As the 2016 – 2017 academic year progresses, I find myself slowly settling into the flow of university life. Similar to all communities, university also holds its own norms and expectations. To the naked eye these norms may not be obvious, but the underlying fact that academic writing is a crucial part of university quickly became apparent to me. Being a CAP (Coordinated Arts Program) student and in result having my courses intertwined in relation to material, has played a crucial role in the ease of my transition. Another element that had aided my transition into university, has been the knowledge I have acquired from my ASTU 100 class. Through ASTU, we were introduced to the term of “Academic Writing” in order to improve our skills and in result help us adopt this new university norm. Admittedly, prior to university, I had never before taken the time to consider what “Academic Writing” truly was, and the impacts of different genres in correlation to writing. Academic writing is in fact a culture that holds within itself its own rules and norms, similar to what I was discovering about university.
What primarily surprised me when analyzing writing was (as un-academic as it sounds) why it truly was so academic. Why did academic writing need to be so dense and analytical? It is a genre that can often be difficult to read and interpret, especially if you are not used to the style of writing. Could there be a more effective way to get ideas and opinions across? I found this one of the hardest aspects of integrating into university level writing. Perhaps the answer to my question about the identity of academic writing, lies with the fact that it has always resembled this way. It is perhaps simply a tradition that has been passed down from different generations of academics, creating an unspoken norm of academia.
Being introduced to essays of scholars such as American literary scholar Hillary Chute (The Texture of Retracing in Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis”) and Matthew Bolton (Michael Ondaatje’s ‘Well-Told Lie”) within ASTU, the transition into academic writing and analyses was made that much easier for me. When first approaching an academic essay, it was difficult to pull out the key points and terms. What surprised me was how once we were able to break it down as a class, the essay’s became bigger assets then I could of ever imagined. These two pieces of academic writing became crucial in my understanding of the stories Persepolis and Running in the Family. Specifically, the in-depth dissections by these academic scholars helped me build off of their observations to create my own conclusions.
Moving away from simply academic writing, but to writing itself, the wide variety of genres among writing also caught my attention. Before ASTU and our analyses’ of stories (such as Persepolis, and Running in the Family), questioning the genre of a novel never really came into play. In elementary school we are taught the difference between fiction and nonfiction, but never really beyond this miniscule portion of genre. Running in the Family was especially interesting as it showed the culminated of genres, and how they can be manipulated and shifted to fit the authors narrative. Genre was in-fact possibly one of the most crucial aspects of Running and borrowing Linda Hutcheon’s term “Historiographic Metafiction”, Bolton expressed the importance of genre for Ondaatje. For me, the loose use of genre expresses the true meaning of writing. Writing is a tool that is honed by authors to deliver ideas, notions and opinions. If genre was a rigid and stiff element, then how would different works be developed or created? The sheer variety of different genres has helped enable the diversity that is continuing to blossom in the 21st century.
My personal experiences and observations of academic writing, culminated with my realization of the importance of genre, has expanded my scope in terms of writing. Being in the CAP program and taking ASTU has truly aided my understanding of writing when compared to before. I had never focused heavily on my writing, nor understood the different terminologies associated with it. Writing is in-fact a tool that is crucial in developing the thoughts and beliefs of society. We learn and grow through literature and genre plays an important role of understanding the underlying themes of works – Satrapi and Ondaatje express this perfectly. Whether it be to write an academic paper or an autobiography, authors hone and mold their genres into delivering results they wish to see. They possess a great talent as they are able to impact an enormous audience through the use of words.
I look forward to exploring and discovering more genres and to see their impact in relation to writing. In addition, by understanding these structures, I hope to also further improve my writing altogether. Furthermore, it will be interesting to once again explore the genre of comics once we begin to read Safe Area Goražde and how it will compare to Persepolis.
Wishing everyone the happiest of weekends and a tasty Halloween!
Stay tuned for more.…
