Since entering the academic world, I have come to recognize a vast difference in the style of writing in university than in high school. In my high school English literature classes, we were always taught to follow a very consistent layout for essay writing. It would start with an introduction that included a hook and thesis, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The conclusion would typically summarize what we had written about in the previous paragraphs and would restate the thesis. In one of my recent discussion classes, the TA told us that in the conclusion paragraph, we should, instead of summarizing, bring in additional ideas and information that we may not have had room to talk about in the body paragraphs. I found this a bit surprising because in all my English literature classes, I have always been told to summarize and reiterate more simply the main point of the essay. I think another thing many of us were surprised to hear was that we are allowed to use “I” in our writing. In high school this was considered the biggest sin by any English teacher. The rule and usage around the word “I” became so integrated into my head it would never even cross my mind to use the word in any of my writing. As it has only been four weeks, I wonder what else will come to my surprise in the rest of this first year that will differ from the rules of writing I have previously learned and been taught to follow.