Here is a writing sample of an assignment from EAP-506:
Interview and Reflection
As an INTO pathway graduate student, we should know and gain some information about our disciplines in advance in order to better adapt to graduate student life in the future. In the Enterprise Hall, some graduate students help undergraduate students to solve professional problems about their courses in a tutoring room. I interviewed a graduate student named Kyle Tockman, whose major is accounting in the Business of School of George Mason University. Before interview, I prepared some questions and classified those questions into three types. Those are, 1) What are the genres or types of writing in accounting discipline? 2) What are the conventions and expectations for writing in accounting department? 3) What are recommendations about skills and experiences of writing in the discipline? During the interview, Kyle answered all questions seriously and enthusiastically and tried to help a confused international student to better know the discipline. The process of whole interview went well, and I was so glad that he could take time of his busy schedule to accept this interview and answer questions. Through the interview, the aim of this paper is to reflect the study life of an accounting graduate student and to help INTO accounting pathway students to get more information about writing in the discipline.
The most important thing is to know the genres or types of writing in accounting program. Due to the fact that accounting as business is not like physics, math, and chemistry, there is reflection paper instead of methodology in writing. In the reflection papers, students usually discuss the changes in the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and some accounting standards. In general, professors require individuals to write a paper on their own. However, students who take Fraud Examination course should complete a group paper. Kyle said that students typically use the APA style as a writing pattern in their group papers, reflection papers, and client memos to meet professors’ demands, and the structure of paper should be written in accordance with APA. In Kyle’s Professional Colloquium class, he wrote several reflection papers about professionalism and the future of accounting. In these, he reflected on what he learned in the course readings and class discussions. The professor also required them to review a classmate’s paper and to provide him or her with feedback. In addition to the reflection papers, he also had to write a client memo regarding a new accounting standard.
The genres and types of writing in accounting are always similar and even the same in different universities, but the conventions and expectations generally depend on individual professor and department in various universities. For master of accounting in George Mason University, most professors ask students to use the APA style in citations and references. Some professors, Kyle said, prefer the MLA style in students’ papers. Hence, specific situation depends on different professors and different courses. For example some courses including finance may use the MLA style. What’s more, the length of paper is also dependent on professors and courses. Generally, owing to no study, methodology and research in a paper, professors would like to read the paper about 3 pages that is concise. In rare cases, students should write a long paper but less than 5 pages. When I asked some requirements of the charts or forms that professors want, Kyle mentioned his group papers that the professor required them to include journal entries, tables, and other visuals to display the calculations and data that they utilized in Excel. Therefore, they included vertical and horizontal analyses of a fraud company and its competitor at the end of the paper. I think this is a good example that students can use in the future study. Furthermore, I wanted to know whether the department prefers paraphrases to quotations. Kyle said that both are acceptable as long as the quotations or paraphrases are properly cited in accordance with APA. However, he indicated that the whole paper should not be filled with quotations, and the majority of the paper should be in students’ own words.
In the final part of the interview, we discussed personal experiences in writing. Kyle mentioned that the beginning of writing papers is the hardest step. The importance of writing is to choose an appropriate main point and back up the main point. Thus, he is used to do brainstorm at the preparation step. If he does not understand the topic, he will do his best to figure it out on his own. If that does not work, he will meet up with his classmates or talk to them on the phone. Since everybody understands and struggles with different parts of the course material, they are all able to help each other out. Asking well-though-out questions to the right people is one of the best ways to understand the topic better. He said, “ it is a good idea to become friends with people in your classes and to get their contact information. In the real world, people will always be working with others”. This view really encourages me. Additionally, he shared that he uses Business Source Complete frequently from GMU online library to conduct research and he recommended this journal to me. He also gave me some tips or strategies to make writing better. He has written over 10 papers already since starting the master’s program here. From his experiences, it is important to be open to feedback and to switch up style in future papers, and there is always room for improvement, even for the best writers. Finally, I got some advice about managing time from Kyle. Making a planner can keep track of work schedule, deadlines, and exams. In addition, students should start their writing assignments and studying several days in advance. Although school and work can be extremely stressful at times, students still should set aside time to exercise, spend time with family and friends, and do other enjoyable activities.
Through this interview, first, I realized that native speakers are always nice. Second, students ought to flexibly change different writing style according to different professors. Third, students should not give up any chance that can practice writing and should be open to accept others’ opinions. Fourth, students can make friends with classmates in order to improve writing skills together.