Last week’s reading / symposium discussed the significance (or insignificance) of essays.
Like most people I know, I don’t enjoy writing essays. That’s not to say I’m terrible at them, essay writing was actually one of my strong points in high school. The problem is the whole process of getting it done. The initial procrastination, the extensive research and the constant googling of synonyms for words like ‘however’ and ‘although’. They’re just exhausting.
Blogging however, is a completely different experience. With no boundaries like word count and the freedom to write conversationally, blogging (at least for me) encourages participation. Essays were always about JUST GETTING IT DONE. When I’m told to write about a topic that doesn’t interest me, its going to be pretty bland, unfortunately. I do need to work on that. Unless we’re talking ‘On the Waterfront’ for VCE English, because I got far too into that.
What interested me in Week 3’s tutorial was the opinion some people held, that maybe essays aren’t just there to bore us to death or to teach us to write 2000 words. They actually teach us a lot more like how to structure an argument or compose questions etc etc. When I look at essay writing from that perspective I can understand and appreciate their significance.
Although I prefer this style of assessment (I’m writing this in Gloria Jeans for God’s sake) I actually don’t mind writing an essay occasionally … maybe once a semester.
– Caitlin
