Hey Georgia!

It has been so long, how have you been? I can't believe high school ended 3 years ago. I can't remember the last
time I saw you. Please let me know when I can call you or we can hang!

I have been pretty busy recently, with finals being around the corner. All of my classes are making me write an essay,
which I hate :/ All of the professors have their own way of how to write an essay. I am not sure how I can keep all of
this straight!! For each essay they want their students to focus on something else. It can be hard to find something
they all have in common. I think I just need to really focus on what they all expect.

One of my english professors, (I am an english major) Professor Norton, assigned us an essay, but said that the TA's
grading our assignment wanted us to focus on our argument. I was much more worried about the content so now I
am lost! Wouldn't content be considered part of the argument? Because you need it to back up your argument?? I
consider argument like the thesis, and the 3 supporting reasons. Content is more like the supporting details, like the
quotes or facts. UGH. She said that we should make sure we are in agreement with our TA, so I think I will go to
office hours and see what is up. I guess her whole spiel was really about being on the same page as whoever is
grading your paper, or whoever is reading it.

Another english professor of mine, Professor Desmond, agrees with Prof. Norton that students seem to struggle on
how to craft a good essay. Instead of content vs argument though, he complained to us about a student wanting an
outline on how to form the essay. It was not me, thank God, but I was also hoping that he would give out some
structure for it though. The advice he gave instead was that the essay should say what we are thinking, and quick!
We should be able to get our point across in 5 paragraphs, 25 sentences, and 250 words. How is that even
possible?? I think that he should just give us some help, like an outline, or even tell us to focus on our argument, like
good ol Norton. I think he is the grader, so at least that helps us be on the same page about what he expects.

My marine bio professor assigned us an essay (isn't this supposed to be a science class??), and wanted us to focus
on how we are saying things, not what we are saying. She then said that details are the most important part of
scientific writing. I guess that has to do with the entire piece of writing, both content and argument, compared to
Norton saying to focus on argument. This at least sort of helps me figure out what she expects, like the saying show,
don't tell. Definitely easier said than done. I don't know how I am going to get through this finals season.

In creative writing, Professor Stewart said that we should try to make the narrative structure (finally some insight)
more of a collaboration between reader and writer. What. Also that we should try to reshape the elements of plot,
point of view, character, and make it even better. How does she expect us to reshape an entire genre. Stewart seems
to value this the most, but I wonder what the TAs' value! They are the ones grading us for this class. I must do what
Norton said and connect with them so that I understand what I am being graded on fully. How am I going to
remember what each professor wants vs the TA's?

My next professor, Professor Brandt, says that for our history essay, we should have read a lot of other essays for it
to make our essay's readability better. I think that every Professor can agree that you need to have an understanding
of the genre of what you are trying to write, and of the content you are writing about. Perhaps Stewart would disagree
that we should be reshaping the genre, and to not rely on what we have previously read. But it seems that Brandt
also agrees that we should focus on content, and also style. I should set up a meeting between them all and see what
they think.

Sorry for the dump, I hope that we can get together when I come home for the summer in a few weeks!

Your friend,
Lilac
 Works Cited

Brandt, Deborah. “Accumulating Literacy: Writing and Learning to Write in the Twentieth
Century.” College English, vol. 57, no. 6, 1995, pp. 649–668. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/378570. Accessed 8 May 2021.

Will D. Desmond. “The Five-Paragraph Essay.” Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the
Classics, vol. 23, no. 2, 2015, pp. 187–192. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/arion.23.2.0187. Accessed 8 May 2021.

Norton, Linda S. “Essay-Writing: What Really Counts?” Higher Education, vol. 20, no. 4,
1990, pp. 411–442. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3447222. Accessed 7 May
2021.

Stewart, Anne Harleman. The Role of Narrative Structure in the Transfer of Ideas the
Case Study and Management Theory. (1991).

Merkle, Bethann Garramon. “Writing Science: Leveraging a Few Techniques from

Creative Writing Toward Writing More Effectively.” Bulletin of the Ecological
Society of America, vol. 101, no. 2, 2020, pp. 1–4. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/26912717. Accessed 8 May 2021.