If a student handed in the following essay to you, what would you think?
Cervantes is a Spanish writer of the late XVIth – early XVIIth centuries. Wikipedia defines a writer as a person who produces literature or nonfiction, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, essays, articles, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images. Cervantes was very good at portraying ideas and images. An idea is a concept or mental impression. And an image is an artifact that depicts or records visual perception, for example a two-dimensional picture, that has a similar appearance to some subject–usually a physical object or a person, thus providing a depiction of it. Cervantes did not paint pictures but he wrote beautiful texts. A text is a coherent set of symbols that transmits some kind of informative message. Cervantes transmitted many important messages in his art.
This is, obviously, not the text of the essay, but it’s exactly what the essay is like.
N. is convinced that the student is being facetious and I should be appreciative of the student’s great sense of irony. I suspect the student is condescending to me because I’m an immigrant who speaks English with an accent. I have to grade eight pages of the text where every other sentence is a dictionary definition. And I’m getting progressively annoyed with every sentence. How would you feel if you were a literary critic and a student started offering you Wikipedia definitions of the words “writer” and “text”?
Clarissa's Blog 
Recommend that this student seek employment with Stephen Colbert. Maybe as a sub.
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So you think this is humor? That’s plucky because the essay is worth 10% of the final grade.
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Unintentional humor, but humor, yes.
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Sounds like a cheapskate way of filling up 4 pages, or an over-enthusiastic interpretation of ‘define before discussing’. I would mark the actual original content out of 50% seeing as the rest has been lifted from elsewhere. I bet the next essay will be definition free if you do that.
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You think it’s simple padding, eh? You are probably right!
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This was also my first reaction when I read the excerpt. The student is trying to fill up pages.
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I’m torn between this and thinking it’s a joke. I know it is not beyond students to joke in academic papers because I used to love to sneak puns or other wordplay into mine.
(I didn’t use irony so much, as I feel a successful use of something like your student is doing — making stupid statements facetiously — requires some level of familiarity between the joker and the audience. I am ALL TOO FAMILIAR with people assuming I am stupid before I even open my mouth; if I start to wax ironic in this vein around strangers I am not being funny so much as confirming their impression that I’m stupid.)
Also, if it is a joke, I have no idea if it’s just “Ha ha look at me being silly by defining these words that don’t need defining” or the more malicious “Ha ha you are a stupid non English speaker who needs all these words defined”. I honestly wouldn’t have thought of the latter, but then I’ve never experienced being mocked for an assumed inability to speak English.
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Is N. facetious when he says you should be appreciative of the irony? 🙂
I am 100% sure the essay is irony free. The explanation of you being an immigrant seems very unlikely too. I think it’s what Sarah said RE filling up pages + not knowing how to apply “define your terms” tip from school.
Don’t you explain them this mistake before assigning assays? May be a list of most popular mistakes would be helpful to them (before & after assay’s submission)?
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There is a list of what not to do in an essay. But some people choose not to read it. I still can’t get many of them to double-space. As for getting them to stop using “really, basically and actually” in every sentence, that will take me forever.
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Guessing without knowing much the space-filler argument is a probably a good guess (one I didn’t originally think of).. but why not ask the student? Preferably invite him/her to office hours (or after class if you must).
This will do at least four things.
1. Most importantly, help you determine accurately what the reason (and how you should respond)
2. Will keep you from worrying, getting upset, dealing with issues if you guess the wrong reason
3. Provide a potentially good learning experience for both of you in multiple ways (edit: after re-reading this I felt it could come across sarcastic.. but I am sincere)
4. Potentially could for one hell of an interesting follow up blog post depending on how it goes! 🙂
Let us know how it goes!
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Seconded. Especially the follow-up post. 😉 (Yeah, I’m selfish.)
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This kid is either a lazy student who was looking for an easy way to fill up the page quota, or the next Lemony Snicket.
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Oh I agree with the lazy comment. The student is padding and defining terms is an easy way to fill out pages. I’m American and have received my share essays like this. So don’t take it as a knock against you! 🙂 And my students are almost painfully sincere. Not an ironic bone in their collective bodies. So I think you should scratch N’s theory. 😉 Actually, when I receive an essay that is so clearly lazy/sloppy, I start checking for plagarism. That was actually my first thought when I read the example–that the student had plagerized or would plagerize soon.
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“And my students are almost painfully sincere. Not an ironic bone in their collective bodies.”
– That’s how I feel, too!
“ctually, when I receive an essay that is so clearly lazy/sloppy, I start checking for plagarism. That was actually my first thought when I read the example–that the student had plagerized or would plagerize soon.”
– And. . . (drumrolls) you are absolutely right. Half of it was shamelessly plagiarized.
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My first reaction was “that’s plagiarism.” Students must think we’re idiots.
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