How would you handle this instructor?

I teach at a few places and do not take bribes...shhh...PM me - we can talk...$$$

 

Send his bribe care of MichaelOliver. I launder all of his bribe money for him.

 

I can appreciate your suggestions and offerings of how you handle APA in your classroom. I can also appreciate that writing style matters and that APA suggests using consistency but that is not the issue here nor is how many direct quotes I used in my paper.

The issue lies in the fact that I got dinged because of a personal preference of the instructor that was not stated to me or anyone else in the class that I am aware of and if personal preference of instructors TRUMPS APA guidelines for how to cite directly from a source. Are you saying that your personal preference trumps guidelines set out by the APA just because it is your classroom?

For the record I will admit I do not know everything about APA and there is still a learning process there, but clearly I was correct in this situation and there is no more to learn about this aspect of APA on my end but maybe yours

Allie

 

How do you launder a roll of nickels?

 

LOL. Very carefully, they get stuck in the dryer.

 

Go ahead and send me some money. I promise I'll get it right.

 

To the OP:

How would I deal with this professor?

Answer: I wouldn't. It's five points. Here's the thing, college isn't always about getting the best possible grades. Sometimes, it's about failing or losing points and developing the coping mechanisms to improve with grace.

I can absolutely guarantee you that at some point in that professor's educational journey, someone, somewhere dropped her at least five points on something. It's part of the culture. No need to make a crusade out of it.

Thanks,
A

 

Im sorry but for ME college is about getting the best possible grades that I can get and if I truly deserve to lose points (and I have lost my fair share of them in the past) I move on and learn from the experience. But thanks for your suggestions

 

That's what I like to see, a fighter! Do us proud!

 

In my mind, conforming with grace can be a useful and occasionally desirable trait, but not nearly as useful as changing things for the better!

 

My hope is that this instructor will fight tooth and nail to not award the 5 points and that you will continue to argue your point on this whole cause. It's what makes it so entertaining and hopefully it will continue to drag and drag and drag.

Hopefully you will take this to the dean and to others in administration so that it can be determined what to do about those five points. In other words, even if you got a 95 which is an A, or 100, which is an A (it still isn't the same thing to you). In all reality it is the same actual grade, and at the end of the day who is going to know the difference of whether you got a 95 or 100? It is in your mind that it bothers you, and is keeping you up at night -- I need those 5 points! Otherwise, life is going to come to an end, and you aren't an expert at APA, but still feel the need to challenge an instructor on an issue where you get an A (whether 95 or 100).

I would only tell you make the 5 points worthwhile. Since you aren't going to let this die, take it to the next level. Of course, keep sending this instructor more e-mails and letting them know that you know what you're talking about and that this is really worth 5 points. In making this worthwhile, hopefully you can get this instructor fired from their position or something. In other words, it should be give me my five points or else I will see about getting you fired.

Another food for thought. I'm sure there are people here that will tell you that students and professors have differences of opinion all the time, but ultimately I would say since you're going to be getting the same grade of an A, and who cares about whether it's a 95 or 100 -- it's the same grade and same GPA. It would be different if this were a situation where it was going to be an entirely different grade.

There are people who go to undergraduate and graduate school that come across instructors that they differ with. It happens all the time. I'm sure that some here who have been students have disagreed with some of the grades that their instructors gave them. However, in most cases, what was more important is to get done with the class and to untilimately get the grand prize a degree. Let me ask you, if it came down to you fighting for a grade and it was lower than what you were expecting, but you were able to get done, and get a degree -- what is more important a grade or a degree?

The other thing to remember is go ahead and take this up with administration, and hopefully you will win. But, if you don't you may face this instructor again at some point and is it really worth losing 5 points when it comes out to an A (whether 95 or 100)?

But, since you aren't going to drop this and are so worried about the five points -- at least make it worthwhile and make it "Give me my five points back or be fired." Just one thing -- if you do take it to the administration and they come back and agree with the instructor, please have the courage to at least let us know. I'm interested in now finding out who is going to win this battle!

 

I tend to agree with you on that one. I was recently on a course where one of the questions used the wording "unique to" - which, of course, means "specific to" - the problem was that three out of the five points in the answer were not unique to the system, but also applied to others. I marked the answer as false and was deducted points. I raised my point once we received the exam back and the instructor had to agree with me, but her answer to the points was "if you need the points to pass the course, we can always add them". To me, it was a matter of principle, whether or not the points were needed was simply not relevant... but alas, I did not get the points... which still irks me!

Like your case, it is not the points, it is the principal - if the points are deserved, then you should get them. How is anyone supposed to know their Prof's "preference" ? Perhaps she also had a preference of of students using yellow paper to pass their assignment in on... would she then deduct points for not using yellow paper?

..makes me cringe.. really does!

 

I am still consistently amazed at the number of students who believe that if a paper has no grammatical errors, is formatted correctly, etc. - the grade should be a 100%

 

It's not the difference between a 95 and 100 for her, both of which would be an A; it's the difference between an A and an A-. So it would affect her GPA. I wouldn't bother fighting it either, but it is a more significant issue than you have asserted.

 

A verbatim quotation has to be indented if it has more than 40 words (long quotation) and should be enclosed in quotation marks if it is fewer than 40 words (short quotation). In addition, the author name or the source name and publication year must also e cited in-text.

Did you do that?

When using long quotations, you should always check with your instructor first. See the website hyperlinked below.
A Guide for Writing Research Papers, APA-Style

I always advise my students not use long quotations when writing papers that are less than 20 pages.

Note: I am not the original poster's instructor.

 

?????

It is also possible that you lost points because of the table.

 

That's a very good point.

 

As far as I know a grade of 95 and 100 would be mostly considered an A at most colleges and universities.

An A- is usually anything from 90-92 (generally speaking). I wasn't trying to be sarcastic to the poster, but I treated it like a commentary because I was trying to point out all sides of the coin.

The student has every right to do what they feel is right. But, in my opinion is if this is over 5 points and it results in the same grade of A what difference does it really make at the end of the day? The grade is still an A and no one is going to know whether it was a 95 or 100. It is treated the same.

I'm also not trying to put any stereotypes out there, but a long time ago I remember when a grade of C was considered average and acceptable. In other words, most average students got C's and B's. Now it is if a student doesn't get an A, and that isn't good enough anymore it has to be that they pretty much have to get a 100 on everything or else their life is going to come to an end.

I'm not saying that this is necessarily the case with this student. But, obviously the student is no expert when it comes to APA format entirely. Yes, they have good intentions on following the rules and all, and hopefully they can learn something from this. I would advise the student to consult with another instructor and deal with the actual issue, show their paper and see what another instructor has to say before just coming to the front of saying that the instructor is incorrect.

And, this is precisely why many colleges and universities will have more than one instructor review a paper is over these kinds of issues. One instructor could find fault with a particular part, while another may not find any issues at all. They then take and have a discussion about the paper and incorporate both assessments so that they can come up with a more objective conclusion.

We also need to keep in mind that essays, research papers, and those kinds of matters are more subjective than objective. This tends to lead to some differences of opinion and so forth. I think that the student needs to find out exactly what it is and go from there. But, I would get the opinion of another instructor or someone at the college or university that is an expert or at least competent in APA rules interpretation.

The student obviously doesn't want to give up on this and is intended on keeping it going. So I was merely stating that they should at least make it worthwhile and see who actually wins the battle! (Give me my five points or be fired!).

 

I took around 30 courses in the UK some years ago. Everyone was pleased if they passed the exam with 40% (or 50% for the final year). A pass of 85% or greater was classified as a distinction (85%) but I never met anyone who passed at that level.