Think Like a Professor

One of the biggest complaints I've heard from students is that they don't understand what their professors want when it comes to essays. These students spend days agonizing over assignments, working late into the night to meet a page length requirement, only to receive C's and D's for their efforts.

Thankfully, this problem has an easy solution: think like a professor.

Every time a professor sits down to grade an essay, he or she will look to see if several criteria have been met:

#1. The student has fully addressed the writing prompt.

This sounds simple, but you would be surprised how many students write pages of material that don't even come close to fulfilling the assignment. I once tutored some history students on a four part book review assignment: (1) summary of the book's main points, (2) discussion of the book's strengths and weaknesses, (3) critique of the book's format, and (4) critique of the book's sources. Most of the students came to me with drafts that addressed parts one and two, but excluded parts three and four. Their professor was not a happy woman. Neither were her students when they saw their grades.

#2. The student has provided solid, well-documented research to support the essay's thesis.

Professors want specific information in a well-reasoned format. Personal opinions and generalizations won't cut it. Neither will quotes from Billy Bob's Quick Facts Site (otherwise known as Wikipedia).

#3. The essay is well-organized, flows logically, and is easy to understand.

Contrary to popular belief, professors aren't adept at interpreting gibberish. If you don't know what you're trying to communicate, they won't either.

#4. The student used proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

I've seen countless students fail essays over bad grammar. It's a big deal, and not just with English professors. The theory is that sixth-grade English skills shouldn't be a problem for someone writing at the college level.

#5. The essay is formatted with the correct margins, font type and size, and research documentation style (MLA, APA, etc.).

Blowing up the font size or widening the margins to stretch your essay to the required length is a death sentence. Even if your professor is literally blind, he or she will not be fooled.

Adhering to documentation style is crucial as well. A source's format communicates what type of source it is (book, journal, Web site) so that it can be quickly located and verified. If your professor cannot verify your research, he or she might assume you have invented or plagiarized the information--which usually comes with an automatic "F".

And that, my friends, is what you should keep in mind when approaching any writing assignment. In future posts, I will be discussing each of these points in detail, showing you how to write clear, simple sentences; how to write stellar thesis statements; how to quickly organize your essay's main points; and so on. Stay tuned!