1: College students need to know how to follow assignment instructions and edit their prose as formal writing. (common wisdom)
2: Most students have failed in multiple respects to edit their phase five drafts according to the instructions and the writing checklist. (direct observation)
3: It is Professor Silliman’s professional duty to insist that students learn to follow assignment instructions and edit their prose as formal writing. (follows from premise 1 and Professor Silliman’s job description)
4: Professor Silliman’s efforts politely and supportively to request that students follow the assignment instructions and edit their prose as formal writing have had limited effect. (follows from premise 2)
5: Although he disapproves of such bullying tactics, Professor Silliman cannot think of any alternative means of fulfilling his duty except the threat of academic grades. (introspection)
Therefore:
6: The final phase of each student’s essay (due in hard copy at the beginning of class on Monday, October 31st) must be substantially free of errors of form, substance, and presentation, or Professor Silliman will not assign it a score.
Corollary: a separate, mathematical argument shows that it is difficult to receive a passing grade for the course if you do not receive a score for the paper.
Feel free to weigh in with criticism. For starters, "although he disapproves of such bullying tactics" in premise five is not strictly speaking part of the premise, but an introductory comment that should be edited out of a standard-form argument. You can see why I left it in though, I trust.
ReplyDeleteI know that my essay had a lot of mistakes in it. Given that we have until October 31st to fix that, I will be working hard this week to make sure I improve my essay significantly. Thank you for giving us a chance to fix it rather than just giving the vast majority poor grades. See you bright and early tomorrow morning.
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