Yes, 'tis that time of year yet again. The essay-writing season, when we decorate our work spaces cheerily with piles of books, scrap papers and empty coffee cups.
I only have one essay left, but it’s a doozy. Not only that, but it just. won’t. come together. I keep reading more and more, and learning more and more on the topic, yet this still doesn’t help me in solidifying exactly what I want to write about, or what I want to say about the topic. Argh.
My students’ research papers are not too bad, even in their rough draft stages, so that’s nice.
However, the placement test essays that I read for extra income are not too good at all. I will be posting Vol. 4 of the “gems” (ha ha) in a month or so.
Oh, don’t even get me started on my students’ essays. I just finished a batch this week, before the exams come in next week. There were some good ones, but the bad ones were BAD.
I’ve just agreed to become the Placement Director at my college, which I think means that I will be responsible for reading the placement exams for the entire incoming freshman class over the summer. (I’m sure I can hire readers, but I’m also sure that I’ll need to read at least the majority of the essays myself.) I also think I will lose my mind by July 15th.
We’re mid-semester right now, and we don’t have an essay due but we do have a very large assignment worth some 40%. It’s due Monday and I’ve only written about two pages. Sigh, back to work.
Our facilitator helps with readings, but even with six of us working on essays for three hours straight the other day, we couldn’t get through all of them. Yeeesh.
I’m struggling with one at the moment in which I’m supposed to be a High Court judge discussing the creation of several new torts and analysing developments in the other common law jurisdictions (UK, Canada and NZ) in 2000 words. Trying to keep within the word limit is driving me crazy.
I so rarely have problems about going over, it drives me nuts if I do! I’ve developed a pretty good method for making papers longer, though - I suspect I’ll need it in this case. I still haven’t started writing it. Outline MUST happen this morning.
Im in the process of writing an essay right now, actually. Due tomorrow… I think Im half done. Its a shortie though, only three pages. I think my prof is sick of grading all of our papers, hence the shortness of this one! I am glad its so short though, because theres so few ways you can compare Nietzsche to Fight Club! And quotes, dear god. If I never read Nietzsche again, it is too soon.
I then have three more papers left in the semester, and less than two weeks to do them. One is 2000 words, another is 750, and the third is 7-10 pages. At least these three essays are replacing two of my finals, so I don’t have to try and juggle all of that plus a test in these classes too. It shall be so nice to be out of college for the summer though!
Well, I got mine finished last night. I just had to be utterly ruthless and leave out whole chunks of the material in order to come in under the word limit.
I have a short reflection essay due Thursday…I haven’t started it yet because it will be easy and I just don’t care yet. I have my A wrapped up in that class already.
But I have to do an edition of a poem for my American Lit class, which focuses on textuality, which I still don’t fully understand. And our teacher is basically like “do whatever you want” in editing and creating a foreward/notes so I’m clueless. It’s due Thursday too, but then that class is OVER.
Next week is finals week for me. After tomorrow, it should be a breeze. My calc final (no more calculus during undergrad!!!) was an inclass presentation on Friday, so that’s out of the way. I have my Physics and Linear Algebra finals tomorrow, Physical Geography is on Tuesday, and my last Statistics project is due on Wednesday. Physics scares the shit out of me though. There’s a good chance that I’ll fail the class, which I’ve never done before.
Argh, essays. How I loathe them. I have one due on Thursday, a nice fifteen page research paper. The topic? The involvement of the Russian Empire and Spain in the American Civil War. Call me a masochist if you like. The topic is really interesting, and I’ve learned a lot. Just…fifteen pages? I don’t like it. An obvious reflection of the wussiness of my high school career.
Also, I have to find time to finish a four-pager on minorities in the work force around the turn of the twentieth century. And my macroeconomics final. And my Civil War History/Writing final. And my U.S. history final. And my Intro to Public Affairs final.
Advice to high school seniors: Don’t go to college. It’s hard.
