daughter struggling with writing class in college

[Blessed with seven]

What can I offer her as help.  The class is very structured and she has been a very "creative" writer, loved writing.  She is NOT liking this, picking apart her papers, too many words, grammar not right etc...

 

This is where I struggled in homeschooling, I wish I had her do IEW or something in High School.  We did not do a lot of formal writing.

 

Kim

[Barbara H]

It isn't just a homeschooling thing - many students struggle with the first writing course. Nearly all schools have centers where students can get help with writing. Has she given that a try?

[regentrude]

It was not clear form your post whether she actually struggles, or is she simply not liking it.

If it is struggle: I suggest that she uses the professor's office hours and goes to the writing center.

If it is dislike: she does not have to like the class, just learn to play by the rules.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Remind her that this kind of writing is very specific and is not necessarily something that she will have to do outside of an academic setting.  It really is a matter of learning the tricks of the trade and applying them.  Some things will transfer (punctuation, correct grammar) to creative writing but other more structural rules will not.  

[Jean in Newcastle]

Remind her that this kind of writing is very specific and is not necessarily something that she will have to do outside of an academic setting.  It really is a matter of learning the tricks of the trade and applying them.  Some things will transfer (punctuation, correct grammar) to creative writing but other more structural rules will not.  

[Lanny]

Possibly something on this web site will help your DD.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

[plansrme]

  She is NOT liking this, picking apart her papers, too many words, grammar not right etc...

 

 

Encourage her to be thankful that she is getting this much attention and focus on writing early in her college career.  It will be a tremendous benefit to her in the rest of her professional life.  I was not homeschooled, but I went to Podunk Christian High School, where we had oodles of grammar but almost no writing practice or instruction.  I started Big State U three weeks after high school graduation and jumped right into honors English comp.  It was terrifying, but the professor was amazing.  He ripped my, and everyone else's, papers to bits.  The first day we turned in an assignment, one of his examples from someone's paper was, "We, as humans," in which he pointed out that "as humans" was unnecessary.  I thought, "Of course!"  It was such a eureka moment.  Twenty-five years later, it still makes me cringe to see that and other words used for no reason. 

 

I was and still am the most uncreative writer, but I thrived in his class.  Learning to go through papers word by word and revise and edit, and then to edit some more (and I did this before personal computers--I was editing by hand!) is, hands' down, the most important thing I learned in college.  In real life, unless you are a professional fiction writer, no one cares if you can write a creative short story, but being able to sit down and churn a decent business letter, a coherent email or a longer professional work will be important regardless of what she does for a living or for fun. 

 

Though you would not know it from my posts on here, which are hurriedly typed out in time snatched from more important projects, the quality of my writing has been incredibly important to my professional life.  It made me a star in a summer internship that led to my first job, and I am in a field that requires that I write daily.  Fortunately, writing no longer terrifies me, and I no longer have to edit word by word, but I use what I learned that summer every time I write.  And truth be told, I am still a better writer than most of my colleagues.

 

So that's a long story with way more than you want to know about my education, but that is what I would do:  tell her to learn how to write! 

[freesia]

I agree with everyone. I entered college from a public school and I did not write well at all. The professors know this (that many students enter not writing well) and, at a good school, hold the new students to a high standard. Most schools have writing centers and she should definitely go to one. I had a friend mentor me instead. Give her the message that she CAN do it; she doesn't have to like it.

 

There are many college manuals for writing. The Writer's Inc. folks have a college handbook and there are many online sources. Her school may have one.

[goldberry]

I face this issue with DD14, but we are addressing it now.  I have just explained to her that this is totally different from her creative writing, that it is basically writing to a formula.  I hated it as well.  I hated the way that following the formula made for totally boring and sometimes awkward writing, but that writing still got an A. I literally had to grit my teeth to turn out some of those papers.

 

Explain that this is for an entirely different purpose than writing something that a person would actually enjoy reading.  Reassure her that she writes perfectly well for creative writing, it is just a different thing.  I personally got defensive when my vibrant and interest arousing writing was criticized.  Explain to her that her writing is probably perfectly fine or even excellent for another situation, but this is a particular type of writing with its own set of rules.

 

So I disagree that telling her "learn how to write" will accomplish anything.  If she is a creative writer, she already knows "how to write", but she needs to learn how to write "an academic paper" which is a totally different animal.

[Nan in Mass]

I did what Coloradoperkins is doing - explained that different types of writing had different requirements and that some produced AWFUL writing, but that one still had to learn to follow the different sets of rules. Every writing situation has to take into account the audience and the requirements. It might help to tell her to pretend that she is writing for people who are not fluent in English or for people who are just going to be skimming the work and picking out the bit that they need, and therefore it needs to be extra concise and formulaic? And, of course, reassure her that only her academic and work papers need to be this way, that creative writing and letters are different and that she does a lovely job with those.

 

Nan

[Blessed with seven]

Thank you ALL for your input!  It is funny because I was talking to my daughter earlier and told her I think with the younger kids we are going to do things a bit different..ha!  It is hard because it is so different from what I had her do.  She loved to write books and movies and this is very, very different but they do have a writing center she is going to for help.  She just said she feels like she doesn't know anything and I told her it is because we did things differently.  She has decided to get through it the best she can, no other choice ha!

 

Thank you all for you input and support!

 

Kim

[kiana]

Frankly a lot of ps'd students don't know anything either. Profs are used to it.

 

I do agree with you that some experience learning to crank out academic writing in HS would be good for the youngers, but your dd is going to be just fine as long as she puts in the time. She should definitely patronize the campus writing center (nearly every campus has one) and the professor's office hours.

[msjones]

This is a great opportunity for her, really. I bet she'll do very well.

 

I am so thankful that I had teachers who took the time to pick apart my writing.  

 

 

[elegantlion]

I'm in a beginning online English class this semester. I'm a creative writer by nature and experience. Our instructor suggests the writing center on campus or visiting him during office hours. He also recommends thorough review of a style guide. 

 

I have similar trepidation because it's been a long time since I've written academically. My biggest challenge so far is that my essays sound too rigid or blah. I'm having a hard time transferring my writing voice from fiction to non-fiction. 

 

She is not alone. Because I've been out of school so long, I had to test into this class. There are way more sections of the remedial writing than there are sections of the class I'm in. 

 

I'm also stressing over how ds will do in a college level writing class, he's not a proficient writer and I have a few more years to guide him. I'll probably end up using some items from MY class for him. 

[Blessed with seven]

Rigid...that is the word I was trying to think of earlier, it is very rigid and she is going "what?!!!?"  So..yeah she has a writing center she is utilizing so...  She explained to me what they are doing and I understood NONE of it :)

[sunnyday]

I don't know if you and your daughter will find this useful, but I was just listening to the Bravewriter podcast about this academic writing stage...how one's natural writing voice fits into the academic formula, why academic writing is necessary at the high school and college level even though you may never use it again, etc. http://blog.bravewriter.com/2012/12/02/10-podcast-eavesdropping-on-the-great-conversation/

[msk]

You could also remind her that learning to write in different styles will make her writing stronger overall, even if she continues to dislike "academic" writing.  Academic writing can vary a lot between fields too (some don't care about active vs. passive voice or first-person pronouns as long as things are clear, other fields seem obsessive to an outsider).

 

I think learning to write an argument that weighs different pieces of evidence against each other is a useful skill that is different from writing fiction or opinion pieces.  A well-written argument will seem more convincing to many people than a rambling, crazy-sounding one even if the actual evidence in the rambling one is stronger.  Writing an argument yourself also helps you evaluate others' arguments better.  I'm not sure whether this is the kind of thing she's doing, but it's a reason to practice writing outside the creative realm.  She may still not like it, but hopefully she'll be able to see some educational value in it.