remindmeofthe | (no subject)

Good thing about weather so bad that classes get cancelled:

Classes are cancelled.

Bad thing about weather so bad that classes are cancelled:

It had to happen today, which was meant to be the last meeting of my WWI & II class before our final next week. This class meets once a week, and this semester has already been broken up a lot in the last month or so because of holidays. So now we don't get whatever information we were going to get to round out a test I was ALREADY nervous about, we don't get confirmation on what to expect essay questions for, and I know e-mail exists but I'm not so sure about my professor. (That he knows e-mail exists, I mean; I know he exists.) I love the guy, but he still refers to photocopies as mimeos, for god's sake. I'm not gonna hold my breath hoping for an e-mail.

And while I'm posting, have an INFORMAL POLL.

A take-home essay exam should be:

A. Something that takes roughly as much time at home as it would in class.

B. A seven-to-ten page paper requiring discussion of SIX different texts on one of two poorly-taught topics, disallowing outside sources and with instructions insisting that it be a formally written academic paper. Oh, and you should definitely spring this on your students one week before it's due, after they've already carefully planned out their finals study schedule.

If you chose B, congratulations! You and my Irish Literature and Culture professor can go be douchebags together, preferably far away from me so I don't give in to the temptation to soak him in gasoline and light a match!

Fucking BASTARD.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If you want help with either subject, whether in terms of studying or doing the term paper, please let me know, okay? That really sucks the big one.

*hugs* Thank you. I should manage okay; I'm not even thinking about either one until AFTER the two OTHER tests I have tomorrow. One thing at a time.

Well, shoot me an email or catch me on IM and I'll help you. I have time at night.

♥ Thanks. You're awesome.

The one good thing about this whole thing is that the WWI&II professor gives really clear notes, so I have something concrete to study from. He just also expects perfect memorization for essay questions and I wanted a better idea of which themes (what he calls the topics he focuses on for test questions) to practice essay answers for. Because perfect memorization + me = LOL no without some serious practice. And even then.

*snugs*

I'm just trying to write a paper that feels full of bullshit for a core class with an incredibly vague description and this is a class where I've never known what they wanted. Sometimes school just sucks.

Also if you need help on the paper, I did my undergrad work as literature major so I know that type of talk pretty well.

Ooh, I hate that shit, too. At least I have a good idea of what he wants for this paper.

I should be fine for writing it. Writing papers is my thing, academically. I'm just pissed off that he expects the same level of quality for a paper we have a week to write as he would for one that had been on the syllabus at the beginning of the semester. Not everyone has a knack for writing papers.

*hugs* Thanks for the offer, though!

Oh yes, I get that knack thing and time completely. I think what gets me about the one I'm writing is that there's a specific word count but random description.

At the moment I'm just trying to write the bones of it and go back and add citations and connections but god its going slow. Also ever since I tried to write a master's thesis, specific word counts make a little part of me freak out slightly.

At least today is a day that I don't have any classes and only an online library reference shift at 7. Okay, I'm talking a lot in your comments, just blargh, if I can finish this paper, no more of this stupid class.

Hee, I don't mind. Ramble as much as you like! That is what the internets are for, and getting stuff off your chest is a good thing.

and I know e-mail exists but I'm not so sure about my professor. (That he knows e-mail exists, I mean; I know he exists.)

Thanks for the clarification. XD

Parenthetical clarifications are way funnier than just fixing my questionable grammar. :D

How are you supposed to cram discussion of six different texts into 7-10 (presumably double-spaced) pages?? That's like barely enough room to cover a couple of texts thoroughly... and in a week.... o.O

Ha, that is totally what I would be complaining about instead if this were a normal paper. I had a paper due last week for the WWI&II class where we were supposed to review a book, discuss the methods the author used to support his thesis, how he presented various historical figures, discuss a packet (a MIMEOed packet; it was a photocopy of actual mimeographed pages! ♥) of literary criticism of the book, and offer our own opinions as to whether we agreed with the author . . . in no more than four pages.

I did it. Needless to say, the paper was CRAP, but it was sufficiently short crap.

To be vaguely fair, the texts in question are primarily plays and poems, not like, novels and textbooks. Which is still ridiculous, but makes it easier to find and pull quotes and not say much about them.