<p>The only research paper S1 wrote in HS was the one for science competitions.</p>
<p>S2 had to write several, starting in MS. </p>
<p>mathmom – yes, writing about philosophy is quite different. S2’s Theory of Knowledge paper was a phil topic and he had two or three footnotes, tops. S2 had the same problem about “common knowledge” last year when writing his IB Extended Essay paper. Entire first draft (12 pages) was based on what he already knew.</p>
<p>Actually our papers were routinely called, “reports.” They were between a few and 20 pages on xyz topic. Rarely that I recall were we asked to respond to a piece we read. But then again, as I have said, I was more a science kid who would rather take a test any day than write a paper. It is possible that if I had the chance to pitch my own ideas and respond to one piece instead of having to pull a bunch of citations together I would have enjoyed writing more!</p>
<p>Papers? In high school? Not in my school back in the 1970’s. We wrote some short “reports.” But that school had no AP. Things have changed tremendously since then, although of course some schools were already doing a lot more back then.</p>
<p>I remember writing exactly one paper in high school for an English teacher who loved the word wonderful. Everything we did was wonderful. Everything we wrote was wonderful. I am certain that my paper was wonderful!</p>
<p>Wow we are seeing an enormous range of writing experiences from our collective past. And it sounds to me like your high school writing program might have had a major impact on your chosen field of study. I’m not sure one intro English 101 class would bring all students up to speed for their college’s writing expectations. Not to mention that different professors will have different expectations. Intersting!</p>
<p>I’ll be forever grateful to the wildlife biology prof who took us sophomores/juniors into the library and taught us how to research journals and spent a fair amount of time teaching how to research and write a proper scientific paper. And my pre college schooling was more in the research paper veign. Hmmm.</p>
<p>I have a masters in journalism. LOVED my high school journalism teacher where I did almost no writing. I don’t know what I did do in that class. Talk, probably; he was also my speech teacher and my undergraduate degree is speech.</p>