I share the pet peeve about the "How long should this paper be?" question. The question suggests that students are not thinking about writing a paper to make an argument or tell a story, but rather to complete an assignment. My "peeve" is with both the student and others who have been teaching them to write. It seems that my students have *always* been told that a paper of less then X pages will not receive a good grade so they are accustomed to writing to fill the length requirement. When this question comes up it does give me a chance to talk about how to determine an appropriate length for their papers and the need for them to judge when they have made the argument to their own satisfaction. That kind of discussion before they start writing does help to reduce the transition problems and distracting asides that have already been mentioned. It also helps them to see how to start and finish the introduction to a research paper or review.
Dennis Dennis M. Goff Professor of Psychology Randolph-Macon Woman's College 2500 Rivermont Ave Lynchburg VA, 24503 -----Original Message----- From: Paul C. Smith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, November 17, 2003 10:59 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: Re: Writing Pet Peeves Robin Abrahams wrote: > You've hit it with the "insufficient attention to the meaning of words" thing, I think. It's a profound problem with a lot of them. > > This weekend I saw our school production of "Anything Goes," and noticed immediately that the students had the same problem as actors that they do as writers. > They simply weren't listening to what was coming out of their mouths, they weren't hearing the words they were speaking. Just as they do not read the words they > are writing. I think that many of the "writing errors" we see stem from misconceptions about the task. These misconceptions include those about the purposes of the elements of a research paper, those about what is signalled to the reader by citation/quotation practices (MANY students believe that merely citing a source entitles them to use the exact words of that source), and those about writing itself (the "insufficient attention to meaning" thing, for example). About every other semester I get papers from students who seem to have a "paint a picture with words" model of writing. The papers don't actually make any points, but rather talk around a topic, with lots of vague comments. Those are the hardest papers to write feedback for, as there's really nothing to organize or support. My feedback essentially amounts to "start over, but have something to say this time". I also get quite a few papers that suggest that the student believes that her job as a psychology major is to learn to repeat the "conventional wisdom". These tend to be papers about "body image" ("In today's society, the media tells women they should look like Barbie dolls...") and/or self esteem. I suspect that these papers come from the students who brag at graduation that they really already knew what they needed to know about psychology before they started the program. Hmm. I also have a "pet peeve" that comes before the writing issues: the inevitable "how many pages long does it have to be?" question. I'm reminded of Abe Lincoln's response to "How long should a man's legs be?": "Long enough to reach the ground". I want a good paper, and I don't really care how long it is. I honestly don't think I've ever counted the pages of a completed paper, or given any indication that I do so, but students _always_ ask how long it has to be. Paul Smith Alverno College Milwaukee --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
