Strategies for Acquiring Writing Seminar Mastery, According to My Perspective
By Shannon Yeow, Engineering Correspondent
At Princeton University, the Writing Seminar is a first-year writing requirement designed to cultivate authentic academic writing. For one student, this journey was both challenging and rewarding, as they found their writing skills significantly improved since starting college.
The student's transformation was aided by various resources, including "The Gaipa Reading," which helped them understand their position as a writer and how to approach writing in a way that presents the current scholarship and walks readers through their argument. They also emphasised the importance of using the "piggyback" method, which involves riding off the authority of other authors by utilizing and building off their sources.
The Writing Seminar at Princeton offers a variety of courses, such as WRI 116: Sustainable Futures and WRI 159: Gray Matter. Among these, the course WRI 113 Craft of Authenticity stands out, centering on developing authentic writing through a structured process emphasising argument, evidence, structure, and style.
The writing process in these seminars typically includes drafting initial versions of essays or papers, exploring personal or academic topics with an emphasis on authentic expression. This is followed by peer review and workshop discussions, where students critique each other’s work to deepen understanding of effective writing strategies. Revising drafts based on feedback, focusing on clarity of argument, coherence of evidence, and stylistic finesse, is a crucial step. The process culminates in final polished submissions reflecting an authentic voice grounded in evidence and thoughtful structure.
Each Writing Seminar at Princeton has students develop their writing skills through a research focus, writing three research papers throughout the semester. The assignments are structured in three drafts (D1, D2, D3) and three corresponding revisions (R1, R2, R3). The student found their biggest improvement from R1 to R2, as they learned to structure ideas in a scaffolding manner.
Whiteboards can be useful for brainstorming and structuring ideas during the writing process. The student also encourages readers to take advantage of available resources, such as the Writing Center, to discuss ideas and ensure strong writing.
The holistic evaluation Princeton uses for admissions essays highlights the importance the university places on authentic, well-crafted academic writing. The Writing Seminar's approach aligns with this, teaching a writing style catered to academic papers.
In conclusion, the writing process in WRI 113 Craft of Authenticity at Princeton likely involves drafting, peer and instructor feedback, revision focused on argument and style, and workshops to foster individuality and scholarly rigor in writing, following the broader model of Princeton’s Writing Seminars. However, detailed syllabi or official course descriptions would provide more precise insight, which is not available from the current search results.
The student's journey in improving their writing skills during their first year at Princeton University was greatly aided by courses such as WRI 113 Craft of Authenticity, which focuses on developing authentic writing through a structured process emphasizing argument, evidence, structure, and style. In this course, they worked on crafting their junior paper, a significant research project that showcases their learning and self-development in education-and-self-development. The struggles and triumphs experienced in this process, including structuring ideas in a scaffolding manner, were made less daunting with the assistance of resources like the Writing Center and whiteboards for brainstorming.
