Organization is like a puzzle

In the article What Should Colleges Teach Part 3,  Stanley Fish stated "High schools and middle schools are not teaching writing skills in an effective way." I agree with this statement by Fish because I just graduated from high school in 2017 and I believe that I have learned so much more from Professor Boczkowski in just one semester of college than I learned through middle and high school. Public schools today seem to be focused mainly on teaching to the test instead of preparing students for higher learning. Many writing skills that should be proficient as students begin their college career are mediocre and many times require's extra help from your professors. As college students start their college journey and it becomes evident that their writing skills are not up to par, Fish states that it is the responsibility of the college professors to meet the students at their level and provide instruction that will help them with their future essays. 

A day to celebrate, now to the next chapter 

Professors need to provide students with a framework  that will allow them to introduce their subject with a strong thesis. Then the student should follow with detailed writing that provides evidence and analysis of the topic. College professors should help students to leave their audience with strong concluding paragraphs that recap the main idea of the essay. One of the most important skills that professors need to leave students with is the critical task of citing sources in order to give credit to works and sources written by authors.

Fish believes writing begins with composing a simple sentence and then developing it into more complex sentences which provides further detail. This is compared to providing a strong foundation and then building upon it to develop your analysis of the essay.  He also stated that the Catholic schools seem to be doing a better job of teaching the writing process. They seem to be able to build a better foundation and provide their students the opportunity to practice and perfect their writing.

In English 1109, we were faced with the question Why is organization important to college writing? Through various research gathering assignments, such as the survey on SurveyMonkey, teacher interview, and the tutorial observation in the Ohio State - Newark Writers Studio. I found that the following areas are what current college students struggle with the most: planning, detailed paragraphs, and proper citations. 


I believe that planning and outlining your topic and ideas is key to organization. This allows you to order your main topics and write paragraphs that are both detailed and use transitions to help make your essay flow in a logical sequence. Breaking up the essay into manageable parts in an outline form, helps to not make the whole process seem overwhelming. The outline provides a framework just as you do when starting a puzzle. 

Piece by piece a framework is created

Developing detailed paragraphs helps the reader to visualize what the writer is trying to explain. When the writer's main purpose is to describe, they must give details about the topic in an organized and specific way, in order, to provide clarity to the reader. I feel that in order to explain, it is essential to give details in a chronological order from the beginning to the end. If the writer fails to do this, then the reader will be lost within the remainder of the paper and the meaning will be lost.

I believe the most critical part of writing an essay is to cite and format your research information correctly. Since much of college writing is researching and quoting sources that give proof to how and where the information is found, it is necessary for students to give credit to their sources in order to not plagiarize. Students also need to remember when they use words directly from an author, to use quotation marks to quote and properly give credit to the author with their last name, parentheses, and page number. Organizing and keeping track of your sources is a key component that will help you as you write your bibliography for your works cited page.

Fish concluded that in order for students to have a strong writing background, it is necessary for them to be not only be exposed to reading throughout their younger year but that they must be given the opportunity to practice the writing process. Students must learn the foundations of the writing process. Learning to outline, write detailed paragraphs in order to give full meaning to your topic, and correctly cite sources are important parts of college writing. I know that for me, the more I am forced to practice my writing skills, the better they have become.