Other Considerations
12/20/2004
Remember, if you are in doubt about the quality of your writing and how well you are meeting the requirements of the assignment, it is your responsibility to come see me with a rough draft. One of the purposes of office hours is to consult with students about their written work in progress. I strongly suggest you take advantage of my time (which you have, after all, paid for through your tuition dollars). Also note that it is important to begin your assignment early (preferably as soon as it is given) so you'll have enough time to go through all the steps of the writing process, make any suggested revisions, and to visit the Writing Center when needed. You have been plenty of time to complete your writing assignments in this course. Use that time wisely so you can do a good job. Otherwise, you have no one but yourself to blame if you don't receive the grade you wanted.
And finally, while I am happy to look over your drafts in progress, I will not ever look at a draft that you've dropped off at my office or attempted to leave with me in person. I am not McDonalds, and you can't just hand me things to fix and collect later. Writing is a process, and your input and presence is required. If you want me to examine a draft of your writing, you must be there with it. Also, as a courtesy to students, I have examined rough drafts sent to me via the internet. I am happy to continue doing so providing that I a) have time and b) the student doesn't send it to me the night before the assignment is due, expecting me to instantly fix all sorts of horrible problems.
To avoid the last scenario, I will no longer look at anything sent to me six hours or less before it is due. Big problems should've been addressed before this point.
Also, since many people send me documents, please help make my life easy and DO NOT name your document after the assignment. For example, if your document is a proposal, do not call the document "proposal." I will get a number of documents with the same name, and sometimes it is extremely difficult to ensure I send the right file back to the right person. Instead, your name should be the title of the document you send to me.