A cartoon strip I follow posted the comic below this morning. It resonated with me as I can recall how all of us used to ask each other how bloody a paper was when it was returned to us from our supervisor.
I like to write, that much has to be fairly obvious. In writing we share our thoughts, our feelings, our views, our slants on the world. We also write to educate and to understand. Some people hate to write. I don’t know if it’s because they can’t find the words to express themselves, or if they are too self conscious to share. But for some it is a painful experience.
I discovered that I loved to write when I was still in public school. I used to love doing reports. Digging through books and encyclopaedias for information, researching a topic, and then writing to inform others about all the really cool things that I’d found.
In college I enjoyed creative writing, particularly when our instructor would walk in and tell us to open our books and just write for ten or twenty minutes on anything. Sometimes he would give us a topic, often not.
When I got to University I generally did we anywhere an essay was required. I’ve just generally always been able to express myself well on paper.
When I landed in graduate school, my writing had to change. I had to learn to express myself in a much drier manner, scientific writing needed to be in third person. But I lucked out, I landed in a lab with a supervisor who expressed himself very well on paper and demanded things be written well. But that meant a lot of papers came back very, very, bloodied with red ink.
But I learned a lot from it, and the papers that I submitted for publication were accepted without much trouble. The textbooks that I ghost wrote for were proofed without difficulty. And I have written a great many pages of technical papers for the government since.
And it’s funny how the student eventually assumes the role of the teacher. I am lethal with my red pen, and I always try to improve the writings of those who submit things to be for review. It probably doesn’t always go over well, but sometimes it does.
My two UBC courses have wound up, the final term papers are in for one, and the final exam is over for the other. And I received an email from a student after the final exam. It wasn’t a suck-up email, the student is excellent and has been a constant communicator all through the term. But amongst other things, he wrote:
“Dear Paige,
I would just like to thank you for all the hard work you have contributed to facilitate student learning in these past two courses. To be completely honest, my previous experiences with online courses have never been good but you have changed my mind! Reading your comments for my papers was not only informative when you told me how these issues apply to real situations, but they also allowed me to become a better writer overall!
………..”
As much as I can tear my hair out over some of the things some students write, getting an email like that can make it all worthwhile….
So if you get a paper back and it is bloodied with red ink, or someone has been critical, don’t feel personally attacked, feel that the reviewer wants to help you improve and make it the best it can be. Learn from what the more experienced writer is offering you….after you lick your wounds.