the id, the ego, & the single misfiring brain cell

I've been thinking about coming out about this for a while, so...here goes. I've quit giving my students minimum word/page counts. I did this last semester with my seniors and freshmen and I stood amazed at the improvements I saw in their writing. 

"Diarrhea of the keyboard" is my phrase--I don't remember where I picked it up--for what students blather on about while they're trying to find something to say. By the time they find a point, if they do at all, they're 2.5 pages in and they'll be damned if they're going to delete all that "work" now because hey! They're already half finished with a five page (minimum) paper! 

The germ of this idea came from our department curmudgeon. He commented in a department meeting a few years ago that he doesn't give minimum page counts because if a student has nothing to say, he doesn't "want to have to read six pages of shit when he can be finished with it and reading something worthwhile within one and a half pages." He presented it as an entirely selfish approach, so I didn't give the possibility much thought until recently. I've changed my mind about it, but my reasons are not selfish.*

* Not entirely, anyway. I admit I don't want to wade through several pages of meaningless muck, either. 

I understand the reasons for minimum page counts. For certification purposes, college classes have to meet minimum standards of words/pages written, among other things. This requirement, I think, is based on the understanding that there is no shortcut to good writing. In order to learn to write better, you must write (and read) and write some more. You have to practice, and having required minimum page/word counts presumably forces students to practice writing a certain amount every semester. 

But...what do you get when you have a minimum word count? Well, from years of enforcing this standard, I'll tell you. You get minimum thought, minimum rewriting, and flatulent, flaccid prose--and they still often do not meet the minimum word count. Further, they hate writing. Writing, for your average student, has long since become a game of churning out meaningless, vague, repetitive sentences until the minimum page or word requirement is met, and students know it. They have been conditioned, out of necessity, to focus on word count more than actual ideas and the clear expression of those ideas. Is it any wonder that we have millions of college graduates who couldn't even write a decent ransom note?

I've done a lot of Extra Instruction this week. This routinely happens after I return the first major papers (the Wake-Up Call, apparently), which I did Monday. One of my students had written half a page of "introduction" which was expansive and meaningless. I read it to him and said, "What does this mean?" He shrugged and said, "Nothing, really." I asked why he included it and he said, "I've always started papers that way. I thought we had to start with some sort of introduction." 

ME: Abe, introductions are good, but they have to say something. Also? They're supposed to make me want to read the paper. 

This was a completely new concept to this young man (and he is representative of a fair cross-section of my students). 

So...what is good writing? 

Good writing has a point--something to say that is worth saying and worth arguing. It follows that if you have something worth saying, you want to say it clearly and back it up with specific, relevant arguments and evidence. You don't want to repeat ideas and you don't want (or need) to be vague. It is as concise as possible while being clear and specific. Each sentence leads naturally and clearly to the next and each paragraph leads naturally and clearly to the next. A student who wishes to write well must learn to draft her ideas then return, like a dog to its vomit, to clean up the mess, hacking out redundancies and empty phrases without mercy, expanding on ideas that need clarification, rearranging arguments and structure, and using as much research as is necessary to back up her point.*

* I often get this question: "Ma'am, how many sources do we need for this assignment?" My usual answer: "There's a minimum, but you need as many as you need to make your argument well. It's possible to meet the 'minimum number of sources' requirement and still not have enough evidence to back your claims." This is another paradigm shift for them. 

At the beginning of the semester, I explain that I'm turning their assumed writing paradigm on its head, so...heads up. I repeat this and explain it with examples throughout the semester. 

So I give my students a maximum word count only. Sometimes, my maximum is less than the minimum word count given their peers for the same assignment, and I subtract one point for every word they write over the maximum limit. But I guarantee that my students spend more time and effort writing their papers--they get more practice--than their peers. Why? Because I require that they make worthwhile, relevant arguments, use good research, and express their ideas clearly and concisely. 

Once they clear the "write about something worthwhile" hurdle*--which is a huge one, and they often work closely with me to make sure they've hit on something worth arguing**--most of their time and effort is spent honing their prose, because writing clearly and concisely is hard. As greater minds than mine have said, "There is no writing; there is only rewriting." Or something like that. And the "rewriting" part needs to happen before the paper is turned in the first time (I generally do not allow rewrites after I've graded a paper). 

* Which has another perk in that they learn early in the semester that they have to give themselves time to write good papers, that they cannot do well in my class unless they get an early start. Insight and good thinking takes time and cannot be done the night before the paper is due. 

** Or they don't take my repetition of this requirement (and constant foot-stomping, both figurative and literal) seriously, and suffer the consequences. 

I'll also say this (and I stand by it): Writing to a minimum word count is inimical to clear, concise writing. 

We spend a lot of time in class and in EI wordsmithing their work, and one by one, I watch the bulbs over their heads light up. Of course, while I'm doing this, something else has to go, so I've stopped teaching MLA formatting and how to create proper Works Cited entries. I still hold them accountable for getting their format and WC entries perfect, of course. All they have to do is look it up online, in a book, and/or on my Sharepoint page where I've provided templates, examples, and step-by-step formatting directions). Getting formatting right is simply a matter of following directions and it isn't worth the wasted effort of teaching, in my opinion. Instead, we work on putting together good sentences.  

By the way...I've already lost count of the number of students this semester alone* who have told me that they have suddenly found that they enjoy writing. I'm not kidding. It's like a door has opened. You mean...you mean...writing is about IDEAS?! Yes. Yes it is. 

* Three? Maybe four? Feels like hundreds. 

I'm being a bit melodramatic, of course. But that shift in their approach and thinking does take place. 

It takes more work--more writing--to write and rewrite a meaningful three-page paper than it does to bang out a five-page paper to minimum word-length requirements. Far more. And if my students have nothing to say or say things poorly--and it happens--they fail because of that, not because of some bogus "you have to write X words per paper" rule. 

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