OK, so I realize most of you on here aren't to this level of school yet, but I'm in grad school and part of my funding is as a grading assistant. In the class I just finished grading for, their grades are based on three essays, about 5 pages each. At least in this class, length is pretty much irrelevant as long as you answer the question -- the best writers can answer it in 4, average students answer it in 5, the people who write book reports instead of thinking about the questions tend to blabber on for 6-7 pages. Can anyone explain why on earth students, especially in a class like that, use extra-large font to get to a certain length? Do they really think that a grader, who is looking at paper after paper (usually 10-15 in a sitting) isn't going to notice the silly little tricks to get things up to a certain length? I mean, 14 pt font is pretty damn easy to spot in a pile of papers at 12 pt. Even 1.25 inch margins are easy to spot in a pile of papers with a 1 inch margin! I know, this will probably sound like a stupid thing to gripe about... The bigger issue to gripe about would be the paper that, when I first read it, was really good... Until I came across another paper with several sentences exactly word-for-word the same. Grrr... Damn kids! Does the average undergrad really think the person grading their papers is that stupid that they won't notice these things?
It's not a stupid thing to gripe about. I teach English composition, and I know exactly where you're coming from. My department requires us to assign X number of words in a class, so we all end up assigning minimum word counts for each essay. I tell my students that the word counts are approximate. I've got 65 students in my classes, so I'm not going to count words in each of the essays. I go as far as telling them that I won't count words, but that I will notice the essays that are considerably shorter and keep that in mind when I grade them. This last batch of essays was proposal argument research papers. The students were required to use and cite eight sources. I got a few essays with only three sources. Add on all sorts of baroque variations of the format and interpretations of directions. Throw in sentences that aren't really sentences. Students have been told to write as they talk. As a result, they start sentences with "well" and toss in "basically" quite frequently. One student consistently spelled "and" as "an." This is the last required composition class in the sequence. These are people who will not be required to take any other college English classes.
the problem is that some teachers have allowed them to get away with it. Most teachers i've had made it clear that they want it only in 12 point font, times new roman with 1 inch margins..anything else will lose you a few points. and ugh, writing as you speak for a research paper? Yea, thats smart.
go to the syllabus: what are the requirements? I used 14 pt but I wrote as long as needed to answer the topic. I used that font so I could see it well on my 'puter and often forgot to resize. Can you request that the student turn it in at the regulation font? these are undergrads, right?
