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When your writing a paper....

B

BadAssBillyBong420

Ex-Bluelighter
Joined
Mar 8, 2006
Messages
40
For school or whatnot im gonna give you a few tips.

1. Size 13 font. Not noticably bigger and beefs up your paper. length is always a definite plus

2. Make a cover page with a picture. Putting a dumbass picture on there and write out the title. Put a picture that the teacher will think is "cute". She will then think that you are a nice boy and not bust balls.

3. Make it professional looking. I usually toss it into a binder. Looks very good.

4. Add Page numbers to the top of the page. Very simple and takes up space and makes it look better. I wouldnt do it if you are significantly lower then the required length though.

5. Always go for the extra page. If your close to the bottom of the page go for another. even ifs just one sentence it helps out.


These things get u so much points. I have written papers that were awful and my teachers love them cause i do this shit. and im in college too.
 
I used to help my friends beef up their papers by ever so slightly increasing the kerning and leading (letterspacing and space between the lines). It makes a big difference when you modify those even just a bit with a 20+pg. thesis paper.
 
Ummm...

How about actually writing a decent paper?

That tends to work a hell of a lot better ;)

Never go higher than size 12 font, unless specified, really if you want to pad things out a little, then change the line spacing. format --> paragraph

Go for 1.5 space, people actually tend to like 1.5 spacing as it makes it easier to read :)

CB :)
 
i had a professor who made us write papers in 8pt helvetica, single space leading. yes, he was insane.
 
If anyone ever asks me to write somethingi in comic sans, that will more than likely be their last day on this earth...

That is unless I am big on ridiculously empty threats ;)

CB ;)
 
I'm grading papers this term, so I'll let you know some of my thoughts.

>>
1. Size 13 font. Not noticably bigger and beefs up your paper. length is always a definite plus>>

Length is largely immaterial to me. The question is, have you argued your point coherently? Making your paper look larger will not make a difference.

>>2. Make a cover page with a picture. Putting a dumbass picture on there and write out the title. Put a picture that the teacher will think is "cute". She will then think that you are a nice boy and not bust balls.>>

I would think "cheap gimmick".

>>3. Make it professional looking. I usually toss it into a binder. Looks very good. >>

Eh...no real opinion.

>>4. Add Page numbers to the top of the page. Very simple and takes up space and makes it look better. I wouldnt do it if you are significantly lower then the required length though.>>

This is good. It helps me flip back and forth through the paper.

>>5. Always go for the extra page. If your close to the bottom of the page go for another. even ifs just one sentence it helps out.>>

Adding in extraneous sentences will not make your paper stronger. You will sacrifice coherence with little gain.

As you become a more accomplished writer, you will find that the greater challenge is writing concisely, coherently, and with logically air-tight arguments. I'm still working on this myself.

>>When your [sic] writing a paper.... Reply to Thread>>

While I don't grade directly for spelling or grammar, it always helps to get this down-pat, making your paper easier to understand.

ebola
 
^ I dont know how much free time you have OR if you would even want to but I shall ask anyways. I have a last minute paper to write this afternoon about 6 pages long on some stuff relating to the history of the current situation regarding israel and afghanistan/iraq/ area and I totally blanked on it until now. Would you be willing to take a brief look at it to see how you would grade it, i only ask since you say you are grading papers and i respect your posts i have seen.

On topic- Instead of trying to think of ways to cut around actually doing a good chunk of work...do your best and see what you can come up with VS looking for shortcuts first. In all my classes I have always been told the standard is 12 pt basic font with either 1.5 line spacing or double. Only go above or below that font if told to do so. Also most professors are about quality not quanity, so if you are supposed to write a 20 page paper and you write in poorly, someone who writes a 15 page paper may very well get the better grade just because the quality is great and all points were covered completely. :)
 
I teach. Check this out:

1. Size 13 font. Not noticably bigger and beefs up your paper. length is always a definite plus I'd count off. I do notice and can compare to current papers that I have. I also check margins.

2. Make a cover page with a picture. Putting a dumbass picture on there and write out the title. Put a picture that the teacher will think is "cute". She will then think that you are a nice boy and not bust balls. Cute gets you absolutely nothing in my book. If I haven't specified, then you can put a title page, but you'd better make sure that it adheres to the proper style that you should be using. Still won't get you brownie points.


3. Make it professional looking. I usually toss it into a binder. Looks very good. I hate binders. I'd rather you just staple it in the top left hand corner. Although I don't count off for a binder, it reads 'ass-kissing', which just makes me giggle.


4. Add Page numbers to the top of the page. Very simple and takes up space and makes it look better. I wouldnt do it if you are significantly lower then the required length though. If you're putting it in the header it's not really taking up space. Anything that makes it seem as if you're obviously taking up space is going to get points off though.


5. Always go for the extra page. If your close to the bottom of the page go for another. even ifs just one sentence it helps out. As long as it's quality. If it's just crap then that won't help you at all. Also, if I ask for 3-4 pages and you give me 6, that's not great either. More isn't always better.

MY personal recommendations:
1) Make a checklist based on the recommendations given to you by your prof about your paper. Follow those exactly, because that's probably what the grading scale is based on.
2) Don't try to sound overly-scientific, because it comes across sounding like you don't know what you're talking about.
3) Don't assume that your prof doesn't have access to (or knowledge of) all of things that you do. I know what wikipedia is and will fail your ass for copying from it.
 
>>^ I dont know how much free time you have OR if you would even want to but I shall ask anyways. I have a last minute paper to write this afternoon about 6 pages long on some stuff relating to the history of the current situation regarding israel and afghanistan/iraq/ area>>

OT:
I'm by no means an expert on this issue, but I may have a couple minutes to look at it between 2:30 and 4 if you'll have it then. I may get tied up though. Sorry that today is so busy for me. I should also note that I am very new...this is my first term grading essays. Anyway, if you have it by then, feel free to PM it to me...or email it:

[email protected]

>>MY personal recommendations:
3) Don't assume that your prof doesn't have access to (or knowledge of) all of things that you do. I know what wikipedia is and will fail your ass for copying from it.>>

People actually plagarize from fucking Wikipedia? jeez.

>> I hate binders. I'd rather you just staple it in the top left hand corner.>>

You may get a free binder out of it though. :)

ebola
 
You "Hard" teachers on here aint for real though. I do all these things to make a good looking paper. These teachers grade papers from scumbags all day long. Im a good looking male who they think is "sweet".

They want me to do well and they see that i am putting an effort in when i go the extra mile and do these things. Its all about how you play em. And of course teachers dont consciously give better grades for these but first impressions are everything and if you give em a good one there not gonna bust your balls
 
>>You "Hard" teachers on here aint for real though.>>

Naw, nucca....I keeps it real.

>>these but first impressions are everything and if you give em a good one there not gonna bust your balls>>

Given the "embellishments" you note...and given the severe need of commas and misuse of "there" in the sentence from which I extracted this quote, I'm a bit skeptical of how good a first impression you make. ;)

Of course, I'd just be bustin' your balls.

Seriously, though, I'm not a hard-ass. The lowest grade I gave out in the last batch was a C-, and those were rare indeed.

ebola
 
I also have the unfortunate requirement of grading papers/quizzes/exams and seriously, nothing goes down better than good quality work. Tricks will get you nowhere if you can't spell and grammar check, not plagiarise, rigorously defend your argument etc...

What you look like means jack shit.

Are you actually at college, or is this 'advice' for a high school paper...?
 
These are tips for writing a University level paper !?!?!?!

We never put images on the cover page, it's frowned upon, just the title in the center and then the necessities in the bottom right corner (name, student number, date, prof, class, etc...)

We never put anything in a binder, or folder, most prof's look down on that, just a staple in the top left corner. I classy title page with a stapled corner looks much more professional than a binder or clear plastic duotang.

I use size 12 font typically and I do prefer 1.5 spacing to 2.0 spacing. There's too much "white space" with 2.0 for my taste.

Sometimes I'll fiddle with the margins a little but my problem tends to be going over the suggested word count. It's easy to pad a paper, it's hard to distil solid arguments and support into a limited space. Of course this all depends on the course.
 
What bad suggestions, lol.

Most of my professors even hated covers sheets. They wanted to see name, date, class, title on page 1 and then straight into the opening paragraph.
 
and I thought about this last night, while finishing the revision my 9 page research paper...

my english composition II teacher, ONLY teaches this course! She is highly aware of the MLA system and the specs and course requirements of this paper. She grades these essays every semester, and is very familiar with the difference in 12 inch and 13 inch font. Margins the same.

If she didn't ask for a cute lil picture on the cover sheet, my guess is, she's gonna count off, if I include one.
 
anyone else struggle to bring their work below the word limit? it's the bane of my existence, being an overly-verbose wanker :)

i always use up the 101% available; it means i have a lot to learn when it comes to adequately expressing complicated ideas without undue wastage.
 
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