Writing College Essays

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - San Diego
1

<p>Okay, so I got my first paper back today. (I'm in Sixth College)
B+. Owned >.>; . I spent so much time on it too. </p>

<p>My TA wrote
"Good Structure, Good Ideas. Try to improve English - your grammar and check words whose meaning you are not sure of."</p>

<p>I'm like >.<; what the heck... i hate my life.</p>

<p>I'll admit, that I have to improve some of my English but not to that extent o.o;; . It's not like I didn't do well on my Writing section for SAT XD;</p>

<p>But then again =[ I need help. Is there anything I can do to improve my writing skills? Any books? Anything?</p>

2

<p>Try drop-in tutoring for writing. You may pick up some good tips. Typically the UCs hire student tutors with excellent writing skills.</p>

3

<p>ohhh heeey, that sounds like a great idea. thanks ^__^</p>

4

<p>B+ on your first CAT paper?</p>

<p>I wish I could have gotten more than the one B+ I got towards the end of CAT, when I finally got what they were asking of me in my writing. This is my personal advice.</p>

<p>How many hours would you say you spent on the paper? Did you read ALL the readings and connect them and analyze them critically? This will get rid of most "gaps" between all the stuff you've been learning. Eventually, all of these concepts come together in ways you probably haven't thought of yet. </p>

<p>One of the biggest lessons you learn in CAT is analyzing and studying words and concepts critically in order to fully understand them and consequently, effectively communicate their meaning in a paper. That is: looking at the bigger picture, the CONTEXT: the many many many dimensions and layers of concepts that are so freakin' complex, that simplifying them (as the dictionary does) strips them of their meaning. </p>

<p>For my papers, I did this by brainstorming my thoughts and knowledge of the paper's topic/question on sheets of plain white paper. For each paper, I had about 10-15 pages filled, front and back, with my scrambled thoughts. I circled things, highlighted things with different colors, connected things with lines. In the end, I had a semi-organized visual of what I know, my opinions and analysis, what I'm trying to argue, how I may go about doing that, how I connect and group certain facts, and finally, how I will structure my thesis statement and final paper, paragraph by paragraph, sometimes sentence by sentence and word for word, in a way that makes my argument (thesis) super clear and believable because of the flow of my thoughts on paper.</p>

<p>You should realize that some words, like culture..art...race.., are extremely complex and difficult to understand (and write about) if you don't put in enough effort into understanding them. Ask critical questions, have an open mind, do independent research, go to office hours especially when you don't think you understand something well enough. </p>

<p>Also, try to figure out how you work best. I wish I could have done it when I first started CAT. My mind is always buzzing with random thoughts, and putting them on paper helps me organize them.</p>

<p>I'm just babbling some lessons that I learned, but yeah. Try to have an open mind about what you learn in CAT. I hated it at first, but in the end I was glad I put in more effort into trying to understand stuff beyond the surface.</p>

<p>Best of luck to you!</p>

5

<p>hahaha i'm sorry. it's just great how people think they should still be able to get a 4.0</p>

<p>and i know what you're getting at, with all the time you spent and stuff. it just sort of reminds me of the above attitude.</p>

<p>but don't worry. i still love you.</p>

6

<p>Most excellent, thanks! That helped a lot. Yeah, I do exactly the same thing, so my brainstorming is.. well not 15 pages.. but it's about 3 pages front and back with circles and arrows doing crap XD;. But yes, I would say I spent approximately a good 3 hours learning the material and getting them onto scratch workpaper. Then another 2 hours to write, and another 1 hour to revise. So a good 6 hours. </p>

<p>What I need most help in, is this part:
"how I will structure my thesis statement and final paper, paragraph by paragraph, sentence by sentence, word for word, in a way that makes it super clear and believable what I'm trying to say."
I need flow! And English >.>;</p>

<p>You wouldn't have happened to be an Orientation Leader for the freshman did you? XD;</p>

7

<p>what's the above attitude?
I'm just scared because I never really took English seriously in high school. =[</p>

<p>Even though I know it's super duper impossible difficult to get a 4.0 in CSE, I'll still try my best to get it you know? If it takes another 2 hours each essay a week that'll make a difference between an A and an A-. That's nothing to me.</p>

8

<p>no, that's awesome. i just think a lot of people think just cause they could pull straight a's in high school, they can do it in college. and it's way different. but you're willing to put in the time and that's awesome. :)</p>

9

<p>yeaaah. XD;
The CEO of Waxie Enterprise once told me, "The best thing you can do in life, is invest in yourself. Nobody can take that away from you."
So I have this urge to suddenly perfect skills that will make me smarter/better/adept and skillful.</p>

10

<p>Don't worry about what you did in high school. Nothing, personally, that I did in high school helped me with my college writing. </p>

<p>About the amount of time needed to make a good paper, I'd say at least 10 hours, spread out over a few days. You may have to do this for more difficult papers in future CAT courses, maybe not know. This is from my personal experience, though. </p>

<p>Nope, I wasn't an OL, I'd like to be one next year though. It sounds fun. </p>

<hr>

<p>What I need most help in, is this part:
"how I will structure my thesis statement and final paper, paragraph by paragraph, sentence by sentence, word for word, in a way that makes it super clear and believable what I'm trying to say."
I need flow! And English >.>;</p>

<hr>

<p>I think a good way of thinking about this is realizing that what you're writing is coming from YOUR brain and in terms of what YOUR mind understands things. This may be very different from how an argument in an academic paper should be presented. </p>

<p>What I mean by "paragraph by paragraph and sentence per sentence" is: you need to make sure the sentence you wrote relates to your thesis, relates to the sentences around it in a way that will make the reader understand your paper better. You'll get the hang of it. Just make sure you go to your TA's office hours so you can go over your drafts and see what doesn't "flow" right and at not.</p>

11

<p>"you need to make sure the sentence you wrote relates to your thesis, relates to the sentences around it in a way that will make the reader understand your paper better. "</p>

<p>^^ Now that, is what I needed. Thanks!</p>

<p>There is supposed to be a TA lounge somewhere at Pepper Canyon or something. I'm not sure if it's all days of the week, any ideas? I only know MY t.a's hours (more like hour..), and it's the day after each paper is due which kind of ****es me off.</p>

12

<p>My TA for 2nd and 3rd quarter was really helpful and would offer to meet at times when it would be more useful (like close to a due date for a paper). Maybe ask your TA if she/he can meet with you before you turn in the paper?</p>