Clarissa's Blog

10 responses to “Reviewing Format”

1. 

   David Bellamy

   March 18, 2013 at 2:42 pm

   I tried to fill this out…
   Mar 18 2013
   Reviewing Format

   Since I still can’t make the students observe the correct format in the essays they hand in to me, I have come up with the following fill-in-the-blanks exercise:

   The page number should be placed in _____The same font as the text________

   A title should be _At the top of the first page__________________ and __informative___________________

   The introduction should contain ______Words_ and __Punctuation_marks.__________

   The introduction should NOT contain ___Grammatical errors______________

   An example of generalization is: ___”All the answers on this page are true.”_

   Generalizations are improvements over what was previously known.

   The parts of the essay that should be underlined or bold-typed _Words from quotations which are underlined or boldfaced, respectively, in the text quoted.

   The spaces between paragraphs are _??? Blank, maybe? and they really ______?___________ Professor Clarissa

   The tile of the file you submit should contain ___Your name or other identifier__________________________

   Reliable secondary sources can be found _____at the library__________________________ but not on ______Wikipedia_________

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   1. 

      bloggerclarissa

      March 18, 2013 at 2:53 pm

      🙂 🙂 🙂

      My answers (based on what I have repeated in class only about 100 times):

      The page number should be placed in _____The top right hand corner of the page ________

      A title should be _original__________________ and __informative___________________ (This is to avoid titles like: Final Essay)

      The introduction should contain ______the title of the work of literature you are analyzing and __the name of the author.__________

      The introduction should NOT contain ___generalizations______________

      An example of generalization is: ___”Everybody wants love.”_

      Generalizations are useless.

      The parts of the essay that should be underlined or bold-typed _Absolutely none.

      The spaces between paragraphs are _useless and they really ______bug___________ Professor Clarissa

      The tile of the file you submit should contain ___Your first and last name __________________________

      Reliable secondary sources can be found _____at the library__________________________ but not on ______Wikipedia_________. Yes. 🙂

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      1. 

         David Gendron

         March 18, 2013 at 3:53 pm

         Wikipedia could be a good way to find real reliable other secondary sources.

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         1. 

            bloggerclarissa

            March 18, 2013 at 4:06 pm

            Only if you are smart enough.

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      2. 

         cliff arroyo

         March 18, 2013 at 4:09 pm

         “Wikipedia could be a good way to find real reliable other secondary sources”

         Absolutely, wikipedia is a wonder and a marvel and I don’t know how I ever survived without it. It is not a source by itself but it can provide references and links to acceptable sources. You’d think that distinction is easy to understand but…. (shakes head, looks at ground and wimpers).

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         1. 

            bloggerclarissa

            March 18, 2013 at 4:19 pm

            I think the very fact that I have to create this kind of exercises testifies to the uselessness of expecting that people will be making distinctions.

            I just sent out essays where I had to fail 40% of people, so I’m expecting them to descend on my office tomorrow to tell me how hard they worked to produce a paper with 200+ mistakes. So I’m filled with joyous anticipation. Not.

            However, the only student who got an A produced a fascinating piece of work that I actually enjoyed reading. So there is hope.

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2. 

   David Gendron

   March 18, 2013 at 3:22 pm

   “Generalizations are improvements over what was previously known. ”

   In mathematics, he’s right. In Humanities, this is useless.

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   1. 

      bloggerclarissa

      March 18, 2013 at 3:48 pm

      Yes, this is a difference in disciplines.

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3. 

   cliff arroyo

   March 18, 2013 at 4:06 pm

   IME experience these kinds of instructions do no good. What does work is refusing to look at the essays until the format is cleaned up.

   “I’ll be happy to look at that once you follow the instructions you were given on formatting it,” said pleasantly can work wonders.
   If that _doesn’t_ work then “If you don’t want to reformat it according to instructions then I’m afraid you’ll receive a zero for failing to complete the assignment” usually does the trick though occasionally “So, if I understand correctly you don’t need a grade for this class?” is necessary.

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   1. 

      bloggerclarissa

      March 18, 2013 at 4:11 pm

      “IME experience these kinds of instructions do no good. What does work is refusing to look at the essays until the format is cleaned up.”

      – I’m afraid you are right. I’ve tried everything so far.

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