If the experience of grading undergraduate's term papers is anything like the Final Judgment, God is going to be one ticked off and/or depressed Being.
It's not like I didn't tell them exactly what I wanted.
It's not like we didn't have a textbook, and handouts, and in-class modelling exercises.
It's not like I didn't sit for up to six office hours a week answering their questions.
It's not like I didn't give them a self-assessment sheet that said things like "Does every paragraph contain a cited piece of evidence."
So what went wrong?
I feel like the Father in Milton's Paradise Lost sending Raphael to warn Adam of Satan's entrance into Eden:
Tell him withal
His danger, and from whom, what enemy
Late fall'n himself from Heav'n, is plotting now
The fall of others from like state of bliss;
By violence, no, for that shall be withstood,
But by deceit and lies; this let him know,
Lest wilfully transgressing he pretend
Surprisal, unadmonished, unforewarned. (5.238-45)
Did anyone use Wikipedia as a source?
Posted by: Publius | December 17, 2006 at 04:52 PM
No wikipedia yet, although I did have one student cite sparknotes twice in a paper that never actually provided even a single quote from any of the assigned texts. Needless to say, that paper did not fair well.
Posted by: PeterTerp | December 17, 2006 at 07:30 PM
Yep. Found a wikipedia user.
Sigh. Not a good sign.
Posted by: PeterTerp | December 17, 2006 at 09:37 PM