Reflection: Writing Experiences at OSU

Heinrich Dobbins

WR 121-018

11/19/03

Reflection: Writing Experiences at OSU

So far I haven’t had very many writing experiences at OSU. Most of the writing experiences I have had have been in this class. I have also had to write a little bit for my engineering orientation class and for my Odyssey class. There has also been a little bit of writing involved in my new job.

For the most part I have pretty much known what is expected of me from my various professors, but it is a lot vaguer than my high school assignments. For example, the argument paper that I am currently working on is pretty vague. While I was given a topic to write an argument paper on it was very broad. It was up to me to narrow my paper down after doing research and figure out exactly what to write on inside the main topic. This is very different from my previous writing experiences. I am used to receiving specific topics to write on. This lack of experience has already caused a slight problem because I had to do a little research, choose my specific point, and then complete my more detailed research.

The writing assignments I have had at OSU are also longer than I am used to. For example, this paper that I am writing right now is a much longer reflection than I am used to writing. I could probably say what I want to reflect on in about a paragraph; however I must fill an entire page and do so in smaller print than I am used to. This makes it pretty difficult to keep my thoughts on topic and leaves more room to wander off topic when writing on small topics.

One of the other things that has been difficult is trying to change the way I write a little bit to better fit the requirements of college level writing. I am used to starting a paper the night before it is due, no matter how big of a paper it is, and writing it straight through without any prewriting. I have already noticed that this way of writing is not going to work in college. There is too much to do in too little time to be a procrastinator. In order to produce a halfway decent piece of writing, I will definitely need to organize my thoughts before I start writing. I will also need to start my papers earlier and work on them gradually so I don’t completely kill myself as I try to write three papers for three different classes in one night because I procrastinated.

Yet another large adjustment I have noticed at OSU is the shear number of papers I have had to write. I have written almost as many papers in this first term as I wrote an entire year in high school. This is a huge change for me because I am not used to writing this many papers in such a short period of time. I have a feeling that time is the only thing that will help me cope with this change.

I have a feeling that every class I take will require me to write in a slightly different format, so I will have to get used to changing my writing style easily. Until then, I guess I will just suffer through the agonizing pain of going against my habitual writing style.