Welcome to CSCC: Letters to Prospective Comp I and II Students

By Charles Williamson

From the Preface:

This eBook was created in collaboration with my SP19 Composition II (ENG 2367) students at Columbus State Community College. For this project, we endeavored to create a team-written guidebook for prospective CSCC students, particularly those enrolling in the Department of English’s General Education composition courses. Students were asked to reflect on their own growth and maturation as writers, thinkers, and researchers within the program and to channel those experiences into a collection of pithy, easily digestible letters addressed to next semester’s students. Their ultimate goal was to provide guidance through self-reflection and personal testimony, to give others the sort of mentorship they themselves might have wanted before taking Composition I and II.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charles Williamson
• Release date: May 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463674284

Book preview

Preface

This eBook was created in collaboration with my SP19 Composition II (ENG 2367) students at Columbus State Community College. For this project, we endeavored to create a team-written guidebook for prospective CSCC students, particularly those enrolling in the Department of English’s General Education composition courses. Students were asked to reflect on their own growth and maturation as writers, thinkers, and researchers within the program and to channel those experiences into a collection of pithy, easily digestible letters addressed to next semester’s students. Their ultimate goal was to provide guidance through self-reflection and personal testimony, to give others the sort of mentorship they themselves might have wanted before taking Composition I and II. Each chapter in this collection began life as a reflective essay that—through rigorous revision—developed into the brief chapters making up this collection. Student then selected their own titles and pseudonyms (some more transgressive and bizarre than others) before submitting their work for final publication. I encouraged each of them to be as honest and direct as they would like and have therefore made no additional changes to their chapters. Each contributor also signed a consent form in order to comply with FERPA regulations.

Across the numerous chapters in this collection, certain themes begin to emerge: the challenges of research, revision, and critical thinking; the perils of procrastination and poor time management; the refinement and development of long-unexamined skills in communication and critical analysis; the rewards that come from successfully finishing a difficult project. We see in equal measure their feelings of frustration, vulnerability, pride, and triumph. Each letter unfolds like the second act of an ever-evolving Künstlerroman. These are not final chapters, but new beginnings.

Most importantly, however, these letters help amplify the voices of those who are too often sidelined or ignored by faculty. It behooves us as teachers of English to listen to our students and take their needs and experiences into consideration. I hope that you will read these letters with an open mind and heart, regardless of whether you are student, faculty, or staff.

Composition Chronicles

by Harold Russell IV

Dear Future student,

My name is Harold Russell IV. I am a second year Columbus state community college student. I will later transfer to the Ohio State University to complete my bachelors.

Beginning composition courses was a bit daunting for me. I was never a great writer and the idea of long essays was just terrifying to me. Furthermore, to make things more challenging, I took my composition I and composition II classes about a year apart. However, the class is not as challenging as I anticipated. As a college student, you will not only be writing long essays in your composition class, but in some of your other classes as well. Depending on your educational background, some of the technical details of assignments may startle you or may not. Assignments like narratives, annotated bibliography, and response to texts are assignments that have helped me in my own writings. The assignments have really helped me to further develop my writing skills to become a more confident writer than before.

I am a firm believer in the saying that what you put in is what you get out. If you put your best effort into your assignments and take advantage of the resources available to you, you will do just fine. Composition has really changed my outlook on writing in general. It is only hard if you make yourself believe it is hard. Furthermore, If the people before you and I were able to complete such a course, we can do it. Good luck on your College career!

Sincerely,

Harold Russell IV

No Worries

by Faith F.

My name is Faith F. and I am a second semester freshman here at Columbus State Community College. Taking Composition I and II, at first was a little intimidating because I knew I would be writing a lot. I have never been an amazing writer so I was concerned that I would not get the grades I wanted. After taking this composition class specifically, my fear disappeared. It was not all about long essays with difficult content. It was more about my interest and how I could incorporate them into research. The research I had to do in this class, because it was based on my interest, was not hard at all, almost fun. It was not as time consuming as I thought and being able to get feedback on my papers in class helped a lot.

During this semester I wrote twice the amount of papers in my psychology class than what I had to write in this class. The papers in my composition class being more in depth, still were not stressful. In this class I am