Myth:

I got high grades in composition at my previous college, so I ought to get the same grades here.

Fact:

At Rutgers, the expectations about what constitutes strong college writing may be different from the expectations at your previous college or university. We believe we can best prepare students for advanced writing at the university and beyond by teaching them how to generate writing that engages with the ideas and issues raised in texts. In the words of our Program Philosophy, "we seek to provide you with the opportunity to participate in the arts of interpretation and critical assessment--arts which we believe serve as the foundation of a true liberal education." Our grading may be challenging and also different from your past experience because it is linked to the particular skills that our courses teach. In addition, while you may think that your 301 instructor grades harder than everyone else's, all of our instructors have to grade using the same grading criteria. For more information about our 301 grading criteria, and to review sample graded papers, please visit our 301 Gradatorium.

Myth:

301 is an advanced writing course, so it will be too hard for me.

Fact:

301 teaches students to become advanced writers, but it does not assume students have advanced skills at the start of the semester. Students enter 301 with a wide range of experiences in writing. Some are returning students whose academic writing skills are rusty; some come from schools where they practiced analytical and research writing; some come from schools where they did not get much practice developing arguments that are informed by scholarly reading. All of these students are appropriately placed in 301 because the course aims to serve everyone from the basic to the experienced writer. No matter where you begin, you will learn to define your position in response to readings and to carry out an independent research project.

Myth:

There's no reason for me to take 301 because I'm not required to take another writing course and I'm planning to have a career where I don't have to do much writing.

Fact:

The goals of 301 are to teach you to read carefully and analytically, to engage with complex ideas, to develop an independent project, position, or argument, and to do independent library research. These are skills that form the foundation of a college education, and they are also essential job skills. Thus, any transfer student can be well served by taking 301. While you may or may not be required to take any writing courses, if you have any concerns about how well prepared you are for the challenges of writing research essays in your courses at Rutgers, 301 can help you build essential skills.

Myth:

I never needed research writing skills before, so I don't need 301 now.

Fact:

You may be surprised at how much research and writing will be expected of you in your Rutgers courses, and 301 can help you prepare for that challenge. Whether or not you anticipate having to write research papers, this course will help you learn how to use the extensive resources of the Rutgers library system. You'll get practice using the online catalogue, doing periodical searches, using search engines and evaluating web sources - skills that will be important in courses for your major and also in your future career.

Myth:

The key to success in college papers is to repeat what the teacher has said in class, or to guess what the teacher is thinking.

Fact:

This is certainly not true. Most essay assignments you receive at Rutgers will not ask you write this kind of summary or report, so those are not the kind of assignments you will get in 301. Essay assignments at Rutgers, like those in 301, typically require you to demonstrate that you have read a text or texts carefully and critically, and can develop an independent project or argument that is informed by the texts. There is a related "myth" that writing a successful college paper means giving the "right" answer. This myth, too, is false. Sometimes an instructor may seem to lead you toward a particular way of responding to an assignment, but that is most likely the instructor's attempt to help you find a productive starting place. The strongest papers - the A's -- are strong because they develop original arguments that move beyond simple or predictable responses.

Myth:

Only the final draft of the research paper counts for my final grade, so I can blow off the other papers.

Fact:

In 301, you are not graded on improvement, but on the level of writing you achieve and sustain. Therefore, it is true that your grades on the final drafts of the research project are the most important grades of the semester, but it is not true that you can then blow off the early papers. Every paper counts because you need to use them all to develop the skills to succeed on the final research project. If you don't work hard on every paper, then chances are you won't do well on the research paper either. The assignments in 301 also build on one another and the instructor's extensive comments on your early papers will focus on what you are doing well and what you still need to work on. If you are not making an effort, then these comments will not be as effective in showing you how to build your skills.

Myth:

You don't need to attend college classes regularly or do the reading as long as you hand in your work on time.

Fact:

This is one of the most dangerous myths for transfer students, and we can't say strongly enough how wrong this is for 301. 301 is not a lecture course where you can borrow someone's notes (and hope that they were paying attention to the things they should have been paying attention to). Instead, 301 is a writing, reading, and thinking workshop. If you've never taken a course like it before, perhaps it would be best to think of it as a lab. The experience of being in the class -- participating in discussion and reading and reviewing each other's papers -- forms the core of the course, and there is no way to learn unless you are present and prepared. Therefore, you risk failing the class if you miss more than four times. In addition, your instructor will insist that you arrive on time and prepared. If you come late, you will disrupt the activity already in progress. If you come to a reading workshop about a new text without having read it, you aren't going to be able to contribute, nor are you going to understand and evaluate what others are saying. If you come to a writing workshop without your draft, you can't participate, and therefore are effectively absent. In 301, you are required to demonstrate, or else develop, effective "studenting skills." For more advice about how to succeed in 301 and other courses, please see our "Studenting Skills" page.