1. The 5th myth is one that applies to me. I often proofread my essays over and over again, and limit my ideas to fit grammatical correctness. I believe that a good essay requires perfect grammar, but that’s not the case. Gertrude Stein, for instance, uses whatever grammar she likes, and it has a profound effect on the essay.

2. College level research requires the use of scholarly articles, ones found from databases. High school research doesn’t require much, just basic methods including search engines. Skills I need to acquire to do good research include the ability to find and use articles to my benefit, by finding different parts these articles that strengthen my paper.

3. An argument is the representation of a viewpoint in disagreement with another or multiple viewpoints in a topic. To argue in a college-level essay means to write an essay that encompasses your perspective on a topic and proof of why your perspective should be considered over the other ones. The author uses the comparison of persuasive writing as a courtroom, where the writer is the lawyer defending the defendant and the audience is the jury, who must decide if the defendant is guilty or not.

4. Three kinds of academic writing include the closed, semi open, and the open writing assignments. Closed assignments will give you an option between a few answers, where you must choose amongst them. Semi open assignments require some analysis, where the person answering must dig the treasure and provide reasoning. Open assignments require a concrete idea of what the question refers to before choosing a position and supporting it. The person answering this assignment will have to pick and choose topics and examples.

5. Three characteristics in effective writing include clear evidence, dominance of reason, and imagining having a rational reader. Evidence must be clear because these are the points which support your claims, so if the evidence in foggy, so will your argument, and the reader won’t be able to follow along. Writing based on reason as opposed to emotion also plays a big role because emotional arguments will have overwhelming passion and a lack of reasonable evidence. Writing for a rational reader, lastly, will have the writer writing his or her essay clearly and concisely, realizing that their essay should follow a simple structure so the information is readily available for the rational reader.

6. The author feels first person should be used only when appropriate. For instance, it should be used when distinguishing between your opinions and scholarly ones. Also, first person should be used in personal assignments.

7. It is bad to “I” sometimes. For example, it is bad to use “I” when writing a short summary. It is also bad when “I” is only used once or twice.