what should I do? Need major help with a terrible situation that I am in with my prof

Nurses General Nursing

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I am in a class with a very strict professor. I put my hear and soul into a paper, and ended up getting a D on it. She told all of us that we need to utilize the writing center at out university, explaning that she is going to grade papers harshly that have grammar, punctuation or APA errors. She said she shouldn't have to grade off on those things, because the writing center is a place that catches on to those mistakes before the student turns in the assignment. I put long hours into this paper, and I had 2 appointments with the writing center. One was on a Sunday night, the other for that Tuesday. And then I was going to turn it in on Tuesday. I showed up for my Sunday night appointment, and they said they didn't have me on schedule. I showed them my schedule card, and as it turns out, the person who entered my dates in the computer, enterd them for December, not November. And yes, the appt card was correct, with my November dates. So I couldn't get my paper checked on Sunday or on Tuesday. They guy looked at the schedule for Tuesday, I wasn't on there, and he couldn't squeeze me in because they were already booked.

They did end up writing my professor about it, and they expalined that the mix up was completely their fault. I saw the email they sent her, because it was CC'd to me.

Well, I got my paper back and got a D. She said I had grammar/apa errors, and it was opinionated. She took 5 points off for the grammar/apa. She also wrote at the bottm "Use writing center".

I feel like I should have been graded less harshly. I tried using the writing center twice, they messed my appt up, and she was notified of this. I would like to ask her to reconsider my grade, but how can I ask someone that, especially a professor who acts like Judge Judy. Uggh. I think I deserve extra points, because had the writing center proofread my paper, I would have been able to make the corrections, and then I would have gotten a better grade. I tried, dammit, I tried. I would like to email her about this, but what should I say? I don't want to walk up and confront her, because I think she will feel a little violated. I have to be very careful with how I word things with her. What should I say, and do you support me in doing this? My friends know her, and are telling me to let it go, that she won't care.

I'm curious though, how bad is your grammar?

I don't use the APA manual because there are APA resources online, including sample papers. I don't have to go anywhere!

Sadly, I agree with every posting before this. I have recently graduated from nursing school and remember many times disagreeing with my instructor or many things like grades or papers. Having many conversations with my husband about my feelings of a situation - I can still hear his reply. She's the instructor. So my advice is let it go. It could only haunt you later. Another piece of advice that was always given to our class from the instructor. Don't wait until the last minute to complete the paper. You never know what could happen and there are not excuses. You have plenty of time to get it done. If you cant get to the writing center, then have a friend proof read it - better yet maybe two.

Best of luck with your instructor.

I have a story to alleviate your anxiety but generally I agree with others.

1- I just completed my MSN- That was after completing another masters & #2 bachelors degrees

2- Nursing instructors are notorious for being opinionated & challenging paper graders. They were much worse than the public health team & an official research Institutional Review Board.

3- Utilize two editors & follow the grading rubric closely. Originality was rarely prized in the group.

4-Do not assume your professor wants your input. You will know it if the teacher gives the nonverbal. Otherwise chalk it up to tough editorial commenting.

5- When you can, see if there is a private editor- Consider free lancers at American Medical Writers Association

6- The colleges of nursing believe, as do many academics, that our writing may have suffered with the internet age. While perhaps that it true, other things have changed. First we write shorter exchanges now. Second it is extremely difficult to prove capricious intent for nursing teachers in this type of class.

7- 6/6 nurses who took colleges up for that legal challenge of capricious assessment failed. That is because of a law supporting academic freedom protections.

8- The overall GPA consists of writing classes & multiple choice testing. So try to do well on both but if you are stronger on multiple choice, really emphasize that.

9- If you do go for further grad training, keep reading & writing daily. Also consider Toast Masters for public speaking. You will get better with time. Moreover technical writing is really what many practicing clinicians are best at. Not all nursing professors are good at that. Just as we know some are not even good clinicians. So we all have our strengths.

PS I've been there & survived. So I wish you all the best,

Specializes in CTICU.

It is just inexplicable that students miss points for spelling, grammar, punctuation or formatting. You have inestimable resources online with which to get these things right. They are your 'free' points when you have a writing assignment - especially if you know the instructor is tough on them.

Having recently had the chance to work grading undergraduate papers, I was APPALLED how bad most of them were. Many were barely readable.

Yep, my first Greek Thought class, I failed my first and second writing assignment. "Go to the writing center!" As a single mother of 2 small kids, putting myself through nursing school I made time to have the writing center help me, as well as finding everything I could online about APA that made sense. I barely passed that class but when I had to write a paper in my Roman Midevil whatever it was class... I got an A-. You can do it!

raindrop

It is hard to get over the sting of a poor grade when you feel you put alot of work into the paper, but it is an opportunity for you to learn that it is better to respond logically rather than emotionally to marks. You now know that the writing centre is overbooked and you cannot rely on them. Explore your options (there are some good suggestions from the previous posters) and learn to write a college level paper that will earn you a good grade. Sometimes learning to write a high level paper is the most challenging part of being a student, but keep trying, you will feel proud of yourself when you master this skill.

dishes

Even thought the writing center was not available, was there NO other person who could read through your paper??

We had no writing center at my college-we proofread each others papers and also utilized friends and friends or friends that were English majors or were in the graduate programs at the college. There are more options out there than just the writing center. Show some initiative to problem solve this situation in the future.

It stinks that the WC messed up your appointment but you had Sun, Mon, and Tue to find some other alternative.

otessa

I have a story to alleviate your anxiety but generally I agree with others.

1- I just completed my MSN- That was after completing another masters & #2 bachelors degrees

2- Nursing instructors are notorious for being opinionated & challenging paper graders. They were much worse than the public health team & an official research Institutional Review Board.

3- Utilize two editors & follow the grading rubric closely. Originality was rarely prized in the group.

4-Do not assume your professor wants your input. You will know it if the teacher gives the nonverbal. Otherwise chalk it up to tough editorial commenting.

5- When you can, see if there is a private editor- Consider free lancers at American Medical Writers Association

6- The colleges of nursing believe, as do many academics, that our writing may have suffered with the internet age. While perhaps that it true, other things have changed. First we write shorter exchanges now. Second it is extremely difficult to prove capricious intent for nursing teachers in this type of class.

7- 6/6 nurses who took colleges up for that legal challenge of capricious assessment failed. That is because of a law supporting academic freedom protections.

8- The overall GPA consists of writing classes & multiple choice testing. So try to do well on both but if you are stronger on multiple choice, really emphasize that.

9- If you do go for further grad training, keep reading & writing daily. Also consider Toast Masters for public speaking. You will get better with time. Moreover technical writing is really what many practicing clinicians are best at. Not all nursing professors are good at that. Just as we know some are not even good clinicians. So we all have our strengths.

PS I've been there & survived. So I wish you all the best,

Joining my hospital's Toastmasters program gave me the confidence to go on to obtain my MSN degree with an education focus. Read, read, read!!

otessa

Specializes in Home Care.

If you got a D on your paper its nobody's fault but your own. There's obviously more wrong with your paper than grammar and APA formatting since you lost only 5 points for grammar and formatting.

Don't go blaming anyone but yourself for bad grades.

Specializes in L&D/Maternity nursing.

I dont use my college's writing center, but I do have others read my papers before hand and pick up on any spelling or gramatical errors for me. I also have the APA publication manual (5th edition-the newest) that I use as a reference, as well as run my citations by a classmate of mine who was a psych major during her undergrad and is very familiar with APA. I also have a gf who is currently working towards her PhD and has been published who is also very familiar with APA-so I go to her with questions as well.

The writing center is a good resource, but really, its not the only one out there. Use what is available to you.

Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

A spell-checker should have caught most of your spelling and grammar errors--you need to make it habit to run it frequently as you work on your paper. As far as APA goes, use the OWL at Purdue (free website) or get an add-on for Word that automatically formats into APA for you (what I use, and it is worth its weight in gold).

As everyone said, you only lost 5 points for that...so unless your paper was 15 points total, you had a major deficiency in your content or another area. I've had my share of bad papers too, and unforunately, "heart and soul" doesn't always translate to high grades in nursing school.

You need to let the formatting battle go as that was your fault (yes, the writing center let you down, but it was your responsiblity to turn it in formatted correctly, not theirs).

However, definitely meet with her to find out where else you fell short in your paper and how you can address it for next time. Good luck.

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