Proble
Background: The essay "What Is "Academic" Writing?" by L. Lennie Irvin describes expectations of college writing in all types of college classes. The author says that no matter what college class you are in, teachers are looking for the same things in the writing tasks they assign.
Academic writing is always a form of evaluation that asks you to demonstrate knowledge and show proficiency with certain disciplinary skills of thinking, interpreting, and presenting. Writing the paper is never "just" the writing part. To be successful in this kind of writing, you must be completely aware of what the professor expects you to do and accomplish with that particular writing task.
The author goes into depth pointing out four "literacy tasks" teachers want to see demonstrated in student writing:
a) Knowledge of Research Skills
b) The Ability to Read Complex Texts
c) The Understanding of Key Disciplinary Concepts
d) Strategies for Synthesizing, Analyzing, and Responding Critically to New Information
Purpose: Practice writing and demonstrate understanding of the expectations inherent in college-level academic writing and the abilities and tasks that such writing demands.
Task
Looking at the essay's discussion of the literacy tasks, write a response to the following question:
How did what you wrote in high school compare to what you have/will do in your academic writing in college and how does this relate to Irvin's discussion of the literacy tasks? Be sure to refer to some or all of the literacy tasks in your post.