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Mackenzie Nalepa

Dr. Kelly

STW SLA 101 01

12/08/14

The Apprenticeship

We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master. This quote by

Ernest Hemingway brings up an important message that any student should hear. It is important

for writers to understand that there is not a specific style of writing that is better than the other,

but how you make that writing style your own is what makes you the better writer. Writing will

never be perfect, but it can always be improved. Since taking the Seminar in Thinking and

Writing class at Seton Hill, I have experimented with different writing styles that have helped me

to develop a style of my own that has essentially shaped the way I write currently. Over the

course of the semester, my style of writing has improved because of free-writing exercises,

the addition of more than three body paragraphs, and the incorporation of my own voice

into my essays.

The first step of an apprenticeship: understanding the topic. Have you ever just

wanted to write what is on your mind without worrying about if it makes sense or not?

That is the beauty of free-writing. It allows you to write down whatever you are thinking,

no matter how off topic it may be, with the hopes that the right idea somehow ends up on

the paper as well. In high school, I frequently had trouble with coming up with things to say

for my papers. When I was first introduced to the free-writing technique, I thought it was a

waste of time because I saw no point in writing down random things that did not relate to

the assignment. However, as we continued to use this exercise in class, I found that free-
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writing allowed me to get all of the distracting thoughts out of my head so I could focus on

the true assignment. Now, before I start any paper, I free-write as a brainstorming activity

so I can start to put ideas together into an introductory paragraph. Some of my most

creative intros came from free-writing because different ideas were able to click once they

were on paper.

Second step: developing the ideas. In previous English classes, I was taught that a

five-body paragraph essay was a solid foundation for a decent essay. However, after years

of practice, I became too comfortable in that format and was unable to add additional

paragraphs to my essays. This was fine for high school classes, but once I started writing

lengthy essays in college, I was writing what seemed to be like page-long paragraphs that

were the equivalent of a run-on sentence. After I received my first paper back, and saw the

comments about breaking up my paragraphs, I knew I would have to start changing how I

formatted my essays. On my second essay about gender stereotypes, instead of doing three

general paragraphs and trying to get ideas to fit together with one theme, I split up my

paper into each idea with its own paragraph. I included information about not just male

and female genders, but also different stereotypes, such as lesbians and ethnic groups, and

their effect on the individual. As I started to write my essay, I found that it was actually

easier to put my ideas onto paper when I only had to think about one at a time instead of all

at once. I was therefore able to develop my ideas more thoroughly and give better

explanations. As a result, my scores improved.

Final step: making it your own. As a biology major, I take multiple classes where

expressing your opinion in a lab report, or scientific paper is typically frowned upon. As a

result, I refrained from putting any voice into any essay that I wrote, including ones that
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should include my opinion. This sometimes hurt my grade because without a voice, I was

unable to provide support for my examples in enough detail. The final research paper was a

good exercise for me to begin to add my opinion into an essay. This assignment required

that you tell a story within the factual information of the essay. The narration portion of the

essay was an alternative for providing support. Also, as I expressed my voice, I was able to

explore the opinions of others about my topic, and was able to incorporate different points

of view to make a better, well rounded paper. I found that adding my voice made me more

involved with my writing and I actually enjoyed writing more, which was something I was

not able to say in high school.

Although writing can never reach perfection, and the apprenticeship essentially

never ends, following the steps can lead to a perfectly imperfect paper. By understanding

the topic, developing my ideas into multiple paragraphs, and adding my stance into my

essay, I was able to improve my writing portfolio. The main lesson that I learned from

Seminar in Thinking and Writing is that the learning does not stop once next semester

starts. I have to use the knowledge that I acquired in the class, in classes in the future, and

eventually in the profession of my choice. Each year that I get older, I become a more

experienced writer, and I advance further into my writing apprenticeship, anticipating my

next challenge.