History Alumna Alana-Sara Turingan featured in The Edge
Department: History
Post Date: November 20, 2015News Details
Center for Educational Partnerships presents The Edge
College: Getting In and Getting ahead Volume 6/ Issue 1/ Fall 2015
Crash Course: My college Writing Journey
by Alana-Sara Turingam, UCI Alumna, Class of 2015
From choosing a school to declaring a major, college applications can be daunting.
When I was applying, my peers opted for science programs for the sake of job opportunities. I chose to apply to the humanities, an academic discipline that had majors such as English and philosophy. Personally, I wanted to pursue my passion: history.
I remember feeling terrified for my humanities classes because of my writing skills. I was fine with reading and analyzing books, though I did not have the confidence to write a paper. I felt my prose was weak and I lacked creativity to make a strong thesis. I was unsure what my instructor wanted for each assignment. I was concerned that my shortcomings would hinder my grade for the class. Overcoming these stigmas
defined my personal journey.
My first class was the Humanities Core Course, a yearlong program where instructors assigned more papers than readings. My professors expected the students to know everything from basic grammar rules to proper citations. The course focused on developing an argument and revising drafts. When I received a prompt, I liked to reread it and ask my professor for clarification. That way, I could identify the
prompt's question. Afterward, I'd write my answer bluntly and succinctly. I discovered that writing in a simplistic manner was the easiest way to express myself clearly.
Aside from writing better thesis statements, the course taught me how to properly draft a paper. I learned that transitioning a working thesis and a rough outline into a coherent work was done by writing multiple drafts. This demonstrated that writing
was a cycle of drafting and revising. Revisions did not always mean fixing a paragraph. Sometimes it meant scrapping the original draft and rewriting from the beginning.
Drafting also meant sharing my paper with peers and instructors for editing. This was difficult because I felt selfconscious whenever others read my work and I was hesitant to receive feedback. To combat these feelings, I reassured myself that these critiques would help me to become a stronger writer. Through editing, I was influenced by reviewers to write prose differently.
My path to writing with confidence was a time consuming practice. It took me four years, countless papers, and numerous late nights to be comfortable with my written work. Through hardships and tears, I realized writing was a life-long skill that I would continue to use after graduation. It fostered the confidence I needed. I consider these lessons learned a valuable asset for the next phase of my college career: graduate school!