College Writhing Analysis

Elements of College Writhing and Why I Posses Them Many professors may think that a concurrent senior coming out of high school like me cannot have the skills needed to succeed in college-level writing; however, after taking Composition I and II in the fall and spring of my Senior year, I believe I can write well thought and crafted college level essays. While I have strengthened some areas of writing more than others, I have learned and acquired many important concepts and techniques and incorporated them into my writing. By taking Composition I and II, I believe that I have developed the required skills and ideologies to succeed in college-level writing. Although a college level paper should demonstrate an understanding of tone, style, cohesion,
and organization, the most significant tools that I have learned in college writing are a structured and focused thesis statement, an in-depth analysis of evidence, and a solid rebuttal to opposing views. A controlled and focused thesis statement is the first vital element to any essay because it provides the foundation for an organization expected in college-level writing. In Composition I and II, my professors spent many hours in class to practice and perfect the art of formulating structured and focused thesis statements. My professors have worked on teaching thesis statements by assigning outlines, discussing the components of a thesis in class, and by revising our peer’s thesis statements. The key to writing professional and college-level thesis statements is to practice the writing process. I have gotten ample practice from my professor’s practical class sessions and larger assignments like Essays 1 and 2. I focused a majority of my time on writing thesis statements because I understand its importance to my writing. A tentative thesis statement can consist of one sentence or more, and a thesis’s purpose is to control the central idea of an essay by also giving a preview of the essay’s organization (Fowler and Aaron 36). The thesis is crucial in any college-level essay because it is the framework and a guideline to an essay’s train of thought and stance. A tentative thesis helped my essay to demonstrate a strong claim and outline to the reader to keep them intrigued and ready for my argument. Ultimately, I believe my understanding and experience of developing strong thesis statements is the first element I possess for college-level writing. After I developed a strong understanding and application of a thesis, the second vital element to college writing that I learned is an eye for in-depth analysis and criticism of evidence.
In Composition I, my Professor not only emphasized the practice of reading compression, but my class also learned to summarize or paraphrase a passage accurately. As a result, I learned how to quickly grasp the main point of a passage and analyze its argument. This skill ended up being very beneficial to my writing because I easily formed an argument with ideologies that didn’t originate in my mind, but most importantly, I provided my analysis of the evidence and integrated it into my argument. Identifying fallacies was another useful lesson in Composition I because it focused on the critical side of college-level arguments. A fallacy is an error in argumentive thought, whether the writer does not face an argument head on or if the writer overgeneralizes an argument (Fowler and Aaron 199). When I wrote my first argumentative essay in Composition I, I found that identifying fallacies in an author’s argument gave sufficient contrast from my arguments and the other sides flawed logic or presentation. I also learned arguments are not just meant to criticize the opposing view, so I learned to avoid using fallacies to maintain my credibility. Overall, I know how to analyze articles by writing accurate summaries and paraphrases, and I know how to find fallacies in an opposing view so I can avoid
using them in my writing. Apart from analysis and thesis statements, the final vital element I learned to use for college-level writing is a solid rebuttal or acknowledgment of opposing views.
In the book“The Craft of Research,” writers should always know that readers will be critical and must address their points of view no matter what the argument is, and writers should anticipate opposing questions and respond to them adequately (Booth, Columb, and Williams 112-113). After I had addressed opposing views in my essays, my argument had become further convincing, and this skill has become very useful to construct a solid rebuttal. However, I have also learned that addressing opposing views is not necessarily only a component of an argument. When I constructed tentative thesis statements, my Composition II professor taught me to include qualifiers at the beginning of my thesis. A Qualifier is a statement that limits the range of the thesis, and I have found it to be very helpful in my writing. Adding a qualifier to the beginning of my thesis statements made my writing more professional because it helped the reader understand the main claim with sufficient specification. Without qualifiers, my thesis statements would have been too vague and unfocused and would no longer qualify as college-level writing. To finalize, I made the entirety of my writing college worthy by addressing opposing views in my rebuttals and by adding qualifiers to my thesis statement. As a senior coming out of high school, I think
I am ready for college-level writing. Of the many things I have learned in Composition I and II, I find that forming specific thesis statements, analyzing evidence, and addressing opposing views have given me the final tools to be sufficiently equipped for any college-level writing in the future. As a graduating senior, I plan on using everything I learned in Composition I and II to succeed in college writing.