How much is too much?

[billpenn]

Hi all. I friend of my sisters who I have known for years is now in college. She is not a very good student…

She as asked me to write a paper for her for a class. I will not do that because it is dishonest…but how much help could I give her without crossing a line? The paper has to be based on a book…so, I am not sure how much help I could be without reading the book, which I will not do…

Advice?

 

[mercygate]

Hi all. I friend of my sisters who I have known for years is now in college. She is not a very good student…

She as asked me to write a paper for her for a class. I will not do that because it is dishonest…put how much help could I give her without crossing a line? The paper has to be based on a book…so, I am not sure how much help I could be without reading the book, which I will not do…

Advice?

Most colleges have tutoring centers where she can get help from peers who have been trained in giving appropriate help without crossing the line. Send her there.

 

[FightingFat]

I think you could give her quite a lot. Some times young people just need the confidence that an adult is taking an interest and is there if they need them. You can prompt and give ideas, extrapolate, suggest reading- loads of stuff!!

 

[rwoehmke]

If she would not at least read the book and take some notes, I wouldn’t give her a bit of help. If she did at least this for starters I would be inclined to read the book myself and render such aid as possible without actually writing the paper myself. Maybe she needs some help with the basic issues of how to analyze a book, take notes, form an outline, etc. I think that a lack of such “how to” knowledge stalls many a young student. All High School English teachers are not created equal and many graduates are graduated with a vast lack of knowledge.

 

[quasimodo]

correct things like: typos, grammar, poor sentence structure, poor paragraph structure, incomplete thoughts, logical non sequetors, speling, organizational issues, poor word choice, etc.

Just make sure she understands each correction. Point out the problem and make her correct it. That is how my daughter and I have worked it out … when she corrects my papers.

 

[Malcolm_McLean]

Hi all. I friend of my sisters who I have known for years is now in college. She is not a very good student…

She as asked me to write a paper for her for a class. I will not do that because it is dishonest…but how much help could I give her without crossing a line? The paper has to be based on a book…so, I am not sure how much help I could be without reading the book, which I will not do…

Advice?

Unfortunately there is often a conflict between the needs of teaching and of assessment.

What happens is that some tutor in some subject puts together an interesting and legitimate project, and decides to assess students on it. However students are pushed for time, and only the most organised and disciplined will spend the requisite time and only the requisite time on the assessed project. So unassessed work gets no priority and is either not done, or done quickly. So the other tutors respond by making their projects assessed.

You don’t have to co-operate with this ridiculous system. Read the book, then talk with the sisters’ friend about it, and, if you have time, make sure she has understood the material and knows how to approach writing a paper on it. Don’t actually write the paper yourself, but you can say "Introduction - mention Blogg’s major previous works, then introduce his theory of cosubstantiality Paragraph one - define how cosubstantaility differs from Muggin’s concept of joint substance Paragraph 2 - describe the bitter debate between Bloggs and Muggins "