Dear students, before you start submitting assignments, I would like to provide some tips (garnered from several quarters of being a TA for this course) you might find useful for ensuring a good grade on your assignments:
[1] I will be grading your assignments, so you can be sure the following points will be highly relevant to your success in this course.
[2] I have a very low level of tolerance for mechanical errors of English. There are a few reasons for this:
(a) All of you should already have had a lower division writing course, which should have dealt adequately with basic mechanics of English.
(b) Most mechanical errors can be caught by careful proofreading and editing. It's really just a matter of putting in some time and effort.
(c) Such errors prevent me from assessing the content of your work properly.
I am not expecting a perfect piece of writing, but if your work exhibits a significant number of mechanical errors, you will be given a very low grade, regardless of the strength of its content. So please proofread very thoroughly before submitting your work. If you do not have a strong command of English, have a friend proofread your work, or approach LARC for help.
[3] Do not write overly long sentences. If you cram too much information into one sentence, it becomes hard to read, parse and comprehend. Break long sentences up into smaller, simpler ones wherever appropriate.
[4] Do not pad your work. For example, adding lots of redundant words to sentences, or repeating the same point over and over under different guises. If you do not have enough material to fill up the requisite number of pages, most likely you have not researched or thought through the topic sufficiently before beginning to write. So you need to plan out your writing a little more; padding it will not solve the problem. I would rather that you write less than the required number of pages, than ramble on just to fill up the space.
[5] Do not write in the same way that you speak. Normal speech tends to contain many redundant words. If you do not believe me, have a friend record a sample of you speaking normally and listen to it afterward. Most of the time this is not a big deal since speech is usually heard in real-time, so redundant words are not so noticeable. But in writing, redundant words stick out like sore thumbs, and are very tedious to read. So you should watch out for this tendency, and aim for tight, focused writing.
So I hope not to see any of the things I warned against in your work. If you have further questions feel free to ask me.
Regards Weng Ng