The Difference Between College and High School Essay

Starting a college education, we inevitably encounter many difficulties, both private and academic. One of them is associated with the nature of education itself, the very fabric of the studying process, and it is clearly reflected in the writing process. Indeed, writing a college paper has several distinct features that set it apart from an ordinary high school paper. In this article, we will focus on those differences using such a popular type of academic paper, as an essay. Let the battle of college vs high school essay begin!

High school writing vs college writing

How is college writing different from high school writing? There are several principal differences that distinguish the two.

Firstly, in college writing, you are expected to be more independent. Coming from a high school, in college, you will encounter fewer and fewer fixed writing topics and given prompts. You will be asked to take a topic of your choice and develop it yourself, by researching it deeper and finding knowledge gaps. These gaps provide opportunities that you should seize to develop your original ideas and concepts.

Secondly, in college writing, you will need to extensively rely on analytical skills and logical reasoning. In high school, you could simply retell what you’ve read and that was enough for a good grade, whereas, in college, a professor expects you to analyze and discuss the literature you’ve read. You will need to identify strengths and weaknesses, explain dependencies, dwell on the plausibility of the existing arguments, and defend the importance of your scientific inquiry into the chosen topic.

As you can see, college writing vs high school writing is a vast topic worth discovering further.

High school vs college essay

Academic tone

College professors will start to challenge your eloquence and writing style from the first days. Forget about the narrative writing style typical for a high school essay! In college papers, you are expected to be more formal and concise. Long colloquial phrases and slang words are not acceptable in a college essay. You need to be unbiased and rely extensively on facts and arguments.

Question everything

In a college essay, you will be encouraged to ask more questions and hardly take anything for granted. Questioning is the basis of scientific inquiry, as a matter of fact, all major discoveries in the world have been made when someone bold enough started to question a well-known ‘truth’. The proper place to ask questions in your essay is the introductory paragraph.

Support with arguments

The thesis statement you formulate in an essay has to be backed up with strong and credible arguments. A vague and implicit statement is not an option in college-level essays. The body of your paper should contain several, ideally 2–4 arguments supporting the point you make in your thesis. Sort arguments by the order of importance wherever possible.

Formatting matters

Teachers at college also expect students to follow a clear structure in their essays. That stipulates breaking down one’s paper into the introductory part, the main body, and the conclusion. Sometimes, especially for senior-level studies, this requirement also includes extra chapters like abstract, literature review, discussion, and bibliography list.

High school vs college compare and contrast essay

We want to emphasize the difference between a high school and college compare and contrast essay, as this essay type hides lots of pitfalls for college freshmen. In high school, one could get away with favoring one concept over the other simply by expressing a subjective opinion in a single sentence. In college, however, get ready to research your subject much deeper. You will need to stay unbiased, mention the pros and cons of each concept under review, and base your conclusions not on a single, but several solid arguments.

High school teachers vs college professors compare and contrast

At college, professors allow students to enjoy more freedom, but at the same time, more responsibility comes along. How hard is college compared to high school academic collaboration? Being a college student, you should view your professor as a consultant, rather than a mentor, be proactive, and ask for additional input and advice if anything is not clear to you, or you want to know more. Frequent inquiries and discussions with professors will pay you off in the future – when you come to course papers and degree paper writing, you’ll need to choose a supervisor among faculty members, and that’s when your established academic bonds will come in handy.