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Mariana Prado Rangel

English 1301-95L

Professor Caleb Camacho

December 9, 2022

Is your writing good?

Do you like writing? Writing is used throughout our career, whether it is writing a

fairytale for a school project or an admission college essay. Writing styles and rules have

changed throughout time, and it can be confusing what should be considered “good writing.” We

are talking about the structures of paragraphs, how our conclusion should be, what each

paragraph must include, etc. While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, it is impossible to

ignore the impact a grade in an academic essay has on a student. Students will write the way

their professor wants to get a good or passing grade. In my opinion, causing a lack of uniqueness.

I want to investigate what is considered good writing and what rules we need to use. My goal is

to interview high school teachers and students to understand their perspectives on writing. Do

they like writing rules, why or why not? Most importantly, is there a set of rules for all good

writing?

I remember growing up loving to write stories but as I got older, I began to dislike it. No

matter how much effort was put into my essays, most of the time, it was a bad score. This

happened mostly in high school. A had a teacher tell me once, the rules of writing we were going

to learn that year, which we were never going to use in real life. Why learn them in the first place

then? The following year we learned completely different writing rules. It seemed like they were

just trying to give me frustration. We were forced to read books that were considered great to

inspire us to write similarly. My issue was that I did not enjoy reading these books, so why
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should I write like those authors? My enjoyment of writing is low, I know it’s necessary to learn

to write properly academically. I wondered if other students experienced the same situations as I

did.

I first interviewed a 16-year-old high school student attending Harlingen High School.

His name is Jose however, last name will remain private, as he wanted. He told me how in

middle school, students were not as encouraged to write as they should have been. The topics

they needed to write about could have been more exciting and creative. Rather than enjoying

writing, students felt forced. He stated, “We felt dumb, we had to write about how to make a

sandwich.” He is currently in high school. Jose is dealing with similar issues, and he is not sure

whether he likes writing or not. Though the topics are better, writing about mental health or

current events, he dislikes that teachers focus more on such things like word count or if he used

the right words. He tells how he expresses his emotions through writing but that is the last thing

they focus on. He wishes there was a simpler way to learn to write the way the school wants. I

then asked him what teachers can do. His answer is, “to encourage kids to read and write more.

Rather than getting mad at us because we don’t write correctly, help us understand better, and

make it fun. Give us choices. Don’t just say an essay is wrong but rather teach us how we can

improve.” In his opinion, writing rules are not useful for writing and do not define what good

writing is. This was an in-person meeting interview in November of 2022.

The second interview I did took a major turn. I wanted to see if high school writing has

helped current college students. I interviewed an EMT, Brittany E. Last name not given. The first

thing she talked about was her high school experience with writing. She mentioned that it was

extremely helpful. “We were taught the set up of essays, such as MLA format, thesis, how to
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write a conclusion, etc.” She then said, “If we got a bad grade on our essay, we did a peer

review.” Peer review is when students are placed in groups and get help from classmates,

whether is about grammar or if your essay makes sense. She joked that the only thing she

disliked was writing a 10-page essay and choosing your on-writing topic. Writing rules has

helped in her college career since she always gets excellent grades. However, one teacher always

failed her, and she never understood why. She believes opinion also affects writing. It is up to

their point of view. A person will dislike your writing but that doesn't mean it is bad. In

conclusion, for her, writing rules helped her make good writing. Nevertheless, it is up to the

writer to follow these “rules.” The was a phone interview in December of 2022.

The third interview I made was with a schoolteacher. The first thing she stated was very

important. “How we teach writing has changed over time, especially after COVID.” Teaching

online has been a challenge. “Writing rules are meant to help students write clear essays. While

grammar is important, the structure of an essay can determine the understanding of the

audience.” Peer reviews have been difficult due to social anxiety, so they are trying to work

around it. Students can choose topics of their interests, of course, with regulations. It does upset

her that students get discouraged when they receive a bad grade. She wishes there wasn’t

STAAR testing. Not only does it cause stress, but the grading does not determine whether the

student’s writing is good. When it comes to writing rules, as a teacher, they are important.

However, not following traditional writing, creates “unique writing,” and there is nothing wrong

with that. What I found interesting was that writing rules constantly change. It makes me curious

about how teachers feel, specifically those that prefer traditional writing? I understand why

students worry about writing. This was a phone interview, in December of 2022.
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Victoria Clayton wrote an article, “The Needless Complexity of Academic Writing,”

where she explains issues involving writing rules and how it affects the writer. Victoria explains

that writing should be simple and straightforward, however, “complex writing,” has become a

sort of tradition. To sound intelligent and “elegant,” one must use a high vocabulary and long

sentences. This has started a controversy among university students and professors. Many

believe that academic writing no longer has an audience or a purpose, but to impress colleagues.

It is too difficult to understand for some readers. Academic writers are encouraged to join social

media, and blogs to be able to find an audience and not be so complex. The article’s main idea is

that writing does not have to be unnecessarily difficult to understand because it will no longer

have a purpose other than to show off our big vocabulary and the readers will be bored. (Clayton

2015)

“Understanding Why Students Avoid Writing” is an article written by Regina Richards.

Her main goal is to bring awareness as to why students dislike or avoid writing. She also

mentions learning difficulties such as dyslexia or dysgraphia. Regina is against the idea of a

student being accused of laziness and knows that due to misunderstandings, students are

discouraged from writing. The article mentions that the school system focuses on negatives and

criticism in students' written assignments. Students need to take as long as they need to practice

and improve their writing skills. Students avoid writing because they are afraid, they might get a

bad grade and they don’t know how to use all those writing rules teachers want in their writing.

This causes frustration and a “lack of enjoyment.” Regina gives tips to teachers and parents on

how to help students who are dealing with issues involving writing. She advises students to

encourage them to keep writing, and that no literacy work is unwelcome. (Richards 2022)
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In my opinion, writing needs some rules, however, these rules don’t need to be complex.

There is so much that goes beyond the writing process. We need to remember that there are

many types of audiences. After interviewing and doing research, I concluded that writing rules

can help but are not necessary. There isn’t going to be a guarantee of success or failure

depending on what you write. Students should not stress over someone’s opinion. Whether the

writing is good or not, should not be fully determined if they followed the rules or not.
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Work Cited

Clayton, Victoria. “Why Is Academic Writing so Needlessly Complex?” The Atlantic, Atlantic
Media Company, 27 Oct. 2015,
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/complex-academic-
writing/412255/.

Richards, Regina G. “Understanding Why Students Avoid Writing.” LD OnLine,

2022https://www.ldonline.org/ld-topics/writing-spelling/understanding-why-students-
avoid-
writing#:~:text=They%20have%20a%20hard%20time,s)%20to%20express%20an%20idea
.