Please Help Me

Helpmefindajob · 20-12-2011 10:33pm #1

I'm in fourth year, and for Christmas we had to do a five thousand word essay on a given subject.
I handed it into her on time but I received mine last and was repeatedly told
"ohh I'll have for you tomorrow".Two weeks later I finally got it back.I was already disgruntled at the fact that I was one of the only students asked to provide a bibliography.
My grade was a B+.But at the risk of sounding arrogant I firmly believed I deserved an A.
Heres why.
The two mistakes which stopped me getting the A was that my introduction and conclusion was too small (even though I had been told by the yearhead for it not to exceed 200-300 words) and that my links provided in my bibliography were biased (this p***** me off greatly).This proves that not only was she herself biased but she didn't bother to look at them.The link was to the CIA world factbook.
What should I do?
How should I do it?
All relevant answers are greatly appreciated.

ILikeBananas · 20-12-2011 10:45pm

There's not a whole pile that you can do. You got a grade that you're not happy with and you've been given reasons why, which you're also not happy with. If you go any further with this you're going to look like a crank given that you still got an excellent grade.

Helpmefindajob · 20-12-2011 11:18pm

ILikeBananas wrote: »

There's not a whole pile that you can do. You got a grade that you're not happy with and you've been given reasons why, which you're also not happy with. If you go any further with this you're going to look like a crank given that you still got an excellent grade.

Like I would care what people think.:rolleyes:
but her reasons were wrong,please re-read post.

byhookorbycrook · 20-12-2011 11:39pm

Don't see how you can say x+y stopped me getting an A. If it's an internal exam,I'd let it lie.

Helpmefindajob · 21-12-2011 12:38am

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Don't see how you can say x+y stopped me getting an A. If it's an internal exam,I'd let it lie.

First reason:
Let's call it "X".Our year head said that the introduction should not exceed 200-300 words.She marked me down saying it was too short even though it was 290 words.
Second Reason:
Let's call it "Y".In my bibliography she stated I needed unbiased resources-she sited the CIA world fact book was biased,based on the Internet address.
So therefore X+Y stopped me from getting an A.

btard · 21-12-2011 12:44am

I feel your sense of injustice. I can't help you get a better grade, but I will give you some advice.

It won't be the last time you have to deal with situations like this. It gets much worse when you start working. All through your life there will be people with power over you. Most of them will be incompetent and predujuiced to some degree. Sometimes they will make you rage inside. You have to learn how to control your responses to these people to the best effect. Over the years I have developed my own way of dealing with these situations, but it would be unwise of me to explore this further on here. You will have to find your own way. The main point you should remember is, there is no fairness or justice in the real world. Once you realise this you can stop reacting to the pain of injustice and react to the situation.

Don't worry about your grade. There will always be someone with the power to grade you in some form or other. Once you stop caring about their grades you weaken their power over you. Don't believe what they tell you about your grades being important to your future. What's really important is your education. Don't believe everything they tell you or try to 'teach' you. Listen to what they say but always question everything in your own mind. Research things for yourself and make you own mind up. When you realise something they're telling you is bull**** there is no need to confront them with it. Most of them won't have the capacity to understand it is bull**** anyway. Just use it to your own advantage if possible.

When you need help with something it's not really the best approach to say 'please help me'. Nobody really gives a damn about you, except maybe your parents. People only help you when there is something in it for them. The most you will get from the 'educators' on here is the odd patronising or defensive remark. When you want help you need to find a way of getting it without asking. Read up on some basic psychology. If you have a good grasp of psychology you can get pretty much anything you want.

Good luck

Helpmefindajob · 21-12-2011 12:53am

btard wrote: »

I feel your sense of injustice. I can't help you get a better grade, but I will give you some advice.

It won't be the last time you have to deal with situations like this. It gets much worse when you start working. All through your life there will be people with power over you. Most of them will be incompetent and predujuiced to some degree. Sometimes they will make you rage inside. You have to learn how to control your responses to these people to the best effect. Over the years I have developed my own way of dealing with these situations, but it would be unwise of me to explore this further on here. You will have to find your own way. The main point you should remember is, there is no fairness or justice in the real world. Once you realise this you can stop reacting to the pain of injustice and react to the situation.

Don't worry about your grade. There will always be someone with the power to grade you in some form or other. Once you stop caring about their grades you weaken their power over you. Don't believe what they tell you about your grades being important to your future. What's really important is your education. Don't believe everything they tell you or try to 'teach' you. Listen to what they say but always question everything in your own mind. Research things for yourself and make you own mind up. When you realise something they're telling you is bull**** there is no need to confront them with it. Most of them won't have the capacity to understand it is bull**** anyway. Just use it to your own advantage if possible.

When you need help with something it's not really the best approach to say 'please help me'. Nobody really gives a damn about you, except maybe your parents. People only help you when there is something in it for them. The most you will get from the 'educators' on here is the odd patronising or defensive remark. When you want help you need to find a way of getting it without asking. Read up on some basic psychology. If you have a good grasp of psychology you can get pretty much anything you want.

Good luck

Thank You very much,btard.

byhookorbycrook · 21-12-2011 1:05am

Doing devil's advocate.Suppose,even with x+y ,teacher still felt you did not deserve an A?To me, this is why teachers doing continual assessment as part of exams is a dodgy one.

ILikeBananas · 21-12-2011 1:08pm

Helpmefindajob wrote: »

Like I would care what people think.:rolleyes:
but her reasons were wrong,please re-read post.

You've asked what should you do. In other words "what should I do to get an A?"

Well it's quite likely that there's nothing that you can do apart from get bent out of shape in such a way that it affects your future attitude and grades.

It's a very rare teacher indeed (or lecturer for that matter) who will react to a student telling them that they have made a mistake in grading, who will actually admit it. For the most part you'll just be fobbed off.

Since you're in here making this thread I'm guessing you've already been fobbed off. So, forget it and move on and don't let it poison you.

RealJohn · 21-12-2011 4:52pm

Helpmefindajob wrote: »

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Don't see how you can say x+y stopped me getting an A. If it's an internal exam,I'd let it lie.

First reason:
Let's call it "X".Our year head said that the introduction should not exceed 200-300 words.She marked me down saying it was too short even though it was 290 words.
Second Reason:
Let's call it "Y".In my bibliography she stated I needed unbiased resources-she sited the CIA world fact book was biased,based on the Internet address.
So therefore X+Y stopped me from getting an A.

With regards your introduction, did you get a written report saying it was "too short" or did she say it. If she said it, it might simply have been a poor choice of words on her part when she meant that it didn't cover enough or didn't introduce the subject fully. Just a thought.

I'm curious though, you said you're in fourth year but didn't say if you're in fourth year in university or secondary school and to be honest, you're coming across more as the latter.
And judging by the above post, maybe you didn't get the A as a result of poor punctuation and spelling.

looksee · 21-12-2011 7:14pm

You will not get much credit anywhere for using internet sources in academic work, unless it is academic papers that just happen to be posted on the net.

Since you are asking I would agree with the previous poster that your writing style, grammar and punctuation would not be A standard, unless the quality of the content was really exceptional.

To quibble about the difference between a B+ and an A seems petulant, sometimes you just have to accept that someone else might know better than you.

yosser hughes · 21-12-2011 7:23pm

RealJohn wrote: »

With regards your introduction, did you get a written report saying it was "too short" or did she say it. If she said it, it might simply have been a poor choice of words on her part when she meant that it didn't cover enough or didn't introduce the subject fully. Just a thought.

I'm curious though, you said you're in fourth year but didn't say if you're in fourth year in university or secondary school and to be honest, you're coming across more as the latter.
And judging by the above post, maybe you didn't get the A as a result of poor punctuation and spelling.

I was thinking the same. Are you in 4th year in secondary school? Although that kind of essay seems like a lot.
What exactly are you studying? It's all a bit unclear to be honest.

evolving_doors · 21-12-2011 9:18pm

Hmm on first reading I presumed you were a 4th year in secondary school (TY/5,000 words!!! that's one hell of a pushy school)..

I think though if it's 3rd level and it goes towards a final grade then you may have a justifiable bee in your bonnett (not to fob off secondary school work of course)..

When were you asked to provide a bibliography ? after everyone had submitted their essays? If so then it's unjust that your bibliography has been questioned and marked on, whereas others haven't. Your only proof of this though is if their are comments on your bibliography actually written down on your paper. It'd be highly unusual for a 4th year 3rd level student not to have a bibliography included though!!!

From what I recall of college it was always the students who went over the wordcount who were more likely to achieve the A's as opposed to students who didn;t... brought it up at class rep/staff meeting and they basically shrugged their shoulders and said that the word limit is a rough guideline... I'm studying for a masters at the moment and 'word on the grapevine' is that most of the examiners skip to the bibliography first to see where you're coming from and judge the 'depth' and 'breadth' of your enquiry. On reflection I would probably do the same.

Bring it up with your class rep but be quite firm and demand a reply (they can query the policy without naming you initially if you like). Generally I used to be annoyed by people who argued over small differences in marks, especially when I was delighted to just finish my degree..
Funny that about ten years after I totted up my final grades on a calculator and realised I was 0.5% off a higher grade so I should have been given the option of a viva grrr...

I'd thread carefully though especially if that lecturer has an input into your final grade on other subjects ..

CIARAN_BOYLE · 22-12-2011 2:52am

Helpmefindajob wrote: »

The two mistakes which stopped me getting the A was that my introduction and conclusion was too small (even though I had been told by the yearhead for it not to exceed 200-300 words) and that my links provided in my bibliography were biased (this p***** me off greatly).This proves that not only was she herself biased but she didn't bother to look at them.The link was to the CIA world factbook.

I assuming secondary school because some students didn't have to include a bibliography. In the real world no bibliography means a straight zero. A high fail if you are lucky.

Essays are subjective one teacher might tell you 200-300 word introduction another might say much more. 200 word introduction sounds right for a LC English essay not a 5,000 word monstrosity. I wouldn't rate any sort of link as a good thing in a bibliography.

Having no mistakes wouldn't justify an essay for an A for me. It could be anything like writing style or the teacher just not agreeing with your points

evolving_doors · 22-12-2011 9:17pm

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

I wouldn't rate any sort of link as a good thing in a bibliography.

It seemed fairly acceptable for our MEd course, mostly for government style organisations though (of course you had to use your own common sense,, wikipedia is a no no).. depends on the essay context for the CIA,

This can't be a secondary school essay surely.. 5,000 words?

rainbowtrout · 22-12-2011 9:49pm

Armelodie wrote: »

It seemed fairly acceptable for our MEd course, mostly for government style organisations though (of course you had to use your own common sense,, wikipedia is a no no).. depends on the essay context for the CIA,

This can't be a secondary school essay surely.. 5,000 words?

I'd agree, it depends on what the link is too. A link to a paper from a reputable journal is fine. Where else would you have access to the journal otherwise? Referencing wikipedia etc though is not good enough.

evolving_doors · 22-12-2011 10:28pm

I suppose it's going to be one of those threads where it'll be all guessing until we know a few more details,
for "Conspiracy theories" quoting from the CIA website would be fine.. for "The role of shellfish in prehistoric economies: a protein perspective" then maybe not...

OP.. A few things to clear up...

1. Scope of Essay ?
2. Secondary or 3rd level ?
3. Does it count to final grade if 3rd level?
4. Are the comments written on the paper or was it just verbal feedback.?

Please Help Me

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