College: Writing and Paper

Submitted By AlexaWilliams
Words: 749
Pages: 3

Effective College Writing
Alexa Williams
COLL100
American Public University
Mark Kelso

Effective College Writing
Every college student has to write at least one essay or paper once while they are attending school. So, what exactly is effective writing for college students? How do we write an outstanding paper that blows everyone out of the water? Students need to sit down and plan about the assignment, know a good writing structure, proof read and make sure they don’t plagiarize.
Before you sit down and start writing you need to understand what the assignment is about. Thinking about your assignment in terms of the rhetorical situation can help guide you in the beginning of the writing process. Topic, audience, genre, style, opportunity, research, the writer, and purpose are just a few elements that make up the rhetorical situation (Weida, 2009). Knowing who your audience is, is a major factor in writing a paper. Everyone will have different views on certain topics. Before you jump into writing your assignment it is best to write down your ideas, so you can see how everything is going to flow in your paper. You don’t want your paper to jump around.
In the beginning of each paper you should have a thesis statement. A thesis statement is a sentence or two in the beginning of your paper telling the audience what the main idea or focus of your paper is. The first draft of your paper doesn’t have to be perfect and the one that you have to turn in. Use your first draft as an idea of how your paper is going to play out. In the rough draft make sure that everything required is in your paper. Your paper should have an introduction a body and a conclusion. Your introduction is one paragraph that introduces your paper. The body is many paragraphs that explain the main idea or the focus with many examples. Finally the conclusion is one paragraph that sums up your whole paper.
After you finish your first draft it is best to re-read your paper to catch any mistakes. Check the order of your paragraphs. Your strongest points should be the first and last paragraphs within the body, with the others falling in the middle. Also, make sure that your paragraph order makes sense. If your essay is describing a process, such as how to make a great chocolate cake, make sure that your paragraphs fall in the correct order (Makin it count, 2009). Also, make sure that everything flows the sentences and the paragraphs. Check for spelling and grammar errors.
According to dictionary.com plagiarism is an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author's work as one's own, as by not crediting the original author. Many students do not know how bad plagiarism is. Plagiarism is easy to avoid. If you take