The benefit of my knowledge
Apr. 26th, 2007 05:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessWell I spent today grading papers. For the in-college portion of my flist, let me impart some of my hard-earned knowledge. I have several degrees and spent more than 10 year total in college. I know a little bit about what a professor wants.
A. spellchecking. Need i say it? And reread the paper for things the spellchecker misses (really I should drop them a grade point for not doing this basic step)
B. talk to your professor if you have a major paper to work on (and assuming you're not in those 200+ student classes). They will help you. it's obvious when you write a clueless paper or if you're totally off topic.
C. If the professor says a minimum of ten references, that's the BARE min. that's average C level work (for the American students). Most of you want a grade higher than that. If there's no maxiumum, then do a few more than the min. Trust me on this. I have two right now that it's obvious that little work was put into this.
D. If the professor DOES put a maximum on the references/page count etc then don't go over it. It won't make you look smarter. It just makes you look like you can't follow directions.
E. When a professors says NOT to use a certain source and you use it, expect your grade to suffer. (this one makes me the maddest outside of A) And wikipedia is not a good source. Most professors don't like it. Why? Because it's often not right. Now there are some fact checkers (a couple on my flist do this) but this is not always so. For that matter, be very wary of anything on the net. now professional sources usually can be spotted as opposed to some joe blow putting up whatever. Check with the professor on those sources. And when you're doing a science paper and they ask for PRIMARY sources, this means professional magazines, current ones preferrable.
Does that help? It makes me feel good. Maybe someone out there will listen (unlike my class)
Also today I got my crown filled. it looks so pathetic. As it turns out a) the crown WAS misaligned like i've been saying all along. THey tried to fix that and b) porcelain crowns can't have the white amalgam put in them. NO it won't stick. Silver. Argh. But at least it no longer hurts.
And today in the parking lot the woman in the car next to me makes no attempt to control her car door despite the fact we're having tornado warnings out the butt and it's windy as hell. The dent she put in MY car not to mention the scratch is horrible.
A. spellchecking. Need i say it? And reread the paper for things the spellchecker misses (really I should drop them a grade point for not doing this basic step)
B. talk to your professor if you have a major paper to work on (and assuming you're not in those 200+ student classes). They will help you. it's obvious when you write a clueless paper or if you're totally off topic.
C. If the professor says a minimum of ten references, that's the BARE min. that's average C level work (for the American students). Most of you want a grade higher than that. If there's no maxiumum, then do a few more than the min. Trust me on this. I have two right now that it's obvious that little work was put into this.
D. If the professor DOES put a maximum on the references/page count etc then don't go over it. It won't make you look smarter. It just makes you look like you can't follow directions.
E. When a professors says NOT to use a certain source and you use it, expect your grade to suffer. (this one makes me the maddest outside of A) And wikipedia is not a good source. Most professors don't like it. Why? Because it's often not right. Now there are some fact checkers (a couple on my flist do this) but this is not always so. For that matter, be very wary of anything on the net. now professional sources usually can be spotted as opposed to some joe blow putting up whatever. Check with the professor on those sources. And when you're doing a science paper and they ask for PRIMARY sources, this means professional magazines, current ones preferrable.
Does that help? It makes me feel good. Maybe someone out there will listen (unlike my class)
Also today I got my crown filled. it looks so pathetic. As it turns out a) the crown WAS misaligned like i've been saying all along. THey tried to fix that and b) porcelain crowns can't have the white amalgam put in them. NO it won't stick. Silver. Argh. But at least it no longer hurts.
And today in the parking lot the woman in the car next to me makes no attempt to control her car door despite the fact we're having tornado warnings out the butt and it's windy as hell. The dent she put in MY car not to mention the scratch is horrible.
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