Problem

Some high school students find it hard to adopt a new writing style for college level assignments or papers. Others find it quite easy to make the transition and continue on with their college education. Teachers in high school usually present the standard way of writing in general to students but what kind of standard is it if it does not reach the level of college writing expected? How come high school teachers only teach the basics but not push writing even farther like college professors do? Below are some differences between High School Writing and College Writing.

High School Writing:
-Teachers use the five paragraph essay format and teach students that that is how a standard formal paper should be like.
-Students are taught to write a thesis but are not thoroughly taught to meet college level writing.
-Body paragraphs are taught in a more structure way and lack the teaching of voicing your own opinions or providing Ethos.
-Thesis is fairly basic and uses the format of “In this essay, I would be talking about…”
-Teachers teaches the basic elements of writing but lack a lot of substance of expanding content and reasoning.


College Writing:
-Professors expect students to be writing at College level when they first walk through the classroom door.
-Professors want to see a more abstract and argumentative thesis that states a claim and intrigues the reader to want to know more.
-Students are expected to write with Ethos with supporting evidence, reasons, facts, opinions, etc.
-Professors want to challenge the students to write with more focus on their arguments and constantly referring back to their thesis statement.
-Thesis statement is more complex and pinpoints main ideas that are expressed throughout the essay.