What do you mean, Fish?!

Stanley Fish

In the New York Times article "What Colleges Should Teach, Part 3," Stanley Fish, the author, states that high school and middle school teachers are not teaching effectively when it comes to writing. So when students go to college, they don't even know how to write a clean English sentence. Therefore, Fish's solution is for students to have a simple but deep understanding of the game, which for his purposes are the game of writing sentence structure. Being able to understand how to write a proper sentence is essential when it comes to college-level writing, however, I believe that grasping the game of sentence structure isn't the only "game" you should understand; clarifying is just as important.

College professors should educate college students about how to clarify different ways to your audience. The reader’s viewpoint and the writer’s are different. Our audience can’t see what we are thinking because it’s our responsibility as writers to show them using details and expressing our thoughts throughout the paper; Explaining to them why they are reading this and what would they get out of this.

This year in English 1109 at Ohio State University of Newark, my professor, Derek Boczkowski instructed us students to observe tutor sessions at the Writing's Studio, where college students get assistance in their final essays. We observed them to answer the question, "What is Important in College-Level Writing?" One thing I've noticed in these observations is that writing the "proper" sentence in their essays' was barely an issue, however, the tutors or the student's professors' asked this question repetitively, "What do you mean by that?"

She's confused

For example, one of the students I was observing was including quotes into his essay. He didn't explain, where the quotes came from, why it was included, and what the quotes meant in his own words. The effect of this was that his tutor left him with questions that he had to answer verbally; His professor wanted those answers written on his paper instead. Chapter 3 of "They Say, I say" by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein informs the reader to not leave their quotes with no clarification to your reader. "... you also need to present them in a way that makes their relevance and meaning clear to your readers." (Here is the link to They Say, I say's blog) Quotes don't speak for themselves, the writer needs to speak for them. So if a writer doesn't explain their quotes that leaves your reader with questions like "Why is this in here?" "How does this help his/her paper?" "What is this?" As a reader, I'm sure that I wouldn't have understood Fish's article if he didn't explain the quotes he used.

Explaining quotes isn't the only way professors expect from students to clarify in your paper; they also wants you to use details so they can see where you are coming from. A question that I have asked when I was observing a student was, "What do you find important when you were writing in your final essay?" And she replied, "Explaining your paper to your professor so they can understand cause the only problem she found in my paper was that I didn't give her enough details on what I was seeing in my paper?"Her professor gave her feedback on her final essay on what she should add and one of those things were, details; Her professor didn't explain how or what kind of details she can use? Professors should show students different ways to use details on their paper so, they themselves won't be confused on where their students are coming from.

Where I'm going at is that some students can be confused on what their reader wants sometimes and their professors are also their readers so they should assist students on different ways they can answer their audience's questions. I also do believe that writing structure would help college students immensely in their writing but, teaching students different ways to clarify is just as equal or maybe even more helpful. I'm sure there are other important aspects in college-level writing that professors should consider educating students in their classrooms, however, please take this to consideration professors!