Papers and assignments are always major parts in a student’s course progress. When it comes to the process of creating the paper and writing, most students use and are required to use a typed format.
At St. Bonaventure University, most students also use laptops and tablets to take notes and complete assignments that are given on a digital format. As students continue to type and form their final assignments, the computers put tools into work to correct some of the spelling, grammar and punctuation errors that students may use without even knowing it.
Over the years, students have become more reliant on these computer-generated autocorrections and have lost their own personal writing fundamentals. They do not understand the rules of writing and complete hand-written work with many grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors. In previous times, students were more involved in their writings and more aware of these writing rules because they did not have any system that would correct them. When it comes to pen and paper, every detail of the writing is solely dependent on the writer’s abilities.
I am sad to say that students, including myself, in my professional writing courses have struggled and continue to struggle with some of the writing rules. We are not perfect and will never be completely perfect in writing, but many of us struggle with so many of the basic structural writing principles that we will need to write papers and other things in the future, such as business emails, business proposals and application letters for work.
Now, I am not saying that we should write every little thing and detail down because, in reality, we do not have the time to do so. We are fixed on deadlines that do not give us the amount of time necessary to take everything down, in detail, on paper and then transfer it into a typed format. But, writing things down on paper can help us expand the foundation of our writing.
When planning a paper for a class, take the time to write down and plan out the main points and some of the details you wish to include. This paper outline can not only help students to organize and set up their papers, but it can help students remember basic concepts of writing and its formatting.
Students can also take a point on writing their notes down by hand. This can lead to students remembering information and making sure they write in a fashion that is readable and understandable in the future when they must look back on their notes.
Though these might not automatically lead to a perfect understanding of writing fundamentals, writing things down is the first step to students have a better understanding of the correct writing formats. These will be very useful in the future as everyone, in one case or another, must write.
By Erica Gustafson, Contributing Writer
gustafea18@bonaventure.edu
