Spell check cures cancer.



Friend's who can read can also help. Before turning papers in, make a buddy do a once-over.

LOL @ friend's

Thanks mezo, extra thanks tasha.

IT IS BEAUTIFUL, TASHA!

Its snowing.



Anyway I cant sit on my bum feeling sorry for myself, if there was ever a time to kick my arse into action this is the time.



I have two 10 - 12 page essays due on the 3rd of december, a critical annalysis due on the 4th of december plus all my practical stuff I have to do.

Any essay longer than a page makes me get an instant ulcer.



What the heck is your major, stubbs?

I'm sure that there is a writing lab at your school. Go there before every essay they are unbelievably helpful. Thay will bring your grades up. Also talk to your teachers. They will also help with papers and is shows them you are trying to improve. most profs will give you points for effort.

i failed uni. it's what made me the badass i am today. keep your chin up.

I have two, one I have to write a documentary and compare it to existing ones and also use refferences so not so bad (I've decided to write about the threadless community though I havent decided the angle).



the other one I'm not looking forward to is a study of charlie chaplin and the star system in hollywood, this is for the teacher who everyone hates and some people avoid going to his lecture.



once I'm out of all this shit its finals, I'm not used to this, this is a huge step up from the uk.



I cant afford to fail uni, my parents will kill me and it'll make imigration to canada almost impossible.

Oh and I dont have access to a writing workshop cause there all on strike.

I know you don't know me, stubby, but if you ever need anyone else to edit a paper, I'm willing to help- I'm a stickler for grammar and spelling (and I'm an English major). : )

don't feel too bad, i failed out of community college. They even sent me a letter asking me not to apply the next year.

I'm here for you too!

I hate writing essays. I'm scientifically minded, and like to so sums and stuff. Things that have a right answer. I'm no good at making shite up and padding it out. That's why I learned the dewey decimal system, so It never have to speak to real people ever again.

The green line of insight will help.... if the sentence has the green pox make time to take a closer look. Means you have to take a little extra time. So does getting a friend to read over it because they all have deadlines too don't they?



Borrow a clear book from the library on writing/grammar etc. Pin next to your computer a few examples of things you get mixed up on then it is a quick reference and saves you time.



Is the spelling because you are rushing and didn't do a final spell check?

Or is it because it is mix ups like there/their (in which case see my previous para)



A book a lecturer recommended to me is "The elements of style" by Strunk and White. He says he still uses it after an entire academic career. Who am I to argue? See if you can borrow it from the library (an American book, the uni library is sure to have it).



It is tough. I feel for you. I have had a hard slog to improve and it has taken a lot of extra effort like borrowing books on writing style and using them.

I just looked at my essay through word again and the only spelling mistakes that come up are the names of people I've quoted and theres almost no green lines but on the paper he handed back to me I can barely see my writing.



I imagine I'll do well/ok on my documentary but I doubt I'll do well on the chaplin question because hes an english proffessor first and marked it that way.

i think you have to flunk a few classes before you can really take it seriously.

But the uk system works differently, we get given our classes and we just do a straight degree, if I fuck up a class in the UK thats basically it, I can re write essays and hopefully scrape through, or I can work extra hard in my other classes but when we say were in university for three years thats it, if we fuck up enough we have to drop out and start from scratch.

This is an example of how he marked it:













And heres his comentary:







He marks me down for miss spelling Arnheim's name yet I spell it exactly how he does, I just forgot to put an apostrophe in.





the rest of the essay is on my flickr:





scanned

how can the disability center go on strike?





that's like doctors decide to not treat patients or something

I know but the thing is their union went on strike, there counted as general workers along with cleaners, security, gym managers and the equipment room (so as a film major we've been un able to get a hold of equipment or use the dark room), the strike looks like it wont end before I leave in december.

Well, forgetting to put in an apostrophe is a mistake. I say this without knowing anything about you or your personal difficulties with writing a paper, but sometimes I think that a grade like this can do a student a favor. It can really hurt you to be writing with run-on sentences, improper capitalization, and other errors that show you have a serious lack of writing experience or proofreading ability. Something like this certainly forces a student to take such a problem seriously. That said, it sounds terribly unfair that you are not able to find the help you need in your school. Have you mentioned this to your professor? I would suggest that you ask him or an administrator if you can have some leeway given the strike that's going on... You shouldn't be penalized for such an event.



There are probably places you can find online that will help you with writing a paper, and people here are already offering. Were I better trained, I would offer you assistance, and I'm sure I could to some degree, but hopefully there are others with more experience. I wish you the best. Try not to stress out too much. You're obviously a capable writer, but you have to work at it. I hope things work out for you, and I'm sorry if I sounded harsh.

So it seems like he mostly took off for all your technical mistakes? That would be lame, but at least those are easily fixable- otherwise, it seemed like he liked your essay (I just read the 1st page and commentary).

From one who has had her a** kicked repeatedly by markers.....I looked and took the time to type up a few things.



You make a lot of points in brackets as though they are an aside. They are good points and should form the body of your work, your main arguments. You are doing well. Don't be disheartened.



His letter was harsh :( .... mean stuff about "in all my 20 years" would have upset me too.



Sadly, you got him offside by putting the essay question at the beginning when that wasn't the presentation he wanted. To us students it seems minor but you don't want to cheese the marker off by doing that (ditto a wrong font or whatever).



Also, you start with a personal opinion (academics are narky about that) by saying "It is always tempting to ...." would have been stronger to state:

"It has been asserted silent film is the weaker medium (insert your reference). More recent releases with sound have eclipsed the importance of earlier silent releases (hope to god to find a ref). 'The Jazz Singer', purported to be the first sound film (insert ref ), ....continue the point....blah"



Someone I know tried to cheer me up by saying she is doing a PhD and *still* isn't allowed to have an original thought.



It didn't cheer me up all that much at the time.



But it did show me that you have to back up what you say...that makes it academic writing (demon that it is!).



Some things are no big deal to fix babe, like Capitalise movie names. That isn't a tricky grammatical principle it just shows you took the time and markers like all that stuff. It will work to your advantage because if you make sure markers don't have to notice all that little stuff they will notice how great your ideas are :)



The ideas belong to Anheim so use an apostrophe s

Anheim's ideas

Anheim's work

Anheim's findings .......... etc



eg: "Here's his commentary" from one of your recent posts should have an apostrophe s.



One of my very first essays had two charming comments;

"Learn to write properly" & "This is a pain to read"

I feel your pain :(

lol @ "their on strike"

A few people have picked up on that their/there/they're thing..... maybe you need the Strunk and White book (Nov 21 '07 at 3:44pm) or to pin up some standard rules near your computer. Blogging can hone your skills.



My friend says we read with whole word recognition so don't need to spell correctly since our eye fills in the gaps. But using the wrong word changes the meaning so it is important. And other people will notice the difference.



Especially when she emails me and says "bare with me" (eek!) instead of "bear with me" !

Spelling and grammatical errors are fixable - you just need to allow some time for serious proofreading, if not by yourself then by friends who know what they're doing. Post your work here if you have to; provided it's not too long I'm sure most bloggers wouldn't begrudge you some feedback and pointers.



A couple of thoughts:



Keep your sentences short wherever possible. They sound punchier and more importantly, are easier to manage.



Use brackets sparingly, and try not to stick such a lot into them. And always remember to finish off your original sentence - it needs to make sense even without the bracketed content.

Bummer man. Add me to the list of people happy to do some proofreading if it's needed.

Whoa, thanks guys it means alot, knowing strangers are willing to help. Thanks for the advice and tips I just need to suck it up and get on with the work.

don't worry the world needs ditch diggers too =p



umm... hmm...



sorry i was just being a dick... actually it sounds like some good advice so far really



also.. I know for me.. getting my head in the game and really focusing on school made a huge improvement.

Seriously man at least half of uni is persistence. If your teacher is right and you are actually going to need to use written communication a lot it may be worth picking up a style guide or doing a short course grammar or intro to writing or whatever but otherwise just keep at it.

Ah Phil! chin up, if you need a hand proof reading, just email me. The other thing I was thinking of is does the uni have a style guide you could access? That may help a little too. Possible mentor student tutor? It could work wonders....

if it makes you feel any better i might not be able to take my final pre-req class that i need in order to take any film classes next semester because of one essay in my class that's required to take the final class (still following?)



im really bad at formal writing as well.

well not so much that i'm terrible at it as i get super anxious and avoid it like crazy because i have such a hard time getting started that i freeze up and just cant think to write to save my life (or my grade)



and in one of my classes i had an essay worth 25% of my grade and i have to pass that class with at least a C to go on...i turned in my essay like 3 weeks late so minus 30 points...luckily i made a 54 (that sounds so awful) - that's an 84 minus the 30 points...so now i have to make an A on my final...so i've got that to worry about...



so best of luck phil, i feel you.



-k.

Also, is it possible to resubmit this essay sans mistakes? I did that a few times at uni when I got lower marks than I wanted for essays. I imagine not all universities would allow that but find out just in case, that way the higher mark is recorded not the lower.

My friend says we read with whole word recognition so don't need to spell correctly since our eye fills in the gaps. But using the wrong word changes the meaning so it is important. And other people will notice the difference.



This is a good point. Most of the world does not use the 'dont have to spell correctly' thing, it is a relatively new thing, NOT for established academic institutions.

He's letting me its just with all the other stuff I have to do by early december, well its just too much.

Oh and thanks for your support guys it means alot, my goal now is to do very well on these two main essays.

Cool. Try and find a mentor, or a fellow student tutor.

Aristarchus??? where are you???? hehehehe

lol in bed like a sensible canadian, I'm heading off in a few minutes, I'm feeling alot better I just need to get organised and buckle down.

Ah thats good. Like xiv mentioned above, sometimes a failure makes you pull your socks up. =)

It's terrible that he seems to have marked you down so poorly based only on style and spelling mistakes, as he seems to say your essay makes good points, including some that many of your classmates did not notice. But on the bright side, so many people are willing to help you deal with those dumb mistakes that, if that's the main reason you're failing, you should get a big improvement in your grades if you take their help.

The scary thing is that your paper probably would have gotten an A in America based on content. If you are using Microsoft Word to type your papers, turn on the automatic spelling and grammar checking feature. Word will underline the things it thinks are wrong, and is particularly good at spotting run-on sentences. And do use your friends to help you proofread.

You also might ask the professor if you can do something that will cause him to raise your grade.

Your content was obviously good, it's just the grammar that lets you down. That said, at university level they expect you to be able to construct a sentence properly.



Someone mentioned a book earlier, but there are few out there on writing for university and essay writing in general. Probably getting someone to proof read it would be the best thing for you. You can often have blindness to your own errors, and spell check does not pick up everything. If someone else had marked it for you firt, you'd have got a better mark.



I'm grammer is not by any means great, but I'd be happy to look over stuff for you.

I laughed at your marker using "Way too many".



"I'm grammer is not by any means great"



You can say that again, debbie. ;)

LOL!



That's not grammar, that's typing. I changed my mind between "I'm not that great" and "my grammar is not that great". My typing and handwriting are terrible because they cannot keep up with my brain.

I might be in the minority here, however, I happen to think that your professor wasn't too far off by grading you so low.



In all seriousness, in the future, you need to have someone else proofread your papers (offer them money or they may never do it again). Also, start paying attention to spelling, grammar, and punctuation usage when reading and pay special attention to those things when writing. Even in your posts here there are so many grammatical and punctuation mistakes it is difficult to read what you're trying to say (which is really your teacher's main point - you aren't communicating well in this medium).



You need to look back at the basics of grammar and sentence structure. With that said, we all get better with practice. Chalk this one up to experience and learn from your lessons.

lessons/mistakes :). see, we all need to proofread more carefully.

Use more commas and less brackets.



There's my two pence.

Also, if it's any consolation, I'm failing.