How to Play the Game Even When the Rules Change

When it comes to writing in an academic sense, especially when it comes to writing for a
grade, it can get confusing because each professor grades completely differently. I am an English major which means I do a lot of writing in my schooling. I have seen all sorts of different grading and rubric styles from all sorts of professors, even the ones who teach those dreaded Gen Ed classes. With all this variation in how writing is graded, it gets very tricky to navigate your own writing. When a paper would get an A from one professor and a C from another, writing really starts to seem impossibly confusing. There is a way, though, to view your writing that will generally help you with navigating each professor’s requirements.

The way I see it, and bear with me, writing can be related to playing basketball; specifically a comparison between the NBA and a pickup game of basketball. An NBA game and a pickup game have, more or less, the same rules. You have to dribble the ball, there are two teams, you have to shoot the ball in the hoop to get any points, and (depending on the pickup game) you cannot tackle members of the opposing team. However, in pickup games you define your own three-point line, you call your own fouls, and can choose to play with baskets worth one and two points as opposed to the classic two and three. There are similarities and differences in the rules and the same goes with
writing. No matter what professor you have or what your rubric says, there are some  rules to writing that are never going to vary. A run-on sentence will never change definition, nor will a comma, or a colon, or even a semicolon. Introductions will always stay introductions and conclusions will follow suit. However, things definitely do change from professor to professor. Paper length and layout depend both on the professor and the assignment, the way you cite your sources will change with the paper, the source, and the class, and the style of writing will vary from a personal essay to an academic research paper.

So, with all these changing rules, how can you possibly still play the game? My personal advice: follow the rubric. Professors make rubrics for a reason, they want you to follow them so they can give you the best grade possible. Rubrics will tell you page count, writing style, and even what ideas to include in your paper. The rubric makes the rules, no matter what, much like the commissioner of the NBA and the person who owns the hoop in a pickup basketball game. If the rubric gets confusing and the rules remain unclear, do not worry, we have a writing center that can help you (which remains open during all this quarantine business).

 

 

Contributed by: Max Marten, Writing Center intern