As part of my Seminar in Tutoring class, I’m to write a blog entry on something related to working in the Writing and Multiliteracy Center at Cal State University Channel Islands, where I am both a student and an employee. This assignmnet got me thinking, “What if I wrote something about college level writing that I would actually want to read?”

That question brought up on of my favorite books on writing, literally titled, On Writing by a little known author, Stephen King. Although there is plenty of great writing advice prevalent in the text, the reason I like the book so much is not necessarily because of the writing expertise purported by the King. The book drew me in because of the personal experiences Stephen King offers up in the reading. There’s a level of intimacy revealed which is rarely shared in books about writing. With these thoughts in mind, I figured I’d share a little of my own experience about college writing, and some of the tricks and tips I’ve picked up along the way as both a student and a writing tutor.

I’ll start by just saying this: sometimes your worst mistakes can be the best lessons. Don’t get discouraged when you screw up. You’re about to learn something new.

The first time I wrote an essay in college, I broke one of the cardinal rules of formatting: I didn’t double-space. While many people break this law by customizing a spacing pattern that exceeds the double-spaced limit outlined by the professor, I went the opposite route–I single-spaced the damn thing. A six-page paper, totally single-spaced. Needless to say, I got the ‘A’ simply because my professor got exhausted trying to read it. Not to mention, I almost snapped my brain trying to come up with enough content to fill a six-page, single-spaced paper about a couple poems we read in the first few weeks of class. I discovered later on that the point of this mistake led me to another rule about college papers: Read the assignment prompt. Had I spent a little more time paying attention to what the assignment was asking for, I would have noticed that I only needed about half of those thoughts in the paper. It wouldn’t have hurt so bad to think after I wrapped it up.

Another lesson that cropped up after that experience came into play on several subsequent papers: Don’t try to solve the world’s problems through a college paper. Although there will be times that you feel so passionate about your paper you might think that you have to crack the code, solve the equation, or even end world hunger, you must keep in mind that this assignment will not define you. While I was writing that six-page monstrosity, I kept thinking there was not going to be enough space for me to put down every thought I had about the cultural significance of these poems, and that by not doing so, I was somehow missing some miracle of their creation, or perhaps doing a disservice to the author (That might be the English nerd in me speaking, but I’m sure there are issues important to you, no matter your major). In the end, I found that keeping the scope of the assignment in mind actually helped me do a better job completing it.

A big rule, one that is really easy to forget, is to always keep your audience in mind. A lot of times I read papers (and have written papers) that seem to only circulate around the author’s beliefs. When you come to college, all of your adolescent beliefs are subject to questioning. With that in mind, all those new thoughts and beliefs have a place in your essay. In the first couple years, it might get messy, but in remembering that all your mistakes will provide lessons, try and keep an open mind to seeing how your views change over time. Get to know your professors, what they believe, and keep that in your head while you’re drafting your paper. Unless you have some difinitive proof to include in your paper about why you do not agree with the course material you are writing about, try and stretch your beliefs to incorporate what you are learning. Try, I say, but that does not mean you have to change who you are.

I’ll close with this: just because you are required to do the assigment doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it. There’s lots of ways in which treating a paper like a priviledge can help you. Try and think what a great service you are providing yourself, the education you’re recieving that so many others like you will never learn. I’ve worked for a number of years since enrolling in college for the first time and I can tell you, even though you will learn things in class that may never apply to your “real life”, it doesn’t make that part of your education unnecessary. Every time you challenge yourself to learn something you wouldn’t otherwise pick up on your own, you’re providing yourself with the opportunity to grow more observant, more aware of how big this world really is. Try to have fun with the things you would otherwise ignore; use song lyrics to come up with titles for your papers; gather resources and research from websites you look at everyday; introduce your professors to things they may have never heard of, things you find important or relevant even though you may not entirely know why. If it screws you up, just look up at the first rule again–there’s no such thing as a mistake, just another lesson learned.

I hope somebody reads this eventually. It’s taken me a while to learn these lessons, so maybe I can provide a shortcut for you.

Happy writing!