This might be the most frustrating thing about college for me. I can follow the rules. I can write a clear thesis, organize my paragraphs, cite my sources, and meet the word count.
But every time I get an essay back, the feedback is about 'voice' or 'tone' or 'style.' One professor says I'm too informal. Another says I'm too stiff and academic. One wants more personality. Another wants more distance. I feel like I'm supposed to be a chameleon, changing my writing style for every single class, but no one ever actually teaches you how to do that.
What is an essay even supposed to sound like? Is there a default mode? I've started to think that 'good writing' is just whatever pleases the specific person grading it, and that terrifies me because it means there's no objective standard to aim for. How do you develop a 'voice' when every professor wants something different?
How do you figure out what an essay should sound like without just guessing and hoping?
But every time I get an essay back, the feedback is about 'voice' or 'tone' or 'style.' One professor says I'm too informal. Another says I'm too stiff and academic. One wants more personality. Another wants more distance. I feel like I'm supposed to be a chameleon, changing my writing style for every single class, but no one ever actually teaches you how to do that.
What is an essay even supposed to sound like? Is there a default mode? I've started to think that 'good writing' is just whatever pleases the specific person grading it, and that terrifies me because it means there's no objective standard to aim for. How do you develop a 'voice' when every professor wants something different?
How do you figure out what an essay should sound like without just guessing and hoping?
