This is a philosophical reflection on the opposing struggles essay authors find themselves in. It is simultaneously a means of procrastinating confronting one of these very same struggles. It's like bottled water; good for you and good for the economy (while simultaneously being the bane of the environment - I am great with analogies).
So you start writing a paper that needs to be a relatively daunting 6'000 words.
After 2 days of work, near completion, you could be in one of two positions.
You could be running a word defecet. Your brilliant argument has run its course through to an infallible and thoroughly supported conclusion and, yet, you are somehow 1'000 words short. Anything else you would be adding would just be verbose nonsense, and you run the risk that your professor will notice that fact. Any other arguments you could think to include would be tacked on and not as thoroughly researched or integrated. And we all know that, no matter what is said to the contrary, if your paper turns out to be sub-par, it had better be sub-par and long, at least suggesting you put an effort in, than look like a half-baked work of sheer sloth.
Alternatively, you could have a serious surplus. You have reached the required word count, but you are still a 1'000 words, minimum, away from reaching your conclusion. To reach the word count you had philosophized and researched such a variety of topics, structured the paper to include them in logical progression, and then realize your desire to be thorough and well informed has left you without your kitchen sink. And how will you do your dishes then? Do you abort your as-of-yet unwritten argument, and risk that you paper does not really reach its proper and predicted conclusion?
As a T.A. this semester, I told my students that it was certainly better to have too much than too little. If you have too much, you get to practice your editing skills and can afford to polish and cut arguments/sentences that seem wooden and contrived. It is better than grasping desperately at straws, right?
I think I was full of bullshit.
I have yet to include more than my introductory thoughts on my final argument of my paper, and I am at word count. I just want it to be done. I thought writing 6'000 words would be the hardest thing I would have to deal with. Now I'm looking at a possible 8'000 words. The worry is that I am not sure how strong my existing argument is - it wasn't the one I was most interested in, I just saw it as the most necessary, the one which most obviously needed addressing, and which my knowledge required the most supplementing by fresh research. But I wont be able to do both arguments adequately in my remaining space, even if I do allow myself the customary 10% margin of increase/decrease.
Ok...I guess I just have to write the damn thing, right?
I've never told anyone this before, but Dr. heller made me go see a writing teacher for my thesis because she said in 20 pages "I didn't say anything". Crushed my soul. So now I don't write papers and work to crush other people's souls instead.
ReplyDeleteYou can do this babe, just look at it like a puzzle - you've probably got all the pieces, now you just have to jump up and down on the damn thing to make it all fit.