He probably worked really hard on his essays though. You don't need to drive the point this hard.
Got an F on a college essay for swearing?
- Thread starter chronic_archaic
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He probably worked really hard on his essays though. You don't need to drive the point this hard.
GiantBombGamer
Member
He busted one out in 25 mins before it was due, I mean...
I mean what is there to discuss? He screwed up in an incredibly stupid way, and when acting indignant about it submitted some pretty low quality work as an argument for why the professor should be giving him a better grad.
As someone who has to grade a lot of undergrad work..I find this hilarious. Wrong approach to writing OP. But it's not something that cannot be fixed. Takes a bit of time and patience. But you can certainly get better at academic writing. This will help in the future as well for whatever profession you choose. Don't let the grade bother you too much. It's a good life lesson.
That's nice of you. I'd do the same thing in your position, honestly.
SchrodingerC
Member
excelsiorlef
Member
No it's not "even if apparently not ok" , there is no if and no apparently. It is just flat out not ok.
They're refusing, still, to even fully accept that this is common sense and correct (and not censoring their artistic freedom)
I'm not a fan of this line of thinking. It's fine without context, but it's used by both scientists and laymen alike to berate the Humanities, Humanistic Social Sciences, and, to a lesser extent, the other Social Sciences. It's often coupled with not actually looking into what the "fluff" is actually saying. Obviously I'm talking about at the post-graduate level, but I find that people's understanding of a discipline often comes from their experiences with their core class on the topic in college.
I'm also a rapid anti-prescriptivist, much more than I am actively a descriptivist, so I also don't mark off for grammar and the like unless I actually can't parse the paper. So I tell my students that they can be kind of loose with me, but also warn them that they can't take that for granted with their other classes.
I think it's silly that we act like most undergraduate papers are actually just shittier versions of actual research. We need to accept that they serve a different purpose. Part of that is not caring so much about tone and the like.
If that example was the result of hard work then OP needs a wake-up call and desperately. Better he learns he needs help now and finds it than failing out of school and wasting god knows how much money.
Grossly hilarious.
the_darkness
Banned
Honestly man, you gotta come back and let us know what high school is giving out 'A's for this.
chronic_archaic
Member
Time for a confession.
But, I still feel like swearing can be used effectively, but apparently not. Maybe I take Fish (Marillion) and Patti Smith too seriously. But that might explain why I got chewed out that badly. Quite honestly reading it again, it's more like a C, at best. I just wrote what came to my head and... well, that's good but not when you don't even bother reading your work before submitting it.
Oh and I got Evilore to reply to one of my threads. That's another first.
I was drunk when I wrote that essay.
But, I still feel like swearing can be used effectively, but apparently not. Maybe I take Fish (Marillion) and Patti Smith too seriously. But that might explain why I got chewed out that badly. Quite honestly reading it again, it's more like a C, at best. I just wrote what came to my head and... well, that's good but not when you don't even bother reading your work before submitting it.
Oh and I got Evilore to reply to one of my threads. That's another first.
CHUNKYBOWSER
Member
I'm stunned at how bad so many college students are at writing. I spent a good amount of time correcting the barely readable English of my partners' chemistry lab reports.
My man, Patti Smith can do it because she's Patti Smith. That don't mean the rest of us can.
Also, take this shit more seriously.
excelsiorlef
Member
Grow up. Seriously, start being an adult.
Don't complain because you got a bad mark because you wrote a bad essay full of swearing while you were drunk and try to pass it off as your teacher censoring your artistic voice or some other bullshit. You clearly don't actually care about the course, that's cool but that will reflect in your work, so accept that or improve yourself.
And don't act like NeoGAF is out to get you because people won't tell you it's ok to write drunk, write poorly, swear in an essay and then blame "the system" when it turns out to be an F quality paper.
The plot thickens
Forerunner
Member
You deserve that F.
PunishedOkabe
Member
Don't feel too bad OP, I had the same experience when I used some swears to pad out my 200 word essay. Live and learn
One of the best reasons to learn to write well and concisely is to improve your thinking. To have an internal monologue resembling what you just typed is confining if not outright nauseating.
You needed to pad out a 200 word essay?
Regardless of your mental health issues, you are an adult and it's time for you to start acting like one. This means not swearing in your essays and for the love of god, don't write them while plastered.
It doesn't make you an asshole. But immediately jumping to ask if the professor was "biased", I'm not sure against what, or should you just censor yourself is a pretty silly overreaction to what happened. It certainly doesn't paint you in a good light.
You shouldn't just be submitting the first thing that comes into your head, that's honestly a far worse problem and explains the lacking quality of the essay.
Hoho for breakfast
Member
You dropped the F bomb and got one in return.
Chuck Norris
Banned
This got an A-? In college?
I remember getting grilled in grade 10 for my English essays just being basic story summaries that don't really delve into any deeper themes.
Also don't write an essay 25 min before it is due.
TestMonkey
Member
Unfiltered is almost always garbage. Case in point: "Unfiltered as I write how I articulate things in my mind." Editing is 90 percent of good writing.
ded
But yes, only time I ever used swears was in a college creative writing course by a super liberal professor. Any other setting was strictly professional.
Live and learn.
clearestblue
Neo Member
You can start unfiltered as an outline but the final product should be polished and coherent. It may seem stiff and unnatural to you, but, well, it's academia.
LookAtMeGo
Member
*OP gets drunk*
*writes essay in like 30 min*
I think I found out why your essay wasnt very well received.
*writes essay in like 30 min*
I think I found out why your essay wasnt very well received.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
No one cares.
Spikematic
Member
Jesus dude, you need to grow up.
There's a time and a place. This was quite clearly neither. Not noticing that is the bigger problem. Though not accepting it is also a problem.
Don't base your philosophy of writing college papers on singer-song writers. Why would that be the thing to do?
Like I said earlier, I wouldn't give someone an F for swearing, but you should be aware that a specific register of language should be assumed to be expected in most college classes.
No, that's not good for a college paper. That's not good for a secondary level paper either.
Writing well is really really hard. I'm not shocked most people can't do that. Writing passably however is not, and it's always crazy to me just how few college students at a selective university can't, more likely don't want to, write at what I would consider a passable level.
chronic_archaic
Member
I cared enough to watch a 45 minute film in full, spend an hour and a half composing it and bothered to try.
And yeah, I'd love to. I probably don't give a shit about the course, but I was passionate about what I wrote in the moment. That's what I really need, to be passionate. If I'm not, then I'm going nowhere. Regardless of how shit the essay actually is, I still feel accomplished.
I just wanted to point out that conforming to certain rules and structures is not censorship, Ill use music as an example since you are passionate about it.
Personally my favourite type of music is rock/metal, a lot of this type of music has guitar solos etc. Now lets say you were tasked with composing a guitar solo for an existing backing track.
Your writing was the equivalent of composing a solo in the wrong key. Regardless of how passionate or potentially technically proficient you would have to be to compose or play it, its still out of key from the backing track and will thus sound awful and out of tune.
Creativity in writing and music imo shines by how you handle the restrictions placed on the works. Music theory alone should teach you that despite the endless ways you could write a song, they still follow overall rules.
Ive had moments like you had now where I thought I was really good at writing but had a rude awaking. You have to take these things in stride to improve.
I dont major in music so sorry if my example isnt perfect, but I felt it was a suitable comparison.
Personally my favourite type of music is rock/metal, a lot of this type of music has guitar solos etc. Now lets say you were tasked with composing a guitar solo for an existing backing track.
Your writing was the equivalent of composing a solo in the wrong key. Regardless of how passionate or potentially technically proficient you would have to be to compose or play it, its still out of key from the backing track and will thus sound awful and out of tune.
Creativity in writing and music imo shines by how you handle the restrictions placed on the works. Music theory alone should teach you that despite the endless ways you could write a song, they still follow overall rules.
Ive had moments like you had now where I thought I was really good at writing but had a rude awaking. You have to take these things in stride to improve.
I dont major in music so sorry if my example isnt perfect, but I felt it was a suitable comparison.
A lot of high schools don't teach students how to write at all. I know mine didn't.
Passion is all well and good, but if you don't have the skill set then it doesn't matter at all. You can passionately write a book, but that don't mean anyone will care.
Also, restrictions are an important part of any creative act. You can't just fly off randomly. Look at the Blues, it's a very structured musical form and yet there's so much great stuff there. What matters is how you deal with the restrictions, how you work around them and use them to your advantage. You'll find more success if you embrace those restrictions and use them do to work for you instead of ignoring them.
GiantBombGamer
Member
I don't even know what to say to this. Yes, you got drunk watching a film and shat out a paper in 25 mins. Mission accomplished.
You should save feeling accomplished for when you write something good.
brianmcdoogle
Member
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