As college English teachers, my colleagues and I have all encountered the technically perfect “C” paper. This paper is flawlessly structured and has absolutely no grammar errors. Unfortunately, this paper is so shallow and superficial it does not communicate anything that is worthwhile.

Students who turn in these types of papers are often surprised—and more than a little upset—because they were used to writing “A” papers in high school. The problem is not so much that the standards are higher in college than in their high school. Instead, in college we expect different types of papers from our students.

Before drafting your paper, you should read, Joseph M. Williams and Lawrence McEnerney’s “Some Crucial Differences Between High School and College Writing.”