After four years in high school English courses, you’ve probably got a pretty good routine when you sit down to write for school. You might start with an introductory paragraph which contains your thesis, follow it with three supporting paragraphs, and top it off with a conclusion where you pretty much just rephrase your introduction and you’ve got a perfect five paragraph essay… perfectly boring, that is.
Now this isn’t to say that there isn’t merit to the things your high school teachers taught you. They meant well and some of their lessons will be of great use to you over the next four years. However, college writing is a whole new ball game. To effectively write an academic paper in college, you’ll need to understand the rhetorical situation, audience, and composition and how these factors work together to create a paper with new and original arguments. My hope for you is that you will use the information on this website to prepare you for your first semester in college by gaining a better understanding of these three elements. Let's start with the rhetorical situation and work our way up to composition. Click the button below to begin.