The benefit of my knowledge

[cornerofmadness]

Well 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.

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Comments

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

I'm glad the crown is no longer bothering you. And your advice on papers seems quite sound.

[mulzrule.livejournal.com]

OoOoOoers, I got Arkadion the tiger daemon. I've never heard of this movie, but now I really wanna see it. You've created a monster. :P

I hope your students learn some common sense. At least it sounds like you're tough. I can't stand it when teachers let students just get by when I've worked my butt off for my own grade.

[ljgould.livejournal.com]

You made some very good points. I wish my students would follow those basic rules. Some grad students don't understand the concept of proofreading a paper before turning it in. Makes me crazy.

[sita-137.livejournal.com]

Hm. I'd think of most of this as common sense. I always ask my teacher questions, whether I'm a little confused or completely lost. After all, most of them are there because they like the subject and in a lot of cases, really like it when the students are actively engaged in the learning process - not just memorizing and spitting it back up.

Then again, that'd be a big step up for your students.

[sita-137.livejournal.com]

It's based on the best trilogy I've ever read - The Dark Materials by Phillip Pulman. Awesome, I cried at the end of the last book.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i'm almost painfree after 6 years. It's a good thing

i thought so. it's not like I haven't written dozens of them. We don't make them do enough paper writing at this school. Or at least I assume we don't given the poor SENIOR papers I jsut read

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

actually i've never read the book myself but this has gotten me interested.

I'm tough according to them. I think i'm fair.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Grad students? Oh I'd murder them. I got stuck an extra semester over my master's thesis and there wasn't anything really wrong with it. I could only imagine if I hadn't proofread it

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

definitely going to have to go look for them now. The Golden COmpass is the first?

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

you'd THINK it was common sense and it should be (points up to ljgould who also teachs) Memorizing and spitting is what they want. God help you if you want them to THINK.

[rain-oubliette.livejournal.com]

ARGH! Now you know why I'm not a tutor in the learning center at my school. I nearly screamed a second ago when going over my "flist" because someone wrote "where" instead of "were". GAH!

When I had English 101 and 102, (required classes for ANY program offered at HACC), we had to buy these little, spiral bound books about grammar and working with certain types of papers (MLA, APA, etc.) I still have mine and you can get from me when you pry it out of my cold, grey hands!

I know from experience, students think that just because their English classes are over, they no longer need to know how to write. My English prof's loved me and wanted me to consider going into their field. Sorry, I told them, but I'd wind up killing students.

[0-mother-0.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with your recommendations for students. Sadly, most are just doing enough to get by and are usually waiting till the last minute to even start their research.

[absolutefiction.livejournal.com]

Ha, I'm listening. Those are basically the things my English teacher went over that year right before the final in-class essay. He also went over things that catch teachers/readers eyes in our essays.

I will keep those notes forever. =D

[sita-137.livejournal.com]

Yep. Golden Compass, Subtle Knife, Amber Spyglass. :)

[sita-137.livejournal.com]

Thinking is why I enjoy school... [shakes head]

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

that middle one is the one i always forget

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

good plan

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

oh that last minute thing was definitely the case. They started a week before it was due

[mulzrule.livejournal.com]

Must find book.....

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I got furious at my last school when we were told we COULDNT ask the nurses to write papers because we weren't an english course. HELLO. Nurses write EVERY DAY. It's called charting. It helps if they know how

[rain-oubliette.livejournal.com]

I have a new co-worker (who is also a student at the college, like I am) and she was talking to me about why do we have to take English classes. I said the same thing that you did; to prepare patient reports. She did one of those "Ohhhh" answers and said something like she still hated the class. :-S

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

because you know it might be work or somethng