Be brief, succinct and to the point
Write a quick entry, mainly because I haven't made one for so long.
A day off from lectures, writing yet another essay in what feels like an interminable list. I complete one and check the word count, hmmm..a bit long, just check what the upper limit was, was it - 3000 to 3500, or 3500, no more than 4000, max?
Shriek of despair: I have written '2000' at the top of the typed list of essay questions. How could this be? How could I be expected to cover Le Corbusier, his career highlights and development, the discrepancy between his ideas and buildings, referring to 4 buildings from different periods of his career, all in relation toVers une architecture, his mission statement---in 2000 words.
no, no, no....
The misunderstanding arose because in Archaeology, if 'modules' are taken at different levels, different assessments and therefore, different word limits for essays, apply and I had assumed the same applied to History of Art. Now I await the definitive word from the lecturer, but I suspect I shall have to eviscerate the poor essay and downsize it to the new acceptable short version. The sound-bite-sized essay which the new modular system requires: quick and easy to read for the lecturers, a nightmare for the writer to produce something comprehensible and reasonably comprehensive without descending to a purely schematic version.
We shall see; I do hope she hasn't gone away, this week is a reading week - no lectures in that subject....
A day off from lectures, writing yet another essay in what feels like an interminable list. I complete one and check the word count, hmmm..a bit long, just check what the upper limit was, was it - 3000 to 3500, or 3500, no more than 4000, max?
Shriek of despair: I have written '2000' at the top of the typed list of essay questions. How could this be? How could I be expected to cover Le Corbusier, his career highlights and development, the discrepancy between his ideas and buildings, referring to 4 buildings from different periods of his career, all in relation toVers une architecture, his mission statement---in 2000 words.
no, no, no....
The misunderstanding arose because in Archaeology, if 'modules' are taken at different levels, different assessments and therefore, different word limits for essays, apply and I had assumed the same applied to History of Art. Now I await the definitive word from the lecturer, but I suspect I shall have to eviscerate the poor essay and downsize it to the new acceptable short version. The sound-bite-sized essay which the new modular system requires: quick and easy to read for the lecturers, a nightmare for the writer to produce something comprehensible and reasonably comprehensive without descending to a purely schematic version.
We shall see; I do hope she hasn't gone away, this week is a reading week - no lectures in that subject....
posted by ruth @ 6:21 AM
2 Comments:
At 10:42 AM,
Tony said…
I sympathise, but many student 4,000-word essays would probably be better at half the length, wouldn't they? And practice with précis is always useful.
This is just to wind you up.
At 1:04 AM,
ruth said…
Absolutely true, Tony. Unable to contact the lecturer immediately, I panicked and started to cut chunks from the essay. When she did contact me, she said that since the word limit had not been clear, she would accept my essay as written. Now I am on the horns of a dilemma - is the shortened version the better of the two? I suspect it is...which shall I deliver?
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