College at 42-Update

[knittingmomof3]

Hey Everyone! 
 

I’m in my 5th week of college with Thomas Edison State University. I’m taking two classes right now, both required for all students; English Composition 101 and Critical Thinking and Information Literacy. So far I’m crushing it! But my latest paper in the Critical Thinking class scored a 92 which I know is a perfectly acceptable grade but I’m a perfectionist and I’m not content with anything under 98-100 😩😩

Some of the feedback was due to errors in my citations for APA style. I’m still learning what that entails and I’ve ordered the latest edition for reference. I’m also getting used to grading rubrics. This was not a “thing” when I was in high school in the middle 90s. I like the rubrics. But I also see areas where my interpretation is different than what my professor expected. 

Any tips or suggestions from you accomplished students? I have never measured worth through beauty. I like brains and intellect. So this 92 is really making me question my worth. Help!!! 

[Jean in Newcastle]

Good job pursuing higher education!  Sounds like you’re doing great. I think that you need to adjust your thinking. As you pointed out yourself, there is nothing wrong with a 92. Most rubrics I have used have given space for comments. So yo’ve been given feedback on using APA style. Is there a writing center that can help you with that?  All the universities I sm familiar with have one. 

[knittingmomof3]

14 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Good job pursuing higher education!  Sounds like you’re doing great. I think that you need to adjust your thinking. As you pointed out yourself, there is nothing wrong with a 92. Most rubrics I have used have given space for comments. So yo’ve been given feedback on using APA style. Is there a writing center that can help you with that?  All the universities I sm familiar with have one. 

I’m still getting the hang of this. I know TESU offers tutoring. But I’m not aware of a writing center. I will check that out. Thanks! I’m still intimidated to ask more questions of my professors. I’m not sure why. I’m older than both of them 😂🤣😂. Why am I still feeling so intimidated?!? 😩😩😩

[gardenmom5]

38 minutes ago, knittingmomof3 said:

 my latest paper in the Critical Thinking class scored a 92 which I know is a perfectly acceptable grade but I’m a perfectionist and I’m not content with anything under 98-100  

My friend went back for her MS.  She was also a perfectionist when she was younger.  most of the other students were still in their 20s.   But - she had learned.  And her "A" was just as good as their "A". . . . . .  (and she was a single mom with three kids at home.)

[Jean in Newcastle]

Looks like they use the Perdue Owl online wring lab https://www.tesu.edu/academics/academic-integrity/resources

[knittingmomof3]

1 minute ago, gardenmom5 said:

My friend went back for her MS.  She was also a perfectionist when she was younger.  most of the other students were still in their 20s.   But - she had learned.  And her "A" was just as good as their "A". . . . . .  (and she was a single mom with three kids at home.)

That’s a good reminder. Thank you 🥰. I will try to remember that thought. And is it terrible of me to say that I’m APPALLED at the grammar of my classmates and even my professors? There/their/they’re and your/you’re are regularly botched. It’s hurting my eyes. And I’m just starting to need reading glasses. So the combo is making me cry 😢😢😢

I know most people don’t care about that stuff nowadays. I was born in 1979 and I remember whole days in elementary school of drilling on the difference between they’re/their/there and your/you’re. My own children struggle with the differences. I’m living in a Twilight Zone episode…

[knittingmomof3]

4 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Looks like they use the Perdue Owl online wring lab https://www.tesu.edu/academics/academic-integrity/resources

Yes! Both professors keep referencing that source. When I get a paper back, I can see how they graded me according to the rubric, but I can’t see exactly what they are talking about in my paper. So their comments are somewhat helpful, but also not. There is no correcting of the actual paper. Just comments. So they may deduct for grammatical errors but they don’t tell you what your errors actually were. They may tell me how I should have credited a reference but they don’t actually show me what I did wrong. It’s very confusing. I’m old school. I haven’t done school since the mid 90’s. I am used to getting a physical paper back with lots of corrections in red pen. That’s not happening here. 🙈

[gardenmom5]

51 minutes ago, knittingmomof3 said:

That’s a good reminder. Thank you 🥰. I will try to remember that thought. And is it terrible of me to say that I’m APPALLED at the grammar of my classmates and even my professors? There/their/they’re and your/you’re are regularly botched. It’s hurting my eyes. And I’m just starting to need reading glasses. So the combo is making me cry 😢😢😢

 

Yeah-  I recall one of 1ds's high school english teachers.  She accused him of plagiarism because "teens don't write like that". . . . . Then I spoke with her.  blink blink. 1dd had joined me for that parent night as she had recently graduated college with a BA in classics.  she was also blinking . . . . It was clear why this english teacher thought teens "didn't talk that way" . . . . . (she did eventually apologize to him as it was made clear to her, that was all him.)

- though for using the wrong word . . . one of my all-time favorites was ancestor instead of descendant.   

[Frances]

While I think it’s great to push yourself and strive to do your best, I think it’s important to keep in mind what you value more, grades or learning. While they can go together to some degree, looking back on my college and grad school years as a now reformed perfectionist, I wish I would have been able to keep grades in more of a proper perspective. However, if you are aiming for some highly competitive grad program for which you need top grades after after completing your undergrad degree, please feel free to ignore everything I wrote.

And definitely feel free to ask your professors lots of questions. The first year I was a grad school TA, all of my students were older than me. Most good profs and TAs love questions and interacting with students eager to learn and improve.

Edited August 7, 2021 by Frances

[Eos]

My kids all said office hours with the professors are what gave them the best handle on classes, and were also the place to drill down into the feedback.

[pinball]

6 hours ago, knittingmomof3 said:

Hey Everyone! 
 

I’m in my 5th week of college with Thomas Edison State University. I’m taking two classes right now, both required for all students; English Composition 101 and Critical Thinking and Information Literacy. So far I’m crushing it! But my latest paper in the Critical Thinking class scored a 92 which I know is a perfectly acceptable grade but I’m a perfectionist and I’m not content with anything under 98-100 😩😩

Some of the feedback was due to errors in my citations for APA style. I’m still learning what that entails and I’ve ordered the latest edition for reference. I’m also getting used to grading rubrics. This was not a “thing” when I was in high school in the middle 90s. I like the rubrics. But I also see areas where my interpretation is different than what my professor expected. 

Any tips or suggestions from you accomplished students? I have never measured worth through beauty. I like brains and intellect. So this 92 is really making me question my worth. Help!!! 

Way to go!

For APA…you could use a citation generator for the reference page. I like citation machine. You can use this, then compare the output to Purdue Owl’s reference page to make sure there are no mistakes…But it doesn’t really happen often.

use Purdue Owl to produce & check in text citations. This page breaks it down by author type and number:

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_author_authors.html
 

There is another page on Owl with a sample paper that demonstrates how to format the whole paper  ( title paper, headers, etc).

HTH

 

[Carrie12345]

6 hours ago, knittingmomof3 said:

That’s a good reminder. Thank you 🥰. I will try to remember that thought. And is it terrible of me to say that I’m APPALLED at the grammar of my classmates and even my professors? There/their/they’re and your/you’re are regularly botched. It’s hurting my eyes. And I’m just starting to need reading glasses. So the combo is making me cry 😢😢😢

I know most people don’t care about that stuff nowadays. I was born in 1979 and I remember whole days in elementary school of drilling on the difference between they’re/their/there and your/you’re. My own children struggle with the differences. I’m living in a Twilight Zone episode…

I took Eng101 at community college in a fairly wealthy area (so, pulling from well rated high schools) when I was *21*, and even that felt Twilight Zone-y 23 years ago. (Now I’m gonna barf, realizing that was more than half my life ago.). I generally shrug off (and use) shoddy and slang-y English in casual context, but I don’t understand its acceptance in academics.  If nowhere else, shouldn’t an ENGLISH CLASS hold to some standards?

Congrats on how well you’re doing!

[MooCow]

I am also an adult who went back to school again almost 4 years ago. I was pushed by my father to get only A's my entire life and I remember when once I got in A minus in something, my father ignored all the regular A's and yelled at me and said why isn't this A- an A..... I threw away the award I received after I destroyed it. I have a 4.0 GPA right now and I'm due to graduate next semester. It's still very hard for me to accept lower grades, and I put undue pressure on myself. It's really dumb and my daughter likes to remind me (jokingly) D's get degrees. She just graduated from college cum laude and refused the notion that a person needs to get an A in everything. She's been a great example for me especially since the upcoming semester has three really hard classes that I most likely not going to get all A's in,much less one. I don't have any advice on how to let go of the pressure, but I hope that you can let it go.... I'm sure all the wonderful people on this board have some good advice for you. Huge congratulations on your journey!!

Eta: please don't quote.

Edited August 7, 2021 by MooCow

[elegantlion]

15 hours ago, knittingmomof3 said:

I’m still getting the hang of this. I know TESU offers tutoring. But I’m not aware of a writing center. I will check that out. Thanks! I’m still intimidated to ask more questions of my professors. I’m not sure why. I’m older than both of them 😂🤣😂. Why am I still feeling so intimidated?!? 😩😩😩

I felt the same way for a while - started college at 46. I forced myself to visit my professor's office hours or email them (if online) at least once or twice. Once I got comfortable, I talked to them way more. It was helpful. As a TA, I love talking with students outside of the classroom. *I* get to know them better and they can ask all kind of questions. 

As for a 92, that's great. If it's lower than other papers, it's okay to meet with the professor and ask for specifics. Some professors do not give 100% on papers. For the papers I've graded (historical thesis paper), there is generally something that needs improvement - we also use a rubric. The students that ask for help after the first paper generally improve with the 2nd and 3rd. 

I am also a perfectionist so I get it. One of my history professors had the reputation as a tough grader on papers. It took me 2 semesters of upper level courses before I got an A on one of his papers. He also provided very specific feedback, so it helped. 

[Kanin]

I'll be cynical and say that professors are really busy. They probably don't have time to write on your paper. 

 

Grading is subjective, so what is a 92 for one professor is a 100 for another, and an 80 for another....

When you get the degree, nobody cares about grades unless you want to pursue grad school. (And even then, I got into grad school with mediocre grades!)

[sassenach]

18 hours ago, gardenmom5 said:

Yeah-  I recall one of 1ds's high school english teachers.  She accused him of plagiarism because "teens don't write like that". . . . . Then I spoke with her.  blink blink. 1dd had joined me for that parent night as she had recently graduated college with a BA in classics.  she was also blinking . . . . It was clear why this english teacher thought teens "didn't talk that way" . . . . . (she did eventually apologize to him as it was made clear to her, that was all him.)

- though for using the wrong word . . . one of my all-time favorites was ancestor instead of descendant.   

DD has also been accused of plagiarizing for being too well-written. It doesn't last long but it sure is annoying.

[sassenach]

Take more classes. Your standards will go down (i.e. get more reasonable) when you are juggling a heavier schedule. Until then, make like Elsa and let it go!

[dirty ethel rackham]

I don't have anything to add to the excellent advice you've already received.  But, I just wanted to jump in here and offer my congratulations on jumping back in the classroom.  

[Garga]

My husband is an adjunct professor at a local college and he loooooves when the students ask questions—about anything: content/how he grades/whatever. He works full time at the college in the IT department and knows dozens of professors as his peers/coworkers. The professors all loooooove it when the students come to them with questions.

My ds18 is at the college now, and when he gets intimidated about asking his professor something I remind him, “What is dad like when he has students asking him questions? He’s in heaven! He loves it! Go ahead and ask the professor your question. 99% of the time, they love the interaction with the students.”

Don’t be afraid to talk to them and ask them your questions. 

I work with the training staff at my company and they’re the same way. They love it when their coworkers come to them with questions. It’s why they work as trainers. And it’s why people become professors. I’m sure there are cranky professors out there, but most of them want to see their students succeed and want to share their knowledge with their students.

[Lori D.]

22 hours ago, knittingmomof3 said:

...They may tell me how I should have credited a reference but they don’t actually show me what I did wrong...

Here's the APA In-Text Ciitations Basics at Owl at Purdue. They show an example for every type of source you might ever cite or quote.

And if you don't see what you need, do an online search using these words: "hHow do I do APA in-text citations for __________" (fill in the blank with whatever is your source or your question about the source).

My guess that this means they are looking for you to cite *everything* that is not directly your writing -- which is your topic sentences for each body paragraph, and your commentary/analysis sentences. There is a tendency for teachers to want students to go "cite-crazy" (lol, JMO), and pretty much cite every single sentence in each body paragraph that has any piece of evidence or support for the topic of that paragraph. Especially anything that is rewritten in your own words that came from another source MUST be credited with an in-text citation.

If all of the evidence in one of your body paragraphs is coming from the same source, then APA does not want you citing every sentence (unless each is from a different source. See this short 1-page explanation, that also gives the example of how to phrase things to make it clear that you ARE still using the same source. Because that might be what the professor is marking down -- you are not citing because it is from the same source, but it's not clear in your writing that it is the same source.

22 hours ago, knittingmomof3 said:

... When I get a paper back, I can see how they graded me according to the rubric, but I can’t see exactly what they are talking about in my paper. So their comments are somewhat helpful, but also not...

Time to schedule an appointment to see them during their office hours, bring in the papers, and ask for specific clarification. Tell them exactly what you just told us here. 😄 
 

 22 hours ago, knittingmomof3 said:

... I am used to getting a physical paper back with lots of corrections in red pen. That’s not happening here. 🙈

 

With 1 instructor that DS#2 had, he would get a paper back with a horizontal LINE drawn in the margin... NO explanation, no correction, no example...???!!! Like, what the heck does _______________ mean??


CONGRATS on the successful return to college, and BEST of luck as you pursue your degree! 😄 Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

[gardenmom5]

17 hours ago, sassenach said:

DD has also been accused of plagiarizing for being too well-written. It doesn't last long but it sure is annoying.

especially when it's because said teen is better written/has a better vocabulary. . . . . oh, my.