The instructions to writing assignments at high school are pretty simple. Usually there is one question to answer; or one idea a student must agree or disagree with. In college professors usually provide students with rubric the professor will follow when grading the paper.
In most cases the rubric is confusing especially for freshmen. The rubric consists of a lot of points to consider while writing the paper. However, for a student it is enough to write several papers to understand what are the college essay writing basics or basic short essay writing.
Professors are very strict if it goes to grammar. One of the most important criteria in grading a paper is grammatically correct sentences. Besides grammar and punctuation sentences should be short and clear. It is very important that each sentence makes sense. It is not a good idea to write with long messy sentences. It is very likely that the reader will lose your point somewhere in the middle of the sentence. This is not what you are looking for. Also, the paper should have a good vocabulary. Though too difficult words should not be used either. The reader must have a good understanding of what you have to say. Make sure to use dictionary when writing a paper as incorrectly written sentence may mess the whole meaning.
In short, college students need to be sure they write grammatically correct, meaningful sentences that are connected with each other, thus the paper will flow and be readable.