Differentiate between the Skills Expectations in School and College with Focus on Writing

Back to: Academic and Professional Writing Unit 1

Difference between the skills expectation in High school and College with focus on writing: 

Writing skill expectations change significantly as you move from school to college. School students write in non technical, informal language with no valid source of information. Whereas, college students are expected to be more skilful following certain techniques and creative academic writing.
College level writing, also referred to as academic writing, is a formal way of writing and is different from creative writing and fictional writing with more valid statements and references.

Academic writing genres include essays, research paper, case study, literature review, project report, proposals, dissertations etc. Academic writing provides detailed information with the help of literature review, methodology, discussion and conclusion. The main purpose of academic writing is to convey your  ideas  or knowledge of the subject in the form of formal writing. Therefore, a successful academic writing requires claims and arguments to be sustained with evidence from research or other authoritative sources. It should be educated, well informed, sophisticated and rational. 

Few differences between school writing and college writing are as follows:

College Writing skills: 

• Formal language, use of technical and formal vocabulary. 
• Organized pattern of work, more specific audience. 
• Formal introductory paragraphs with statements.
• Longer body paragraphs with specified purpose. 
• Elaborated explanation supported with expert sources.
• Referencing. 
•  Tables and figures included.

School Writing Skills: 

• Simple language, use of informal phrase
•  Language suitable for a larger audience.
•  Short introduction, not specific. 
• Short body paragraphs, non specific. 
• Not well elaborated. 
• No references. 
• No tables and figures