
Total cost:
$ 18
Topic:
Essay 2
Essay Instructions:
Essay 2 Instructions
Overview: Congratulations are in order. At this point, you are less than a month away from completing your first college writing class. Maybe by now you now some idea of how you think college writing is best taught or how it should not be taught. This is the focus of your second essay. Think of it as an expansion on what you began in your first when you engaged with Graff's essay to argue whether student interests should determine essay topics. For the final essay, you will use at least three outside sources not including Graff. (You may use Graff, but for this essay he will not count as an outside source) to argue some facet of how college writing is best taught, or how it should not be taught, or both. Depending on your thesis, you may keep bits from your first essay, but if you do, incorporating outside sources will likely necessitate new transitions and reworking the way a particular point is argued. If you choose to use material from your first essay, it should not be more than a half page total.
Suggestions: How college writing should be taught has been the subject of debate since it was made a required course a few decades ago. There are any number of ideas, theories, and models offered to improve the success rates of college writing students. These vary from Graff’s and those who share his view, to those who think doing away with grades would enable students to perform better since the learning, not the grading, would be the focus. Others have suggested that teaching standard American English is inherently racist and should not be taught at all; instead, students should be allowed to speak in their own voices free of anything like the MLA conventions or those of standard American English. There are other opinions out there. See who is participating in the argument and find one you think you could support. Alternatively, you may find a theory of writing with which you vehemently disagree. Your essay could dissect the theory and explain why it is a non-starter.
Though we will not be redoing some of the preparatory and editing work we did for the first essay, you are encouraged to review previous weeks’ instructional pages and homework assignments. There are also several specific help pages that detail how this or that technical aspect of the college essay should be written; reviewing those would not be remiss.
Specifics: This essay must be at least five full pages not counting the Works Cited page. You will incorporate at least three (3) outside sources, and Graff does not count as one of those for this essay.
Finally, this essay is due on Friday, June 28th, the last day of the quarter. You are strongly encouraged to follow the personal proofreading processes described in Week 7’s overview. I am willing to look at drafts of your final essay and give global comments about its strengths and weaknesses. I will not copy edit them. If you would like to receive my feedback, I need your draft no later than Monday June 24th.
Please submit your clean final draft of Essay 2 to the drop box provided below by Friday evening, June 28th which is when the quarter ends.
Because this essay carries significant weight, it may be a good idea to check your work against the feedback you received from your peer editor and from me. You should probably also review the files "Explanation of Essay Structure," "MLA Checklist," and of course, check your work against the grading rubric before you submit it.
You will not have access to the drop box after Thursday night which means no late final essays will be accepted.
Student feedback: Your writing is excellent, very strong with good vocabulary. Your thesis is also good. Overall I enjoyed your essay. The two major issues that are present are the lack of length and the lack of a third source. I am sure you are already working on these issues, but I felt it was worth mentioning. I wish you the best of luck.
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Essay 2: Standardized Writing Instruction
Standardized writing instruction is a long-standing technique in college writing courses that has always attracted debates regarding its application and relevance. Partly, the debates surrounding standardized writing instruction stem from the need to enrich college writing courses and steer relevance at any given time. As such, scholars review various strategies and techniques before deciding on their relevance. Presently, the debate surrounding standardized writing instruction stems from its adherence to conventional writing standards. Also, the instruction has largely been gauged against its essentiality to learners’ academic success. Through an extensive assessment of its key attributes and relevance to contemporary writing schemes, it is notable that standardized writing instruction is fundamentally flawed since it impedes creativity, eliminates diversity in linguistics, and does not nurture learners toward real-world writing needs.
An insightful exploration of standardized writing instruction must stem from an exploration of its background. Standardized writing instruction is a technique that focuses on strict adherence to conventional writing standards (Addison 23). Primary among such standards is the need for an exclusive use of Standard American English (SAE) in writing. The method also focuses on the use of conventional grammar, style, and formal academic structures in writing. With an emphasis on standardization, this technique of writing is characterized by predictable outcomes. That is, the institutions emphasizing this technique always foster similar outcomes in the forms of language architecture, grammatical structures, and formatting. Standardized writing instruction also focuses on testing the learners. Hence, teachers challenge the ability of their students through various tests or examinations to determine the extent to which they have grasped the knowledge.
There are distinct characteristics of standardized writing instruction that one must understand to determine its suitability in contemporary college writing. Primarily, standardized writing instruction bears clear objectives and goals for both the teachers and the students. To the teachers, this method outlines clear expectations for what the learners should achieve in aspects defining proficiency in specific writing genres and styles. To the learners, the method is vital in steering the development of specific and measurable goals that guide instruction, knowledge acquisition, and execution of assessments. The other characteristic of standardized writing instruction is its emphasis on professional development. Proponents of this technique understand that writing is a prospect that is subject to consistent changes. As such, teachers of the method are often subjected to ongoing professional development initiatives to enhance their understanding of the curriculum. On the same note of curriculum development, standardized writing instruction offers a platform for collaboration and sharing best practices among educators. Finally, standardized writing instruction focuses on feedback and revision. This technique ensures that learners understand their advancements in writing through structured feedback and revisions. To that extent, teachers must emphasize the writing process, which includes the provision of multiple drafts and revisions.
Considering its unique characteristics, standardized writing instruction is hailed for bearing a few benefits. One of the benefits that come with standardized writing is that it stimulates the need to maintain consistent quality and writing standards across diverse learner groups. Standardization allows teachers to disseminate knowledge equitably to all learners without the possibility of discrimination. That is, regardless of the cultural background of a learner, a student subjected to this writing technique will receive the same set of instructions just like an...
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