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Writing in My Class Andrew
Austin © 2010 Scholarship is a choice of how to
live as well as a choice of career; whether aware of it or not, the
intellectual worker forms his or her own self in working toward the
perfection of craft; to realize personal potentialities, and any
opportunities that come his or her way, such a person constructs a character
which has as its core the qualities of the good workman. (Mills 1959, 196) Ideas
are important – so important that care must be taken in their
production. A well-crafted paper
or proposal, written in lucid prose with clear references, increases the
likelihood that the audience will accurately receive the author’s ideas.
Professionalism and clarity in written communications make arguments
understandable and potentially more compelling than do sloppy or obscure
texts (of course, the arguments need to be good, too). Polished work indicates that an
author cares about her craft and suggests that future works are likely to be
of similar high quality; it tells the reader that intellectual craftsmanship,
to borrow a term from C. Wright Mills, is the writer’s habit, that the writer
is “personally involved in every intellectual product upon which [she] may
work” (Mills 1959, 196). Poorly
crafted work has the opposite effect: the text gets in the way of
communicating the ideas. Sloppy
presentation intimates that the author does not much care about his work –
and if a writer is careless with his work, then he is likely careless with
the work of others. Bad grammar
and syntax muddy the point the author is attempting. Misspelled words reflect poorly on
the writer’s language competency (President Andrew Jackson was wrong when he
quipped, “It’s a damn poor mind indeed which can’t think of at least two ways
to spell any word”). Wrongly
used words project unintended meanings (know what words mean before using
them!). Opaque
and pretentious writing shares many of the qualities of poorly crafted
work. It may be that the author
cares very much about her overwrought work. Nevertheless, trying to sound smart and writing smartly
are usually different things (perhaps nothing is more dangerous in writing
than ambition armed with a thesaurus).
Big words and big complicated sentences do not always convey big
ideas. A writer should never impose upon her audience the burden of a
tortured text. I
have been teaching college students for more than 15 years, and experience
has taught me that, absent guidance, the quality of student writing is highly
variable, ranging from the superb to the, well, awful. The superb makes grading papers a
joyful experience. I move easily
through the points and grasp the author’s argument. I feel confident that the student is appropriately using
sources. Moreover, I can see the student cares about the impression she
makes. The
other side of the coin finds grading an unpleasant chore. Teachers can usually tell when a
student waited until the deadline's eve or did not care enough about the
assignment to put into it the necessary effort. The appearance of not caring sends signals to the
instructor that the student may not be a suitable candidate for a college
diploma. A recklessly researched paper demands investigation, which often
turns up plagiarism, a serious form of academic misconduct. Because of the problems sloppy
writing and careless research cause, teachers spend more time grading poorly
written papers than they do reviewing well-crafted work. It’s time wasted by all involved when
the paper receives a failing grade or no grade at all. In
pursuit of consistency in quality (I want all students to do well!), I have
developed this guide for writing in the social sciences. It is not a complete guide - good
science writing requires a style manual, a dictionary, careful and thorough
research, accurate handling and presentation of sources, an open mind,
integrity, the capacity for accepting critical feedback, hard work, etcetera. Nonetheless, this guide sets forth my
expectations, and students must conform to the rules contained herein and in
the materials this guide directs students to consult. Failure to conform to the rules will
result in a poor grade regardless of the quality of a paper’s content.
As the argument to this point has emphasized, adequate or good content is
only part of a paper’s strengths.
The other part is craftsmanship.
How
serious am I about these rules?
If a paper substantially deviates from this guide’s rules, I may judge
the paper unacceptable and record a zero in my grade book. I do not allow students to rewrite
papers, so this often fates a student to a failing grade. |
Contents Writing in My Class (Introduction) |