First-Year Student Challenges in Essay Writing

The education system after high school has become a dream for the majority of the high school graduates. The lack of interest to pursue tertiary education results from the hardships endured during the growth and development process during the twelve years from preschool to graduation in high school. My desire to enroll in a college for further studies has created the passion for concentrating on the academic work in high school in order to achieve high scores that allow my enrolment in the tertiary education centres. However, the developed illusion in high school about college crushed immediately I joined campus. A new reality dawned on me that there is little or no support at all once you have joined the institution. This paper seeks to review the challenges encountered by college students who have immediately graduated from high school.

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College essays require a comprehensive narration of the factors required to be addressed. In high school writing of essays focused on the significant details of the question, thus inhibiting the ability to be creative. Consequently, this problem haunts a lot of first-year college students. Lack of creativity tends to result in the lack of different approaches to a problem besides the conventional method. Faragher and Henk, therefore, state that with instruction from the tutors to use different writing techniques, many first-year students feel stranded due to the lack of ideas on the tactics to complete the essays with the new approach (36). Additionally, the lack of interest in finding methods to complete the essay as a result of demoralization causes the low quality of essays that the freshmen write and receive low grades. According to the National Assessment of Education Progress, 38% of high school students understood complex information when reading thus indicating the high level of stress by the faculty at 56% due to the interaction with the freshmen

The coordination of campus programmes requires guidance by the superiors and the experienced students. As illustrated in the Clinton Global Initiative University, new students to the campus require a step by step schedule to analyze the situation to be reported. In the case, Chicago university first-year students required to develop a Commitment of Action with a detailed structure to combat gender violence. However, the report by the data compiled on students' readiness in campus indicated a 41% of the students lacked the primary skills required for the compilation of an essay (De Maio and Anibeth, 58). With a low percentage among the African-American and Hispanic students, the secondary education should be channelled towards the attraction of such students by determining the problems that result in the loss of interest. Capturing of the students' interests such as English composition, indicated the willingness of the students to write better essays. Therefore, I feel that it is essential to create a guideline during the talks for the freshmen to enable the process of essay writing as the problem illustrated in the reports by ACT Incorporation lies in the comprehension of other subjects, and not the writing. This evidence results from the high-quality English composition that requires creativity.

According to the educational testing done in 2006, the report indicated that the freshmen possessed low critical thinking at two per cent proficiency and nine per cent at the marginal rate. Furthermore, the report suggests a rise in the senior year in the competence to six per cent and a margin of 17%. This data indicates that the support provided by the faculty helps to increase awareness among the freshmen, thus developing critical thinking. According to state news services, the programs developed to abolish poverty rates in Nigeria and Kenya present the student with an opportunity to expound on ideas that help to design projects suited for the community development. Consequently, the first year students apply critical thinking by observing concepts in social sciences that promote the integration of the development and the community (Benton). The report by Welsh et al. illustrated that 59% of high school graduates leave the system with interest in interactive skills (70). Therefore, first-year students possess skills in socializing and deducing environmental concepts within a population. As a result, the writing skills required include research; thus the ability to understand social science among the freshmen facilitates the process of finding facts.

However, computation of data required to report the research findings and subsequently, writing of an essay seems to encounter a challenge. The focus on thinking critically for educational engagement indicates that social disparities such as age and economic status harbor the process of critical thinking required in the process of writing. The proficiency in civics and knowledge in the US history among high school graduates limit the significance of writing essays that are factual on the happenings within the country. Additionally, the report indicates that majority of the freshmen join campuses without basic knowledge on the community development as a result of the lack of interest in the political and social organization of their community and the country. Therefore, I feel that it is essential to improve the knowledge of the high school students by issuing interactive sessions with writing structures and argumentative techniques invoke the skills of computing data (Welsh et al. 69). Consequently, the students develop essay writing skills that rely on actual data from reliable sources thus producing quality essays. However, the high school students should be discouraged from direct interpretation of the data, but rather providing a related case to the currents situation to ensure a proper composition.

Writing skills in first-year students prove to be a challenge as majority claimed that the coursework focused a lot on theories. Therefore, the students lose much interest in the compilation of essays as the process requires a repetition of the classwork, which demoralizes their stay in the institution. An average of the first year students, however, claimed that the writing of essays relied on writing from scratch. Therefore. This process required an integration of concepts learned in the coursework with the compilation, but without guidance. However, the actual talk provided the theories, but the student was required to design an approach to writing the experience (Taib and Julie, 132). Therefore, I feel that the engagement by the faculty with the freshmen helps to provide more than the theories presented during the interaction in class. Tutors should ensure that the first year students relate the approaches provided in class with real-life scenarios to ensure that the writing skills improve, and the student provides quality essays.

The transition from high school to college is a tough process for the freshmen. The introduction to complex coursework and strict schedule result in tension and the urge to complete assigned tasks on time. Essay writing proves to be a challenge for the first-year students due to difficulties, which include lack of support from the experienced members of the institution. Lack of basic writing skills, lack of sufficient knowledge in the content to be studied, and the inability to apply theories considered in the class to real-life scenarios. Therefore, I feel that it is essential for the faculty to allocate time to train the freshmen on writing essays to guarantee future success in critical thinking and analysis.

Works Cited

Benton, Thomas H. "A Perfect Storm in Undergraduate Education, Part I." The Chronicle of Higher Education, 25 Feb. 2011. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A249703443/AONE?u=lincclin_scc&sid=AONE&xid=c2d73587. Accessed 1 Nov. 2018.

The article provides statistics for the challenges that affect college students in the first and second years of their study. My deductions about the problems that limit creative writing emerged from the evidence in the paper on the effect of social interaction and the development of critical thinking that provides valid ideas required in the writing of essays

"Data on student preparation, college readiness, and achievement in college." Peer Review, Vol. 9, no. 1, 2007, p.24+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com.db26.lincclinweb.org/apps/doc/A162234832/AONE?u=lincclin_scc&sid=AONE&xid=f0adcb73. Accessed 1 Nov. 2018.

The article provides an insight on the classification of students upon completion of high school studies. The paper helped me to understand the major reasons that reduce morale for first-year students. However, the paper failed to provide a conclusive solution to motivate the first-year students. The paper, however, structured the approach to apply in encouraging students to be creative.

De Maio, Carmela, and Anibeth Desierto. "First year business students' perceptions of academic support through embedding. A practice report." Student Success, vol. 7, no. 1, 2016, p. 57+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A457229656/AONE?u=lincclin_scc&sid=AONE&xid=5e57b3b9. Accessed 1 Nov. 2018.

The journal addresses the integration of knowledge obtained from lecturers and the faculty to support the first year students to develop writing skills. The paper helped me to understand the involvement of the institution staff to boost the knowledge of the freshmen. Additionally the paper helps to show the readiness of the students in performing writing activities in college.

Faragher, Lynette, and Henk Huijser. "Exploring evidence of higher order thinking skills in the writing of first year undergraduates." The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, vol. 5, no. 2, 2014, p. 33+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A427667205/AONE?u=lincclin_scc&sid=AONE&xid=b46fb136. Accessed 1 Nov. 2018.

The article indicates the transition characters from high school to college and the evidence of low quality among first-year students. The paper helped me study detailing the experience of the transition from high school to college and the huge expectations by the institution to receive quality written work, which creates hardships for the first-year students.

Taib, Anne, and Julie Holden. "'Third generation' conversations--a partnership approach to embedding research and learning skills development in the first year. A practice report." The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, vol. 4, no. 2, 2013, p. 131+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A427667201/AONE?u=lincclin_scc&sid=AONE&xid=b1c8972d. Accessed 1 Nov. 2018.

The article provides an approach for combining techniques by the faculty, writing skills and the librarians. The paper helped to realize the significance of developing an approach to assist the first-year students to adjust to the requirements by the college to provide quality essays. Therefore, the paper helped me to structure the needs of the college to ensure that the student possesses quality writing skills.

Welsh, Ashley J., et al. "The pairing of a science communications and a language course to enrich first-year English language learners' writing and argumentation skills." Journal of College Science Teaching, May-June 2017, p. 64+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A495666548/AONE?u=lincclin_scc&sid=AONE&xid=bdc49e66. Accessed 1 Nov. 2018.

The article focuses on the development of critical thinking and argumentative writing for students in the first year in campus. The article helped me to identify the significance of interactive reasoning to develop the argumentative skills.