I thought I was good at essay writing. Like, in high school I never dropped below an A-. I had my little five-paragraph formula down, I knew how many quotes to throw in, easy peasy. 
Then I got my first college paper back and... yikes. The professor wrote "this is a great high school essay" which I'm pretty sure was not a compliment.
She said my argument was "too safe" and I needed to "engage with the text more critically." What does that even mean?? I quoted the book!!!
I'm realizing now that essay writing at this level is a whole different beast. You can't just summarize and call it a day. You actually have to have a take, an angle, something that shows you're thinking而不是 just memorizing. It's kinda freeing but also terrifying because there's no clear formula anymore.
For those who've figured this out – how do you train yourself to think "critically"? Is it something that just clicks eventually? I'm sitting here with my highlighters trying to find deeper meanings and mostly just ending up confused.
Then I got my first college paper back and... yikes. The professor wrote "this is a great high school essay" which I'm pretty sure was not a compliment.
She said my argument was "too safe" and I needed to "engage with the text more critically." What does that even mean?? I quoted the book!!!I'm realizing now that essay writing at this level is a whole different beast. You can't just summarize and call it a day. You actually have to have a take, an angle, something that shows you're thinking而不是 just memorizing. It's kinda freeing but also terrifying because there's no clear formula anymore.
For those who've figured this out – how do you train yourself to think "critically"? Is it something that just clicks eventually? I'm sitting here with my highlighters trying to find deeper meanings and mostly just ending up confused.
