Writing has enabled me to discover more about my thinking processes and my intellectual predilections. Writing has enabled me to organize my thoughts better in order to one them down and present them to another person. This involves a lot of discipline; as a matter of fact it requires as much discipline as innovativeness or inspirations. Thus, it has enabled me to combine discipline and organization with inspiration and creativity. This has also changed my approach to education as I became more aware of the necessity of having the ability to clearly organize my thoughts and present them in a clear manner. It also encouraged me to look for details when reading a text to note down minute details and to organize the facts into a logical paragraph. This has helped my clarity if thought and to write long essays and papers.
Writing has also helped me to better identify weak sources from strong sources, and has improved my ability to source references. This has been immensely helpful in my education as I became much more concerned about the truthfulness and strengths of evidence-based wiring. Thus, writing has had an impact on my education that made me a much more organized and disciplined academic as well as one that has much better sourcing and referring than before. This has molded me for the task of higher education and research.
What concerns you most about writing at the University level and what excites you most about it?
Writing at the University level has its own set of challenges and limitations which I find very exciting as well as encouraging. The main aspect of writing at the university level is the higher standard to which my writing will be held up to and inspected. This will include a certain amount of peer reviewing, which will put up my content to scrutiny from both my peers as well as my supervisors. This will be immensely challenging as there will be an urge to not lose face in public by producing substandard content. And at the same time, the critical review of peers and teachers is likely to add further improvements to my skill-sets in writing and that is something I find deeply encouraging.
What specific areas of writing would you like the writing course to address and why?
Critical writing, the art of writing to criticize some person, entity or action, is something which young students need to master and is not easy. It is too easy to become judgmental and to let bias affect the tone and wording of such a piece. However, this skill is imperative for a future in critical writing as well as in journalism. Constructive criticism needs to be organized in a presentable manner so that the readers understand the crux of the arguments instead of falling into petty disagreements. However, few writing courses pay much attention in training young students in this and I feel the writing course can address this.
Furthermore, related to this aspect, the writing course can address the problem of growing lack of beauty and presentation in writing. Emphasis on creativity as well as factual correctness often leads young writers to focus more on these structural aspects and lose sight of the presentation and beauty of language. These attributes are not necessarily mutually exclusive and can be combined together in a single piece if writing. I myself often fail to ensure this because it is difficult for a novice writer and academic to keep track of all the different requirements in writing a good essay or piece.
Finally, a good writing course can pay attention to inculcating self-discipline among the students. As a young student it is often too easy to get lost in the facts, or get lost while researching and losing track of time as well as the original aim of the writing. Time management is also a very essential part of creative writing and this is something young students are weak at. A writing course which teaches effective time management and delivering papers within deadlines will be very helpful indeed.
