Comments on: Undergrad Seminar: How long should this paper be?

By: Tony Waters

Tony Waters — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:17:29 +0000

PS. I just realized that my last comment was posted as “anonymous” because I am at an odd computer.

The best piece of advice in Mark’s posting here is that if there is any confusion in your mind about length, etc., talk to the instructor! That is what we are there for. Too many students fail to bring questions like this–don’t worry they are legitimate questions, even if we may give what sounds to you like a round about answer. But, always ask!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:14:09 +0000

I sometimes give a purposely mixed message. In a perfect world, the answer is “when you have made the argument well for the question you are answering.” One way to really shock students is to tell them that they have asked an excellent question, and they will surely answer it well in the course of writing their disseratation! This is not really what they have in mind when they write a term paper.

The concrete part of my answer is to tell them to identify a really narrow point which can be answered in a fixed number of pages. This helps students with their own anxieties, and means that my own grading load is kept under control. Occassionally, I will get a really good student who wants to do more, and also has a good narrow question which requires “more.” Then I relax the page limit. sometimes I arrange for them to get independent study units, as well.

The last student I did this with wrote a really excellent paper about Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol” and social theory.

As for graduate students (or senior honors undergrads), as Mark indicates, instructions of page length can and should be a bit vaguer. Hopefully, by the time the student reaches these levels, they have a better sense about asking manageable questions which can be answered in the course of a good term paper.

By: mark

mark — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:44:01 +0000

Ah the joys of anthropology. People have difference experiences. I was rarely given that bit of information as an undergrad or in graduate school. It was (at the time) a question the often visibly offended the instructor and something people knew not to ask. Nice to hear that there are people out there giving students the needed information. When I taught I always gave a pretty specific set of expectations, including length.

By: Dylan

Dylan — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:59:04 +0000

I agree with Donna. I have never assigned a paper without a specific length. It is also odd the blog author assumes all instructors fail do this when in my experience the majority of them clearly state the length for essays in both the syllabus and in-class discussion.

Is there something the author is not telling us about their own experience of being a teacher or student? Did you not go to the teaching seminars? Have grumpy professors?

By: Donna

Donna — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:37:45 +0000

I have never assigned a paper without a specific length. There is always a minimum and a maximum. It is always on the assignment that I hand out and talk through with my students. I can’t imagine an instructor doing otherwise. Length is part of the assignment–what I expect from a 5-6-page paper is very different from what I expect from a 10-12 page paper.