The takeaway that im understand from “I need you to say ‘I’”: Why First Person Is
Important in College Writing by Kate McKinney Maddalena is that Maddalena college students are restrained. This means that how we’re told to write academically to be the norm restricts us from the creative aspect of writing. The soul in the writing isn’t there, and on top of that, it makes it harder for the mind to provide any context. However, when we talk in the first person, we have life in writing and express our ideas better to familiarize whoever could be reading. Academic writing could be the same boring writing without anything interesting, especially when it’s about something that has been assigned. The grading to me goes off if you understand the reading to see if you incorporated the correct information, but who wants to read similar essays? A blend of typical speech and academic writing is a good blend of expressing ourselves and ideas and factual writing with evidence, statistics, etc.
Finding our writing style is how we articulate ourselves best to complete the assignment but also to step outside the box and not give a boundary. What I greatly appreciate in this class is how much freedom is provided with writing and how many forms can be accepted and looked at from a different perspective.
I remember in high school, I followed the rubrics to an extent, but I also questioned them because in my sophomore year, we had a test that would have us write essays, and they would give a rubric on how to get total points. My friend next to me followed the rubric, and I wrote how I wanted in my style. Fast forward to when we got our grades back; I got a higher grade by writing my way, and he got a lower grade by following the rubric.
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