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When I say “public speaking” what comes to mind? Dread? Nervousness? Excitement? “Public speaking” often brings uneasy feelings to first year students, as standing in front of a classroom ranging from first year to fourth years may seem a lot more intimidating than one full of your long-time high school classmates. You have a well-written and researched speech and you have already sought out a peer review from the Writing and Communication Centre, but the easy part is over.

All throughout high school, you have learned countless techniques, rules and tricks for academic writing. In high school, there is predictability, reliability, and structure, which often carries over into the writing process. One of the biggest worries for students entering their first year of university is the transition from high school to university writing. Whether it’s assignments, papers, presentations, reports and the like, writing seems to change in university – or at least the expectations do.

Following up from last week’s blog that dealt with procrastination and getting started, it seems intuitive to consider one of the (potentially) underrated parts of the writing process: finding your ideal writing space. Sometimes, I find that people identify their favourite writing space with a binary. They either like total silence and undisturbed time, or they need some kind of background noise and a bit of chaos to get motivated. However, this self-identified requirement for a writing space can get us into tricky situations. How so?

It’s hard to conclude your work when you get to the end, especially when so much has happened. This is usually where you question yourself: What have I learned? Why was this important? How could I improve? Did I enjoy what I did?

In high school, I took visual arts every year, and I loved it. Weirdly enough, I’ve always had one art teacher (hi, Mr. Simpson!). I loved the amount of freedom I had with my projects, and the exercises we did every week; the class was liberating (especially compared to the AP STEM courses I took).

I’m hungry (I’m always hungry), so I think about the options I have. It’s a bit overwhelming: Should I cook or should I buy? Should I eat a lot or should I just snack? Is there even food in the fridge (and by this, I mean is there anything I want in the fridge)?

~~(My hair is too long, I need a haircut)~~

Sometimes I’m not in the mood to write, y’know? And when I’m not in the mood (when I’m lazy (all the time)), writing becomes a thousand times harder.

(Image from: Source)

So fanfiction is a thing that exists.

I binge-watched How to Get Away with Murder for the past two days instead of doing anything productive. It’s 11PM.

Let’s talk about procrastination.

Often when I listen to podcasts, I find myself unfamiliar with some of the terminology being used. Even more often, I find myself forgetting them after I’ve looked them up in the dictionary.

(Check out our Instagram for new comics weekly!!!)

I’m probably not the only one with this problem, so how do I retain this information?

Filter by:

Delivering your speech: the power of nonverbal communication

Some newfound freedom: the shift from high school to university writing

Figuring out your ideal writing space: an excuse to go for a ramble

In Summary...

You, You, You

Choosing a Topic

Setting the Mood

Valuing Fanfiction...?

Procrastination Binge

What's the Word

University of Waterloo | Writing and Communication Centre

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