writing prep for grad school

[ajs1976]

While writing this, I ended up answering my own question, but figured I would post anyway to see if others had better ideas.

Eventually, I would like to get a masters degree in Information Technology or Information Systems with a concentration in Info Sec / Cybersecurity. I believe I am a decent writer, but I know I need to improve in the area of high output, research paper writing that seems to be required by most grad programs. I'm at least two years away from starting grad school, what can I do in that time to improve?

[TrailRunr]

I believe I am a decent writer, but I know I need to improve in the area of high output, research paper writing that seems to be required by most grad programs. I'm at least two years away from starting grad school, what can I do in that time to improve?

Your last sentence is a run-on, so your grammar needs work. I do understand that most of us (myself included) do not proofread forum posts.

Most people here believe that testing out of English Comp is good. I'm in the tiny minority that disagrees with that. If you're willing to work hard on this, go back to ratemyprofessor and look for a 4.5+ English comp teacher with an easiness score of around 2.0-2.5. It's going to require practice. But you also need constructive feedback in order to improve as well.

The other option is to plan on hiring a proofreading service for your papers.

[davewill]

You might laugh, but that Capstone class everyone tries to avoid like the plague is actually a good first taste of writing long research papers. A little expensive, though.

[Prloko]

Most people here believe that testing out of English Comp is good. I'm in the tiny minority that disagrees with that.

Ditto. I second that motion.

[dfrecore]

Most people here believe that testing out of English Comp is good. I'm in the tiny minority that disagrees with that.

It totally depends. For my kids, I will encourage them to take English I & II when they get into college, rather than test out. For myself, I'm a pretty good writer, have always gotten A's & B's on papers, I wrote some for work, I teach my kids writing, and I edit my husband's presentations that he does for work. I write more on a weekly basis than I would have to in an English Comp course! I don't think it would be super helpful to take English Comp II at this point in my life.

Obviously, different people have different needs and experiences. I try not to make blanket statements about what ALL people should do, since it doesn't always apply to everyone.

[Onlinestudydeg]

I think I am in similar boat. I did test out of English Comp from Clep & Techincal Writing from TECEP; I would say it didn't help.

I had lot of problem finishing Business Comm from SL, I dread the writing so much that I paid for 2 months of SL membership just to finish 3 writings in this class. Plus Strategic mgmt from penn foster I only finished my writing assignment in last few days before the end of the course time I kept procrastinating writing as I know I am not good at it and dread too much.

I just finished my BSBA in March and want to do MSISA/MBA from WGU but not able to decide as I hear there is lot of writing in Masters. I posted a similar question before as to what courses or anything that I can do to improve my writing skills. (I didn't do my studies in US so not familiar with writing based on rubric etc.)

[Daithi]

I too am planning on starting a MBA program and plan to do a little review on writing class project/research papers. I have a book called "They Say / I Say": The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. It is pretty good and was used for my Capstone course. It also has pretty good reviews on Amazon. Another book that looks pretty good, but I haven't bought yet is Becoming an Academic Writer: 50 Exercises for Paced, Productive, and Powerful Writing by Patricia Goodson.

I can't imagine actually taking an English Composition course. I do not regret testing out of mine. You may want tips and pointers on writing well and at a college level, but many of your fellow students will be completely clueless. Chances are that your professor will need to gear his instruction to slower students who have grown up writing a series of short sentences with only their thumbs. It is also likely that these students will have a complete disregard for spelling and grammar. However, I do think that davewill's point is spot on about the Capstone course being an excellent source to learn how to write long research papers.

[april004]

Ditto what Daithi said. I am currently in grad school and using "They Say/I say". Very helpful,especially in the numerous discussion posts I have to submit and respond to. Along with the online discussion post I am also working on two research papers for two different classes.

May I recommend an additional book - "The Academic Phrasebank" by John Morley. I bought the kindle version on Amazon for $8.00. You can also get some of the info on his website, but the kindle book is a bit more in depth. Here is the website for the book - Academic Phrasebank

This book makes me sound much smarter than I am. Highly recommend along with They Say/I Say!

I also bought the "Phrasebook for Writing Papers and Research in English" by Stephen Howe. I bought the Kindle version on Amazon as well, although I prefer Morley's book. http://www.amazon.com/PhraseBook-Writing...1492959790

Another book I am waiting on from Amazon- "Encouraging Words: A Source Book of Words and Phrases for Dissertation and Report Writers" by Malinda Hayes. I purchased the print version. I will let you know how helpful it is when I receive it.

[cookderosa]

While writing this, I ended up answering my own question, but figured I would post anyway to see if others had better ideas.

Eventually, I would like to get a masters degree in Information Technology or Information Systems with a concentration in Info Sec / Cybersecurity. I believe I am a decent writer, but I know I need to improve in the area of high output, research paper writing that seems to be required by most grad programs. I'm at least two years away from starting grad school, what can I do in that time to improve?

Undergraduate coursework gets you there. You can do what you'd like, but I CLEPped my gen eds then took my major as courses precisely for the reasons you bring up. I wanted to learn how to do academic writing (citation, APA, MLA, etc.) because I didn't want to learn in grad school at $800/credit.

[rebel100]

I never shied away from writing courses. I generally recommend folks take the writing portion seriously. SL is a minimum (a bad one perhaps) but I want someone to critique the work with an eye towards improving upon it. I found both the cornerstane and the capstone at COSC to be very good prep for the incredible amount of writing my MBA at WGU would produce.

I made both of my kids take English Comp 1/2 at the local CC as some of their first courses.