College Coursework - DPChallenge Forums

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

03/12/2012 11:03:32 AM · #1

So, I cannot bring myself to write this 12 page paper that is due today. I have had writers block all month, and still... cannot get the words to flow freely.
So where do I go? Here, of course. Rather than staring at a blank computer screen, I choose to look here.
Hahahaha...

It's all good though... EVENTUALLY I will get this paper written, and be out of this drab class. Tomorrow starts a new course... another child nutrition class. Blah. Can't wait to get back to my Psychology courses. Only a few months.

Yo_Spiff

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

03/12/2012 11:09:07 AM · #2

Just start putting words down and don't worry if they flow well or not. I have to write a short tech article for our company E-newsletter every month. Even once I have a topic it is often hard to get started. Just the act of putting down some rudimentary thoughts gets me rolling and I can fine tune the content and wording later.

deeby

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

03/12/2012 11:10:19 AM · #3

I know what you mean. I'm a tech writer and yes writer's block hits us as well (i'm at work right now in fact!). Creating something from nothing is difficult...it has something to do with inertia I think 8-)

Good luck!!

UrfaK

Canon EOS-650/T4i Rebel

Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

03/12/2012 11:16:29 AM · #4

I'm sitting in your boat right next to you. I need to submit a logistic regression classifier by tomorrow but I've been doing everything else except for that. My brain has decided it just doesn't care.

03/12/2012 11:19:45 AM · #5

Good to know I'm not alone. lol.

Perhaps something will come to me. I've gotten a paragraph written. Good start. Now, another 40 or so and I should be good to go!

03/12/2012 11:38:30 AM · #6

if you do my vertical curve project, i'll write your paper.

03/12/2012 11:41:43 AM · #7

Originally posted by mike_311:

if you do my vertical curve project, i'll write your paper.

Thinking that might sound worse than my paper on Childhood Obesity and Physical Education

03/12/2012 11:48:52 AM · #8

it is, but only becuase of the parameters. i need to design a highway over 600 feet long with an elevation change of a paltry two feet. in my industry that's called flat yet for some reason i need to justify the decisions i need to make as if it would ever make a difference in real life.

03/12/2012 11:57:42 AM · #9

WAY beyond me. Couldn't do it, well... if I knew how, I'm sure I could.
Doesn't sound like my cup of tea, however.

Good luck on that! I've got a page and a half down... only 10 more to go. :)

03/12/2012 12:00:58 PM · #10

Originally posted by dyridings:

WAY beyond me. Couldn't do it, well... if I knew how, I'm sure I could.
Doesn't sound like my cup of tea, however.

Good luck on that! I've got a page and a half down... only 10 more to go. :)

i dont think i could even type 12 pages in one day. I corrected this reply, ~~two~~ ~~three~~ four times.

03/12/2012 12:08:00 PM · #11

Originally posted by mike_311:

Originally posted by dyridings:
WAY beyond me. Couldn't do it, well... if I knew how, I'm sure I could.
Doesn't sound like my cup of tea, however.

Good luck on that! I've got a page and a half down... only 10 more to go. :)

i dont think i could even type 12 pages in one day. I corrected this reply, ~~two~~ ~~three~~ four times.

LOL... I'm a terrible procrastinator. I've written a 20 page paper for a psychology class in 4 hours. BARELY made the deadline (by about 10 minutes). Still managed an A on the paper also. Talk about writing on the fly!

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35 f/4 ED VR

03/12/2012 01:14:09 PM · #12

4 pages down... a third of the way there. OMG... this is taking forever... and is not very interesting either. Too bad I'm not more concerned with physical education in our school systems. If I was, this would be a breeze. :::sigh:::

Ok, ok... enough on DPC for the moment...
Back to the paper. :(

Message edited by author 2012-03-12 13:16:44.

mbrutus2009

Nikon D850

03/12/2012 01:17:45 PM · #13

I have a 7 page paper due pretty soon that I have yet to start even thinking about. Lol. I'm right there with ya! :P

Venser

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

03/12/2012 01:54:48 PM · #14

As someone who used to be a professor (applied mathematics), I've always despised page requirement for essays; they make no sense. We obviously never had essays in our department but talking over drinks with colleagues I would always bring this up for discussion.

The requirement should be write an essay on [insert topic here]. Your essay cannot exceed [insert arbitrary number here] pages. No more, but perhaps a lot less.

CS

Message edited by author 2012-03-12 13:55:08.

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

03/12/2012 02:00:50 PM · #15

Originally posted by cosmicassassin:

I do agree with that, and some of my professors actually allow for this. But the majority of them are stuck on "this paper requires __ (insert number here) pages"

I have even had to write a paper in my Mathematics course a couple of years ago.

It doesn't have to be exactly 12 pages, but it has to be 12 to 14 (not including title or reference page). Sheesh!

Spork99

OM System OM-1

03/12/2012 02:15:47 PM · #16

Originally posted by cosmicassassin:

I disagree that essays shouldn't be part of math education, or any other technically oriented curriculum. How else do you communicate about your work? You can't just scribble a few equations and diagrams and proclaim you've solved the unsolvable.

One of the biggest challenges I see with engineers coming out of school is that they can't write about the things they do. They may understand exactly how something works, but if they can't explain it with words, they're not going to get very far.

Venser

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

03/12/2012 02:28:34 PM · #17

Originally posted by Spork99:

I never said they shouldn't be a part of the curriculum, just that they weren't. Conversely, when I read a paper, I tend to skip over every thing and simply look for the graphs, charts, and tables. If it's important, that's where it should be located.

Engineers, in my experience, are about the laziest bunch of students I've ever taught.

CS

deeby

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

03/12/2012 03:20:38 PM · #18

Originally posted by cosmicassassin:

Originally posted by Spork99:
I disagree that essays shouldn't be part of math education, or any other technically oriented curriculum. How else do you communicate about your work? You can't just scribble a few equations and diagrams and proclaim you've solved the unsolvable.

One of the biggest challenges I see with engineers coming out of school is that they can't write about the things they do. They may understand exactly how something works, but if they can't explain it with words, they're not going to get very far.

I never said they shouldn't be a part of the curriculum, just that they weren't. Conversely, when I read a paper, I tend to skip over every thing and simply look for the graphs, charts, and tables. If it's important, that's where it should be located.

Engineers, in my experience, are about the laziest bunch of students I've ever taught.

CS

full disclosure: I was an Engineering student at university
Ergo: I'm totally enjoying the direction that this thread has taken

When I was in school, I loved the chance to take non-technical courses so my electives were, like, poli-sci, canadian political history, etc. Without fail, on the first day the prof of these courses would cite the breakdown of the students in the class by their major. Also without fail, there was only one engineering student in the class...and he was mortified as everybody turned to try and figure out who that was.

Anyhow, I am just one sample of the population and I am lazy. One of my goals in life is to never have to work as hard as I did in engineering school. But I also seem to be a good writer, based on the feedback I've recieved over the years. So here's the score so far:
Lazy: 1
Can't write: 0

8-)

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II

03/12/2012 03:27:48 PM · #19

as an engineering student i take exception as well.

besides we are lazy becuase we dont care to prove everything, we know it works :P

also have you ever tried to write a technical paper? i spend more time formatting formulas than i do actually explaining anything.

Message edited by author 2012-03-12 15:29:04.

Venser

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

03/12/2012 03:35:10 PM · #20

Originally posted by mike_311:

besides we are lazy becuase we dont care to prove everything, we know it works :P

also have you ever tried to write a technical paper? i spend more time formatting formulas than i do actually explaining anything.

Let me clarify slightly. The best engineering students were really good, the mediocre to junk ones were worse than the students we had from other departments. The problem was compounded by the university and the involved departments, but that's for another thread.

I have many published articles and agree. All the time is spent on formulas, graphs, charts, and tables. It's like I mentioned above, if it's important, it should be found there or the results section.

CS

Cory

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM

03/12/2012 03:47:00 PM · #21

To the OP...

Write something... I don't care if it's about kittens. Just turn in something, effort really does count in school... (unlike industry!) ..

Keep in mind a 30% is WAY better than a 0.

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

03/12/2012 03:48:04 PM · #22

Originally posted by Cory:

To the OP...

Write something... I don't care if it's about kittens. Just turn in something, effort really does count in school... (unlike industry!) ..

Keep in mind a 30% is WAY better than a 0.

Finished the paper, on the subject matter at hand... Child Obesity and Physical Education. Blah!
Such a boring assignment, but it's done. Thankfully.

Spork99

OM System OM-1

03/12/2012 05:00:14 PM · #23

Originally posted by cosmicassassin:

Originally posted by mike_311:
besides we are lazy becuase we dont care to prove everything, we know it works :P

also have you ever tried to write a technical paper? i spend more time formatting formulas than i do actually explaining anything.

Let me clarify slightly. The best engineering students were really good, the mediocre to junk ones were worse than the students we had from other departments. The problem was compounded by the university and the involved departments, but that's for another thread.

I have many published articles and agree. All the time is spent on formulas, graphs, charts, and tables. It's like I mentioned above, if it's important, it should be found there or the results section.

CS

Technical papers are typically written for an audience of people just like the author. Writing a brief for the executive management, who likely got a C in freshman physics (if that), explaining your research, what the results mean, why it's significant and how the company can use it to make money IF they give you more resources to exploit it is a better measure of skill than a white paper targeting an audience of like-minded people.

Good engineers ARE lazy. They'll work their asses off to make things easy.

An engineer and a mathemetician get get summoned to a gym by the devil. The devil has them stand at one end of the basketball court and places a briefcase with a million dollars in it at the other. He tells them that to claim the money, all they have to do is walk over and get it. The catch being that each time they move, they can only move half of the remaining distance to the other end of the court. The mathematician starts thinking and after some minutes exclaims "IMPOSSIBLE!" and storms out empty handed.

The engineer moves to half court, then halfway again, then halfway again until he's right next to the briefcase, leans down, picks it up and exclaims, "Close enough." and walks out with the money.

Message edited by author 2012-03-12 17:08:49.

deeby

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

03/12/2012 06:58:53 PM · #24

Originally posted by mike_311:

as an engineering student i take exception as well.

To be clear, I did not take exception.