Editor’s note: This is in response to “Show me how to write a paper the day before it’s due,” published in Thursday’s Daily Lobo.
I am writing in response to John Tyczkowski’s article, ”How to write a paper the day before it’s due.” While I understand that last-minute writing is sometimes a necessary evil, John’s advice is terrible. As a grad student and an instructor, I can tell you that relying on Wikipedia, quoting sources you have not adequately evaluated and depending on spell-check to proofread for you will more often than not result in an undesirable grade. It’s always better to do your own research and find ways to work with what you have.
First, Wikipedia is not a reliable source. Wikipedia is constantly in progress and relies on a stream of nonprofessional input; as such, it remains a decent place to seek out further lines of inquiry, but fails as a fount of knowledge. It is usually apparent when students have used Wikipedia as a source for research.
Second, using Wikipedia as a source to mine for “expert citations” will likely result in your professor wondering how on Earth you managed to find and read random and diverse articles on the topic at hand, and put them on guard regarding the rest of your evidence. Moreover, including a quote from a text makes you responsible for having read and understood the entire text, and so leaves you in the position to account for pieces of that text you might not address and that may disagree with your thesis. It is rare that a quote used on Wikipedia communicates the gist of an entire text; these quotes are handpicked by the author of the Wiki page.
Finally, do not rely upon your word processing software for spell-check and grammar corrections. I cannot tell you how many errors are due to auto-correct features that insert a word the user never intended to include. If anything, you should always proofread to make sure spell-check hasn’t created errors.
That said, John is spot on regarding thesis statements. My advice in a pinch: Create a realistic thesis (one you can back up with limited resources), come up with three points you can reasonably use to support it in a short amount of time and do your best.
Resist the urge to move quickly; write slowly and proofread each sentence as you go. Take deep breaths and remember to move around once an hour to keep your creative juices flowing.
Jennifer Gammage
UNM faculty
