# Two rants: term papers and chicken scratch writing **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 26, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022 "2006-10-26T20:54:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sad\_and\_Deranged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Sad\_and\_Deranged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sad_and_Deranged)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/1 "2006-10-26T20:54:50Z")
Okay, so they’re not related, but they’re getting me really frustrated and I have to take my anger out on something. I’m a procrastinator, I’ve always been a procrastinator, it’s hard to break out the habit and I’m working on it. However, life has been SO kind to give me excuses lately that I don’t even have to pull them out of my ass anymore. I thought I had a term paper due today, but when I take another look at the syllabus, it turns out it was scheduled to be due tomorrow. So, like any dutiful procrastinator, I breathe a sigh of relief and I check my email. An email from my prof says the paper has been pushed to Monday because he will be out of town tomorrow! Normally, I would scream for joy, but knowing myself, I KNOW I’m going to be procrastinating on this until Sunday night, and then freak out. You’d think by recognizing my procrastination, I’d be able to do something about it, and I have been trying to take it slow, write one paragraph at a time as to not overwhelm myself, but I’ve been napping for the past five hours, so I don’t think the paragraphs I wrote in my sleep are term paper material. I just hate how I can’t seem to control my procrastination!! I know I should, but I can’t!!! Second, not a big deal, but it baffles me how people can write so illegibly on official documents. I’m responsible at work, from time to time, on some data entry on clients, and god damn it, some of them, I have to squint and squint and squint, and it still turns out that “u” was really an “a”. I know some people just don’t have good penmanship, but at least make an effort??? Please??? I’m sick of seeing all the scribble, and knowing that it is all scribble that the clients made because they were in a hurry and didn’t have the extra thirty seconds to write neatly so nothing will go wrong, and then have the audacity to get indignant about their incorrect information. Argh!!! ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/2 "2006-10-26T21:11:35Z")
I’m with you on the procrastination thing. I know I do it, I know I shouldn’t, and I keep telling myself that I’ll work on it. Tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/3 "2006-10-26T21:14:51Z")
Heh. As a former grad student, I was fully expecting this rant to be about grading term papers and final exams. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/4 "2006-10-26T21:16:03Z")
I am the worst procrastinator. I seriously cannot get anything done ahead of time. I have a 3 page essay due tomorrow and no idea how to answer the prompt, and the Cards game (weather permitting) is on tonight and I have a fridge full of beer. I should have done it last night, but I didn’t . Damnit. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/5 "2006-10-26T23:34:38Z")
You’d hate my job, then. I spend _hours_ sometimes trying to decipher historical documents. Add to bad handwriting and archaic spellings the damage that comes from age and you’ve got one big headache. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/6 "2006-10-26T23:41:58Z")
I am a copyeditor and thus have seen more than my fair share of chicken scratching. The illegibility of the handwriting is almost always directly proprortional to the technical level of the text. Please please please, if you ever write a book and can’t be arsed to insert TYPED corrections, at least write them neatly enough so I and the comp can read them. Put them on a separate page if they’re more than a short sentence or so. Don’t try squeezing them in between the lines of tearsheet (previously typeset) copy. And for God’s sake, leave me some white space on the page in which to do my job!!! (Yes, lots of editing is still done on hard copy) ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/7 "2006-10-26T23:50:38Z")
Funny, I always found that “The Last Minute” was an excellent motivator. There’s something about imminent doom that gets the juices pumping. Just make sure that you have a properly calibrated sense of “the last minute.” I once started a project two weeks in advance (it had been assigned six months previously) and finished within twenty minutes of final call. Had I started a few days later, I would have been screwed. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/8 "2006-10-26T23:56:22Z")
I broke the pinkie finger of my writing hand a week before the AP tests in high school, so I had to complete the essay portions of English and History with an enormous splint on my hand. Writing was possible, but it was a miracle that you could make anything out. (Thought I’d combine your two rants into one anecdote) ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/9 "2006-10-27T07:46:52Z")
Yeah, I know the procrastination thing all too well. In fact, at this very moment I’m writing a reply to this SDMB thread when I should be working on the eight or so pages of discrete structures homework I have due tomorrow morning at 9:30. I’ll probably be up until 5 or so finishing it. I’ll be able to survive the whole day on only a few hours’ sleep though; I’ve done it too many times before. Surprisingly, I still manage to shoot straight A’s. :smack: But then, when you’re a computer engineering student, I guess you get used to seeing the dawn creeping through your window as you make the final stroke with your pencil/keyboard. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/10 "2006-10-27T09:12:46Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] I broke the pinkie finger of my writing hand a week before the AP tests in high school, so I had to complete the essay portions of English and History with an enormous splint on my hand. Writing was possible, but it was a miracle that you could make anything out. [/QUOTE] With that injury, you’d have thought they’d let you dictate or something. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/11 "2006-10-27T09:37:54Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] With that injury, you’d have thought they’d let you dictate or something. [/QUOTE] You mean, like my classmate who broke his right wrist and got to dictate to the teachers? He was one of those people who are better at orals, being very good at reading people. Also a lefty 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/12 "2006-10-27T19:09:07Z")
I’m presenting at a conference next weekend. I haven’t written my paper yet. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/13 "2006-10-27T19:40:31Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] With that injury, you’d have thought they’d let you dictate or something. [/QUOTE] I guess if I’d made a big deal out of it, some accomodation would’ve been made, but it was legible (though tough) and when in writing mode, my thoughts come pouring out in a way that connects better with my pen than it does with my mouth. (and honestly, it’s not like the APs meant much besides the “because I can do it” factor anyway) ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/14 "2006-10-27T20:08:40Z")
I’ve got two - count 'em, two! - papers due on Monday. I have written so far one (1) thesis statement. I always say I’m going to finish stuff the week before it’s due, and I never manage it. All I can think about right now is the concert I’m going to later tonight, what I’m going to wear, and all the sweet delicious free time I have all weekend, at least until Sunday when I finally freak out and get it done. Sunday is going to suck, bigtime. In my defense, I know the material \*really \*well. ---
**Author:** ![Obsidian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/51bf81/32.png) [@Obsidian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obsidian)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/15 "2006-10-28T03:09:00Z")
[QUOTE=begbert2] Just make sure that you have a properly calibrated sense of “the last minute.” [/QUOTE] Word. Mine is honed down to the minute. All through school (and especially college) I called it “The Fear”. I would not work, and I would not study, until The Fear kicked in, just a surge of adrenaline that came out of nowhere and got me moving. Nothing motivates me better than a looming deadline. My parents, a couple of micromanaging teachers, and several jealous roommates all told me that it was going to bite me in the ass one day. When I got into the Real World, then I’d be sorry. Turns out the business world values someone who can think and work under pressure (and infact does her best work that way). In my office I’m the person who can put out the fire, the person you call when your deadline is impossible. I’m glad I procrastinated. If I’d spent my whole life carefully, slowly doing things over a generous alotment of time, I wonder if I’d panic if faced with “I need this yesterday!” But, it only works if you’ve got a great sense of timing. Sometimes only a day or hours delay would have made my A’s into F’s. ---
**Author:** ![Li\_l\_Pluck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ee59a6/32.png) [@Li\_l\_Pluck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Li_l_Pluck)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/16 "2006-10-29T01:26:49Z")
You mean that I’m not the only one? Oh, thank heavens, I’ve found my people! ---
**Author:** ![furlibusea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@furlibusea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furlibusea)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rants-term-papers-and-chicken-scratch-writing/378022/17 "2006-10-29T13:45:00Z")
I have always done it, but I think I hit my limit when I tried to type a 30 page paper in a day and a half. I got it done, but it was kind of, um, …well, …crap. My daughter drives me nuts, though. She has my, erm, tallent at procrastinating, but when she hits the pile of work that it has garnered her, she freezes. I don’t think the adrenaline thing can be taught, so I need her to learn how to keep on top of work, and not let it get ahead of her. Frankly, I do not have a clue how to do it by example.