Last Thursday, I attended a seminar about writing with Magdala, Sara and Sam. I was interested in this event, because of large amount of writing that is required in college. Apart from exams, essays and reports are probably the tool most used to evaluate student performance in a class. Personally, I sometimes find written assignments challenging. It may be because of the topic, or the length required for the assignment. Regardless, I felt that it would be interesting to hear how other people approach their writing or written assignments.

Something that stood out to me was that the purpose of any written assignment is to put across a point, regardless of whether is was a lab report or an essay about a book. While this seems intuitive, it was something that I had not actively thought of before. Sometimes, while planning or writing a long essay, I feel like I tend to think of ways that I could increase the size of the paper (By adding more examples or writing in-depth explanations). Additionally, if I have a rubric to consult, my essay becomes more a “checklist” that discusses points in the rubric. If I think back to assignments that I had written, I feel like any arguments or discussions would have been more convincing if I had maintained focus or connected the sub points back to my main point(s).

Another thing was to find the time of day and place where you write the best or are more comfortable writing. Personally, I like writing in my room because it’s quiet. Also, I tend to do most of my writing in the afternoon and evening, after classes. A popular place discussed for writing was places with ambient noise, like coffee shops or certain parts of a library. Overall, I feel like this is something that varies from individual to individual. While I see the benefits of writing/studying in a coffee shop, I feel like I would likely get distracted so I tend to stick to my room or the quiet parts of a library.
Overall, the event was very engaging. It was interesting to listen to different viewpoints and experiences with writing. It’ll definitely be useful for my next essay or lab report.

I loved learning about GRFs Magdala, Sam, and Sara’s personal writing processes while getting to share my own experiences with them and other Scholars as well. I look up to all three of them as writers; what they can do is amazing to me. I related to Sara the most as we both explained our tendencies to procrastinate and write the majority of our papers in one sitting due to impending deadlines that are hours away. An interesting question that was brought up prompted us to think about our preferred writing environment–that is, where we are when we write, what sounds are in the background, what kinds of things are around us (glass of water), and even the time of day when we are the most productive. I admire how different we all are; Sam likes to write in dining halls from 6-10 in the morning, while I like to write in my bed after midnight. Another Scholar touched upon the differences between her creative writing and academic writing processes, which was something I had never thought about before; she enjoys creatively writing by hand, but only writes academic papers on her computer.

This evening’s session not only gave me the skills I needed to start my next paper but also made me excited to begin.  Magdala, Sam, and Sara all had unique stories regarding their writing backgrounds.  Though the process of writing can be tedious and tiresome, the presenting GRFs are obviously extremely passionate about their work.

I have only ever been excited to write creatively.  Creative writing lets me be honest about what I don’t know and understand.  There is no good and proper way to be creative.  So the anxiety is never there.

Sara encouraged me to bring that energy into my academic writing.  During the session, I noted practical ways to begin that journey.  First, I have to set a consistent location and time where I can work best.  This will allow me to get into what we call a “flow state” where I can easily work continuously.  Like myself, Sara likes ambient noise in cafes etc.  Sam likes dining spaces and coffee.  Magdala always has to have a cup of water.

The most beneficial potion of the session was when we addressed the pain of writing essays for different subjects and departments, for different professors, with different review styles.  I’ve always found this difficult.  Magdala told me what she wished someone had told her undergrad.  All writing is making and argument no matter the subject.  This may have cured me.