College Comp

The pressure is mounting - as are the books - for more than a few of my College Comp students as the deadline large research paper looms.

I was so proud of the stacks of books greeting me at the beginning of the class period, that I had to grab a few pictures as proof!







A handful have started well in advance and should breeze right through it. They've certainly been prepared (persuasive paper, literary analysis, and comparison paper). Now it's just time to put all of that together.

A handful, though, have put it off. I'm worried about them.

I've warned them time and again about procrastination. But it's been of little use.

I have a theory about this - as one who has procrastinated his share of papers. If a student starts well in advance, there is a lot of pressure on them to do well. I mean if you start three weeks in advance, you had better earn an A.

But if you procrastinate and leave it until the night prior to the due date, well, then there is also a lot of pressure. However, that pressure is eased by the fact that you no longer feel pressure to get an A. You just feel pressure to get the damn thing done. And when you're in that position, it's a fair trade.

I shared with the class my worst experience with writing a paper.

Ironically, it was in one of the best classes I ever had at BSU: Jerry Schnabel's Victorian England.

I aced the mammoth mid-term, so I was in great position. All I had to do was finish my paper and do well on the final and I'd have my A.

I started the paper, which called for us to choose several prominent Victorians from the various books we read and analyze how they possessed several traits that made Queen Victoria great. Wow!

I read the books. I even read other books that I found from reading the first round of books. I started at least two weeks early.

But I didn't have a clear idea of where I wanted to go.

Had Schnabel not made the paper a clear, thesis-support format, I'd have been able to come up with something really creative and original. But I was playing by a new set of rules.

I just couldn't write my way to understanding. I had to have that damned thesis done ahead of time and then prove it.

The only problem was I didn't have a clue about my thesis. Worse yet, every time I came close to getting it down, I'd end up changing it!

Finally, it was the day before it was due and I drove to Bemidji bright and early with less than an introduction under my belt.

I went to Target to get some new ink cartridges for my typewriter (they were on they way about, but I was hoping to just type it up and get it done). I spent much of the day writing and writing and writing.

But I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere.

Finally, around seven in the evening I got serious. I bought several large bottles of Mountain Dew, began making pots of coffee, and took a few ephidrine tablets.

By two am I began trying to type the blasted thing, but I was so wired that I kept screwing up (after all no labs were open on campus that late).

It was no use going to bed, so I just kept trying to type it and fine tune my rough draft.

Ultimately, at 8 am I trekked on over to the computer lab in Decker (I think that's where it was) with about 25 pages of tablet paper scrunched up in a folder.

I grabbed a computer and began typing up my final draft, editing and revising as I went.

I was in the zone typing. I had to be in class around ten, so I didn't have a lot of time to take my pages and pages of scribbles and pack them into an 8-12 page paper.

My friend Harry even sat down next to me and talked to me for a bit (though I don't recall this. I only remember running into him a day later and Harry mentioning something about talking to me the day before. I had no recollection! I shouldn't have had those ephidrine pills).

I finished with a few minutes left to spare to run over to Hagg-Sauer and make it to class and get the paper in on time.

The paper was terrible. I recall getting it back with a red "80/100 B-" on it.

That wasn't so bad. I knew I still could pull off an A for a final grade if I did well on the final. And I did just that.

However, waiting until the night before the paper was due put so much pressure on me that, ultimately, the B- was offset by the fact that I was so relieved it was done and I could sleep again (actually, I was so wired that I didn't sleep for another 12 hours or so).

Worse still, the guy sitting next to me got his paper back and it had - emblazoned in the same red marker - the score of "100/100 A+" on the cover!

I swore then I'd earn that score one day from Schnabel before I left BSU.

Well, I had the chance a year later when I took World Religions from him.

The only problem was I screwed up on the mid-term, earning a B.

The pressure was really on then since I'd have to ace the paper and earn an A on the final.

This time, though, I had a great thesis. In fact, I had a great intro and first 2/3's of my paper. It's just that I had a bit of trouble proving the third detail of my thesis and it kind of fell apart.

I was so crushed that I almost apologized when I turned the paper in.

I knew an A was out of the question. So I didn't stress myself out studying for the final, figuring that a B on the paper and the mid-term was just too deep of a hole and no matter how well I did on the final I was not going to climb out.

However, when I sat down for my final exam, Schnabel handed me my paper back and smiled and shook my hand.

There on the cover of my paper was "100/100 A+"! I was never so happy and so devastated at the same time.

I had aced a paper like I had promised myself (I suspect all Schnabel did was check that I had a strong thesis and then breezed through the paper checking my topic sentences and citations); however, there was no way I'd earn an A in the class because I knew I couldn't earn an A on the final!

I still have that paper somewhere too.

I just hope my College Comp kids don't have to stress out like that. I hope they can rejoice in their grades too, the way I did on that last paper.