by Joseph M. Williams and Lawrence McEnerney
by Sam Rebelsky
The preceding sections were written by faculty at the University of Chicago for students at the University of Chicago. While many things are the same at all institutions, you will find that some things are different at Grinnell and in this course. Please consider these differences as you reflect on the earlier sections.
At Chicago, writing assistance is generally handled on a fairly "local" basis. Each dorm has a writing tutor with regular hours, and some courses also have a designated writing tutor. These tutors are typically graduate students from disciplines with some emphasis on writing. At Grinnell, some writing assistance is handled at both a local basis (through the faculty) and a college-wide basis (through the writing lab). Previous sections have been updated to reflect some of these differences, but references to the Chicago system may still exist.
Chicago and Grinnell also have somewhat different perspectives on early writing experiences. Chicago students are rarely called on to write papers of less than five pages. Grinnell students often begin with one and two page papers. Neither system is necessarily better, but you need to realize that the previous sections' emphasis on five page papers may not always apply.
At Grinnell, we expect our students to produce a serious draft of every paper at least a few days before the paper is due. By serious, we mean one that is more than just free-writing or a set of notes. Your serious draft should be a significant and serious effort at reaching your final paper.
Once you have reached this stage, you may take advantage of the faculty member who teaches your course, the staff of the writing lab, or even your advisor. In all cases, your preparation of a serious draft makes it easier for you and those helping you to bring your paper to the high level we expect at Grinnell.
Of course, you may also consult with faculty and the writing lab staff earlier in the writing process. (The writing lab note that you may visit at any stage of writing.) If you are stuck on an assignment, you should feel free to make an appointment to visit and consider techniques for approaching the assignment. If you've gotten started, but are having difficulty with some part, you should also feel free to get some help.
Often, though, you should begin by taking advantage of a group of fellow students. We strongly recommend that you develop a set of trusted readers: colleagues who you can trust to read your work, give you helpful criticisms, but not make you feel uncomfortable. Note that there are three attributes you should look for in these readers: they should be willing to read your work, even if it is not always in an ideal state; they should have the ability to give real critiques of your work, critiques that are both detailed and that don't pull punches; they should be trusted enough as colleagues that you feel comfortable receiving such critiques from them. It takes some time to develop such a group. Begin early, with your colleagues in tutorial.
In "The last tasks: proofreading and formatting", Williams and McEnerney give a number of recommendations for formatting your papers. In this class, you will necessarily violate a number of these recommendations, primarily because we will be working in HTML. The following are this course's guidelines, and correspond to the points in that section.
% /home/rebelsky/bin/doublespace file.html
<blockquote> Jane Doe <br> August 20, 1999 <br> Hypermedia: Some Technology, Some Implications <br> Mr. Rebelsky and Ms. Stuhr </blockquote>