College Writing Standards?

Question

I recently finished my Freshman Year of High School (I made it through!) So in my 10th grade year, by the end, I can take the Running Start exam. Running Start is a program in which high school students can take college level classes at a local community college.

Starting this August to June I'm going to be preaparing to raise my writing and reading standards to college level. I have a Grammar and Composition book by Prentice-Hall which will help my grammar and as for reading I 've been reading as much as possible (Jane Eyre, Wiuthering Heights, Great Expectations...etc)

Questions:

1. Any advice to get my writing to a college level?
2. Any advice to get my reading skills to a college level?
3. Any advice in general?

Answer 1

l. Work on your spelling, grammar, punctuation and sentence structure. You seem to be very literate, but you misspelled (or mistyped) "preparing" (There is no A in the first syllable)

2. Continue to read the Classics, as well as non-fiction books on various subjects, particularly the one you're interested in pursuing in college.

3. Don't get discouraged if you fall short of your expectations. Keep on trying and pursuing toward your goal. Ask questions. Get as much information as you can.

Good luck! You deserve it.

Answer 2

Don't worry, despite the fact I was published at 16, I'm totally illterate and somehow I managed to PASS the English Placement test and get into English 1 (or 101)!

I'm amazed to this day.

In fact after my FIRST paper in English 1 I was NOT told I had to go to the "Composition Clinic" so I must be doing something right and as I said, I'm illeterate.

Vocabulary. Grammar. Sentence structure. Punctuation.

MASTER the BASICS.

As for style, what is the modern thing called APA or something like that. In my day it was the Chicago Style.

Double spaced, 1" margins, annotations, table of authorites.

Underlinding this, italicizeing that.

NOW, when you get into a MASTER'S PROGRAM and have to do a THESIS and have a PH D advisor, things will get tighter.

YOUR paper has to PASS the muster of the ENTIRE DEPARTMENT and your ADVISOR will slap you up one side and down the other if your VOCABULARY, GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION, SENTECNE STRUCTURE, RHETORICAL ARGUMENTS and REASEARCH is not up to snuff.

Answer 3

Reading the classics is a great thing to do. William Faulkner ('The Sound and the Fury'), T.H. White ('The Once and Future King'), Herman Melville ('Moby Dyck') and Fyodor Doestoyevsky ('Crime and Punishment') are some other good choices. If you like sci-fi, try Arthur C Clarke's 'Rendezvous with Rama' and Isaac Asimov's 'I, Robot'. Asimov's 'Foundation' trilogy is great too ('Foundation', 'Foundation and Empire', 'Second Foundation').

Try writing book reviews on stuff you read for your own improvement.

Sorry I had to misspell 'Moby Dyck'. Yahoo won't allow the true spelling here, I guess they consider it obscene.

Answer 4

There are different writing styles. Your college or university should make you aware which is required for your discipline.

http://www.mindrelief.net/types_of_modern_styles.html