Writing

So the aim of Advanced I Writing is to learn how to write academic papers. ICU's Japanese Language Program (and English Language Program for that matter) is intended to prepare students to participate in a bilingual academic forum. Maybe. I'm not entirely convinced really, because some of this stuff seems a bit fishy to me.

Citation, for instance. This is Ripley's biggest issue with the course right now. She's going to grad school (UC Davis, she finally decided) in East Asian Religion, and she knows what caliber of work has been required of her in the past and what she intends to do in the future. This means footnotes. I was an engineer and rarely wrote "real" papers in college. I never footnoted myself, but I have *some* idea of what good, readable academic writing should be like (and it includes footnotes). The Japanese system just seems too... messy. At least, what they're teaching us right now does. Starting sentences with the author's name before paraphrasing his conclusions? Interrupts the flow if you ask me. Does it become more... *academic* (or should I say *professional*) after undergrad? Then when do students learn that? In graduate school? That seems kind of late. Or will they be teaching us that in Advanced 2?

Also, they teach a sort of form in class. I guess that's to be expected. I learned the "5 paragraph essay" in public school in Texas after all, and it was all I really knew how to do until my Writing Seminar freshman year at Princeton. But then again, I also realized I was a terrible writer when I got to Princeton. Now I'm trying to fit the research and writing I did for post-poop last term into this structure Sato-sensei gave us, and I'm just sort of confused. I have to do it in this particular order? But what if it doesn't make logical sense to me? I mean, I feel like the paper just flows better if I order it like this...

Kind of wish I could just stick to writing "stories" (as the ITO Foundation called my Student Life report) in Japanese.