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 _____________
A title should be ___________________ and _____________________
The introduction should contain __________________ and _____________
The introduction should NOT contain _________________
An example of generalization is: ______________________
Generalizations are good/ bad, useful / not useful (underline the correct answer)
The parts of the essay that should be underlined or bold-typed ________________________
The spaces between paragraphs are ____________ and they really _________________ Professor Clarissa
The tile of the file you submit should contain _____________________________
Reliable secondary sources can be found _______________________________ but not on _______________
Yes, it sounds idiotic, but I’m hoping that its sheer idiocy will finally have an effect.
Clarissa's Blog 
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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🙂 🙂 🙂
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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Wikipedia could be a good way to find real reliable other secondary sources.
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Only if you are smart enough.
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“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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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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“Generalizations are improvements over what was previously known. ”
In mathematics, he’s right. In Humanities, this is useless.
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Yes, this is a difference in disciplines.
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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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“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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