The main point of the piece was trying to inform, prepare, and teach us about academic writing and its usefulness not only in our collegiate careers but also in life. It talks about communication skills and persuasion as being beneficial skills gained by good academic writers.

What stood out to me most was when the article started talking about analysis and its meaning/ importance. The author mentioned “My biggest bit of advice about analysis is not to do it all in your head.” I think this is a really good point and can help me when I start to write. For the most part I write/analyze whatever I think but I notice that I have insufficient analysis at times because I am either afraid of repetition or feel that the information is insignificant. If I try writing as much as possible first and weeding out the unnecessary parts, it will probably make me a more successful writer.

I related a lot to the myths that were stated in the text. For example, Myth #1 talks about how many people believe writing is a formulaic process when in reality it’s very cyclical. I also agree with what was stated about academic writing and research skills. I took a 2 year AP Research course and learned the value of in-depth research and where to find it (peer-reviewed, scholarly sources) and how it can be beneficial compared to alternatives such as Wikipedia or media outlets. I also related to the chart the author displayed that talked about an articles audience, context, purpose, tone, etc. I used to analyze documents in that way in high school and it was very beneficial and gave me a better understanding of the text.

Hi, my name is Melissa! I’m from SoCal, Los Angeles more specifically. I’m a freshman and I’m majoring in Political Science. I love dogs, sushi, and the color pink!