Where Is the Evidence to Support This Claim?
Since I've written that question about 1,000 times while grading papers over the last two days, I figured once more couldn't hurt. I'm going to create a macro in Word that will put that question in a comment at the click of a button so I don't have to actually type it out over and over and over again.
At the beginning of the semester I'm excited about assigning research papers to my undergrads. I have sound pedagogical reasons and a sense of moral superiority that I am not taking the easy route when it comes to grading. Then by the end of the semester when I'm reading their final papers my moral superiority turns into a nagging inferiority complex that I have taught my students nothing in the past three months.
If only I could add the following advice to my paper instructions next time around:
1. Don't quote movies. Hollywood writers are not criminologists.
2. Don't quote political pundits. Nope, they're not criminologists either.
3. The key ingredient of a research paper is ... research. Otherwise the assignment would be called "8 pages of drivel."
4. A research paper is also not the same as a NYTimes OpEd piece. Although if my students could write that well I'd probably still give them credit for the assignment.
I shouldn't be so negative about grading, but end-of-the-semester burnout doesn't help my attitude much. Instead I should focus on the successes. There are some well written papers in the pile. Some students actually did learn something from me. I also had two students from last semester's class recently win paper contests with the papers written for my class, which I'm very proud of. The problem is just that sometimes those needles are really hard to find in the haystack.
At the beginning of the semester I'm excited about assigning research papers to my undergrads. I have sound pedagogical reasons and a sense of moral superiority that I am not taking the easy route when it comes to grading. Then by the end of the semester when I'm reading their final papers my moral superiority turns into a nagging inferiority complex that I have taught my students nothing in the past three months.
If only I could add the following advice to my paper instructions next time around:
1. Don't quote movies. Hollywood writers are not criminologists.
2. Don't quote political pundits. Nope, they're not criminologists either.
3. The key ingredient of a research paper is ... research. Otherwise the assignment would be called "8 pages of drivel."
4. A research paper is also not the same as a NYTimes OpEd piece. Although if my students could write that well I'd probably still give them credit for the assignment.
I shouldn't be so negative about grading, but end-of-the-semester burnout doesn't help my attitude much. Instead I should focus on the successes. There are some well written papers in the pile. Some students actually did learn something from me. I also had two students from last semester's class recently win paper contests with the papers written for my class, which I'm very proud of. The problem is just that sometimes those needles are really hard to find in the haystack.
posted by Janet | 1:41 PM
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