Is the Academic Paper Dead?

I want to write. There was never a time in my life where I wasn’t writing. I don’t see there ever being a period where I wouldn’t continue to. However, I was terrible at writing in high school. I still struggle with it today. While I may love writing stories, plays, and even my miscellaneous thoughts down, I seem to always have trouble when it comes to formal writing assignments. I was consistently a B student in my English classes because of my inability to formulate a proper academic paper. When it came to less formal writing assignments, it seemed to be the exact opposite. If I was free to write on a topic that I was actually interested in, I was more likely to have stronger writing.

It may have also not helped that I went to an ultracompetitive high school. I was terrified to write anything for fear of scrutiny from my classmates. I felt as if my writing was in some way not on par with theirs and perhaps because of that I was afraid to take risks; the thought of anyone reading my paper and thus giving me criticism terrified me. Sharing anything that I had written would open me up to ridicule.

I was worried about coming to college because I thought that I would be unable to excel in my classes due to my inability to write a proper academic paper. It was to my surprise that we were actually able to explore writing in different ways, such as the blog post. I notice that my words tend to flow more easily in these. My arguments tend to be stronger and my opinions hold up because I don’t feel the restrictions that I would in a traditional essay. A lot of times when students are forced to write a paper they must stick to one opinion even though they may have contradicting thoughts.  In a blog post, the writer can jump from different points of view.

Blogging this semester has taught me to be less afraid of sharing my writing with people. I have lost a lot of my inhibitions, maybe that’s because the people in our class are more encouraging than most or maybe I’ve just learned to care a little bit less about what others think.

I do think that students should still learn the structures of an academic paper. Nevertheless, the world is changing, people are texting more than they are talking and it must be accepted that the traditional ways of writing are gone. There is definitely a generational gap between many professors and their students. Teaching students how to blog and using it as a tool for creativity can help resolve those differences.