Scenario
1
Marcia
has been assigned a subject for her term paper she finds boring
beyond belief.
For weeks
she's avoided doing any work on it because she's annoyed at having to write about something that doesn't interest
her. There are ten days left to do the assignment and she's
considering buying something from a paper mill just to have
it over with. What would you advise her to do?
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You could suggest to Marcia:
• Check
with the professor to see if she can change the topic.
(7)
• Discuss
with a tutor how to personalize the topic if it can't be changed
(7)
• Resign
herself to writing the paper and think about how good it will
feel to have it finished. (7)
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Scenario 2
Stuart is
really excited about his paper on the cultural connections between
Jazz and Rap. Unfortunately,
he hasn't been able to start writing because each time he reads
something new his focus changes. Stuart is starting to freak out
and is tempted to just paste together some stuff off websites
he's found so he has something to hand in. You're his friend,
what do you tell him?
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If you were Stuart's friend
you could:
•
Tell him don't do it. His professor can easily search the
web and find the sites he plagiarized.
• Reassure
him that choosing a theme is often a difficult part of the
writing process. Suggest he visit the Writing Center on Campus
for help in moving to the next stage of writing his paper.
•Suggest
he brainstorm ideas, then choose one main idea or argument
to condense into a paragraph. Then he could diagram or outline
the major points and start writing!(6)
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