paper markingAs a theology professor I end up marking a lot of papers. The process is not really that difficult – however, a poorly written/formatted paper can take me three or four times as long to evaluate as a paper that follows a few simple rules. Believe me, there is nothing to gain from making a professor work hard simply to determine if you understood the concepts enough to pass a paper. In addition, as I often teach first year courses, I do take it on myself to help students write well. So I thought I would capture some of the more common problems that I run into as a head start for students wishing to get great marks.

1) Read The Question

Nothing makes marking more difficult than when a student ignores part or all of an assigned essay question. Before I mark even one paper I will take the assigned question and create a rubric or marking scheme. This rubric will include all the key concepts – dividing up the points for the demonstration of understanding for each concept. What a professor is trying to determine is not how creative you can be, but that you are able to understand and to articulate the concepts from the course.

A great strategy to demonstrate having read the question is to make an outline and to check each part of that outline against the question. An outline should be a series of simple sentences ordered to accomplish a goal. The outline also dictates what you should include in your introduction and conclusion. The introduction tells the reader what you are going to do and the conclusion sums up what you actually did in the paper. An outline not only keeps your project on track, but it can be checked against the question to make sure that you are covering all of the points needed and not spending time on points irrelevant to the question asked.

2) Write Academically

Writing an academic paper is about expressing precision and clarity. The language you use is an important part of being precise and clear. Good writing is actually hard work. It involves thinking about each sentence and asking if the sentence demonstrates adequate understanding of the subject.

One common problem that students run into is missing steps between ideas, how does one idea get you to the next? In the paper this looks like they have shifted topics mid-paragraph. The thing is the arguments are connected in our heads, but we simply push them out onto the paper and sacrifice clarity. Nine times out of ten I can ask the student a few question and find out they actually know how the ideas connect, but at that point the paper has already been marked. Remember a professor can only mark what is on the page.

What works in casual conversation will not work in an academic paper. For example, it does not matter how many articles you have skimmed online about Karl Barth, you are not on a first name basis with him. Think formal and handle the ideas in your paper with respect. Most professors have invested many years of hard study to deliver their courses, so how you set the tone of your papers matters.

Here are a few common writing problems that should be avoided in formal academic writing:

  • Do not use contractions.
  • Do not assume your clever turn of phrase will convey the meaning you intend, write plainly what you desire to communicate.
  • Avoid gendered language when talking about humanity.
  • Avoid gendered language when talking about the Divine. The big problem here is that we do pay enough attention to the language we use, especially when talking about God. I have no problem with choosing certain god-talk language based on carefully articulated theological reasons – but no undergraduate student has this luxury. (If you want an example of how to articulate a justification for gendered god-talk Miroslav Volf makes such a case in Exclusion and Embrace.)
  • Check your spelling and your grammar. If you are not using a modern word processor many of the schools have student writing services that are there to help you improve your writing skills. Even after you do satisfy the word processor’s spelling and grammar checks, it is always a good idea to read your paper aloud to make sure you have the right correctly spelled words (bellow and below are both spelled correctly, but mean very different things) and that your grammatically correct sentences say what you actually intend for them to say.

3) Cite Strategically

It is really important that you cite any material that you use. However, many students seem to believe that citing is for direct quotations. I actually discourage the use of a lot of direct quotations. It might well be that the scholar you are citing expresses an idea far more elegantly than you, but direct quotes do not demonstrate your understanding. A better strategy is to put those ideas into your own words and then cite the source. By integrating the ideas into your prose you demonstrate your own understanding of the ideas.

4) Use The Style Guide

And on the topic of citations, please use the Style Guide for your professor’s faculty. I realize this can be a pain, but not much is worse than a system of citation marks that does not do what they need to do. In the faculty of theology where I teach we use footnotes (Turabian/Chicago)  which allow me, as the reader, get right to the page you are citing from to see how you drew the conclusions you have drawn. Yes, we do use those citation marks when we evaluate your papers. The Style Guide will also tell you what kind of front matter is expected, proper font type and size, as well as how to construct a bibliography for large papers. As a bonus, the faculty usually chooses a citation style based on its journal, so if you write a paper that a professor feels could be turned into a publishable article you will not have to spend time reformatting your paper for their journal.

5) Spell Your Professor’s Name Correctly

I know this one sounds a bit strange, and perhaps it is my vanity speaking. You should know that most of your professors are at least a little vain. So getting their name right sets the tone you want when they read your paper. Sometimes it is the little things that can make the biggest difference.

This is a post I’ve been meaning to finish for over a year now. I plan on doing some videos about academic life and work. One of the things I enjoy most is seeing students grow in their understanding and ability to communicate that understanding. It is a beautiful thing.

The picture is from a recent bout of marking for the course on revelation and faith I am currently teaching. No identifying details remain, but my name is spelled correctly.