College Writing

We all have those things in our lives that we know how to do and that we do not know how to do.  When taking college classes, a lot of us go into it with mixed emotions and expectations.  What's the teacher going to be like?  Will he or she demand a lot?  Are they clear on their requirements?  I have been pretty fortunate in having great professors that are easy to work with and are available to talk and discuss, and they try to help me as much as they can.  I think that writing essays and or papers is probably one of the most exciting and frustrating tasks during the college experience.  Sometimes, we don't know until about the second assignment what kind of rules and expectations each professor has on writing papers.  One thing I have learned this past year is that I do not ask the question why enough.  I'm pretty good about explaining the topic and giving reference to the topic through different outlets, but I have really started asking the why question more and more to make my paper more self explanatory.  So whenever you're handed the daunting task of writing an essay or research paper, make sure you have someone else read it and give their viewpoint and ask yourself, did I entice and hook the reader to want more information about my subject?  This has really made me think this year.  I hope this helps someone else starting out.