My Essay Hell

[Danzaver]

Ok, so I kinda let my essays creep up on me this semester. Luckily I have two kinda short ones, but the situation got dire yesterday.

I discovered that the final assignment, which I was under the impression wasn't due until May 30th was due next week.

SO, I have:
- 4000 words on the evidence for sedentism and mobility in mesolithic britain due on monday (except it is a public holiday monday so I guess it is due sunday, except I don't think the office is open sunday so I guess it is due saturday).
- a five minute talk on the lithic archaeology of the isle of man due the day after (Tuesday)
- 2000 words on the importance of trade in archaeology due that friday
- 4000 words on the reasons for the viking migration at the end of the 8th century due the following monday.

Averages out to about one assignment completed every three days. Luckily I have a fair amount of research for two of them already.

Oh, by the way, to top it all off, my oldest friend is coming down for a few days this weekend, it will be the first time I have seen him in years and I won't get to do anything with him because I can't afford to stop working for more than a couple of hours or the amount of time it takes to sleep or eat.

I am stocked up with comfort food and have my study rewards standing by (one of which is this forum).

This is going to be the most intense thing I have ever done, IF I pull it off.

I'm just focussing on how great it will feel to get it all done, and that when it is done, my scholarship money will be buying me a suit of functional full plate mail to work out my frustration in.

Right, back to work.

[soozenw]

Just reading your topics made my head hurt. Good luck!

[†Seer†]

Good luck mate, I'm only on my mids at the moment, but I feel for ya!

[crimson77]

- 4000 words on the evidence for sedentism and mobility in mesolithic britain due on monday (except it is a public holiday monday so I guess it is due sunday, except I don't think the office is open sunday so I guess it is due saturday).


It might be good to email your professor/teacher and ask if the assignment is still due on the holiday. They might tell you that it is due later giving you more time to work.

[R.O.A.]

Those are cool topics:smallcool: Good luck getting it all done in time!

[Groundhog]

Wow...That's a lot of writing, and I like essays. Mucho luck to you!

[Dave Rapp]

Just copy the wikipedia article.

[Mauve Shirt]

Yeah, I know how that is. ONLY ONE MORE EXAM LEFT! And for it I have 2 500 word essays, one on German unification and it's impact on the wider world, and one on the 20th Century being the deadliest century mankind has ever known.

I should work on those...

[Danzaver]

Just copy the wikipedia article.

Ummm... How about NO.

See, I like my scholarship, my enrollment, and my ability to be taken seriously in academic circles, or seek enrollment in other universities later, or EVER for that matter.

Here's a wikipedia article for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism

Status report: 2000 words last night. On schedule. :smallbiggrin:

What's Murphey's Law again? Something like "If something can go wrong it will"..?

Well I let my pet rats run around on my bed this morning before I got up, and one of them half destroyed my glasses. :smallmad:

How ironic. :smallconfused:

[OwlbearUltimate]

Mmm, nothing like staying up till 2am on long papers. My favorite two essays was when I had to write a whole short story in one night, with my friend and I IMing each other till 3:30 in the morning. My other is my sonnet project, which i was up till 2am doing, while playing Metallica. I then realized I had a physics test that day. 4 hours of sleep + no studing, I managed to still get a 70 on the test though.

[Zarrexaij]

Oh wow, nice to see what I have to look forward to in college. :smallyuk:

Good luck on getting it all finished. I've written some long damn essays, but that tops it for sure. I'm a measly high school student.

[Danzaver]

Oh my god. I can't fricking believe this.

I have been working so goddamn hard on the first 4000 word essay that I have ended up falling slightly behind schedule.

I just went to hand it in online, and somehow I had gotten it mixed up in my head and in my notes.

I only had to write 2000 words.

Now it's surely going to drag my mark down... I don't know how much.

This is sooooo goddamn depressing I can't express it.

[Dave Rapp]

Ummm... How about NO.

See, I like my scholarship, my enrollment, and my ability to be taken seriously in academic circles, or seek enrollment in other universities later, or EVER for that matter.

Here's a wikipedia article for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism

Status report: 2000 words last night. On schedule. :smallbiggrin:

What's Murphey's Law again? Something like "If something can go wrong it will"..?

Well I let my pet rats run around on my bed this morning before I got up, and one of them half destroyed my glasses. :smallmad:

How ironic. :smallconfused:

And here's one for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy's_Law

:smalltongue:

At this point I have to ask, what the HELL kind of classes are you taking where you write an essay on something as specific as sedentary Brittish cavemen?

[Danzaver]

And here's one for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy's_Law

:smalltongue:

At this point I have to ask, what the HELL kind of classes are you taking where you write an essay on something as specific as sedentary Brittish cavemen?

Yes, the events of the last few days have made me very aware of Murphy's law.

The name of the course is "Archaeology in the Age of Stonehenge" and very specific topics like that are pretty much standard in all courses as far as I am aware.

[Dave Rapp]

Yes, the events of the last few days have made me very aware of Murphy's law.

The name of the course is "Archaeology in the Age of Stonehenge" and very specific topics like that are pretty much standard in all courses as far as I am aware.

You're writing an essay... for an archaeology class? As a stupid American, I find that strange. 'round here we tend to keep science in the science classes, english in the english classes, and math in the math classes. What exactly do you learn by writing about a science? Writing and looking things up is not what any science is about, unless there is such a science as bookology. I call that counter-productive, but that's just me.

[TigerHunter]

\What exactly do you learn by writing about a science?
A heckofa lot more than you learn writing about the role Robert played in Edna's life/death in The Awakening.
[/bitterness]

[Danzaver]

You're writing an essay... for an archaeology class? As a stupid American, I find that strange. 'round here we tend to keep science in the science classes, english in the english classes, and math in the math classes. What exactly do you learn by writing about a science? Writing and looking things up is not what any science is about, unless there is such a science as bookology. I call that counter-productive, but that's just me.

Archaeology and History are very closely linked by the written word, especially because when you dig something up, you are annihilating the archaeological record. Without context, what can survive means nothing, so writing about your discoveries is a VERY big part of archaeology. As it is in any science - you have a moral obligation to publish your findings. Every science student should be kept at the highest level of writing ability. As I believe they are.

Additionally, in time past archaeology and history never used to overlap - the written word was considered the domain of historians, the physical record the domain of archaeologists, but increasingly as archaeologists became less treasure-hunters and vandals and started to concern themselves with the social contracts and motivations of ancient people, there is an overlap where being able to assess both is preferable.

In fact, there is a specific specialty within archaeology that specialises in combining physical and written evidence, called Historical Archaeology, which is precisely what I am aspiring to.

EDIT: Plus, you know, you do actually have to do a lot of research in your given field, and writing assignments is pretty much par the course for all University degrees, science or arts. And technically, Archaeology is a Social Science, not a science per se. There is science IN archaeology, but Archaeology a weird subject that sits on the fence between science and arts but is traditionally part of an Arts degree.

[Dave Rapp]

Archaeology and History are very closely linked by the written word, especially because when you dig something up, you are annihilating the archaeological record. Without context, what can survive means nothing, so writing about your discoveries is a VERY big part of archaeology. As it is in any science - you have a moral obligation to publish your findings. Every science student should be kept at the highest level of writing ability. As I believe they are.

Additionally, in time past archaeology and history never used to overlap - the written word was considered the domain of historians, the physical record the domain of archaeologists, but increasingly as archaeologists became less treasure-hunters and vandals and started to concern themselves with the social contracts and motivations of ancient people, there is an overlap where being able to assess both is preferable.

In fact, there is a specific specialty within archaeology that specialises in combining physical and written evidence, called Historical Archaeology, which is precisely what I am aspiring to.

EDIT: Plus, you know, you do actually have to do a lot of research in your given field, and writing assignments is pretty much par the course for all University degrees, science or arts. And technically, Archaeology is a Social Science, not a science per se. There is science IN archaeology, but Archaeology a weird subject that sits on the fence between science and arts but is traditionally part of an Arts degree.

More and more often these days, I see a student, a teacher, a class, a school, sometimes even a society try to combine English/Language Arts with science, and end up with something that puts more emphasis on the language than the science. Every time I do I am reminded somewhat horrifyingly of a bit from Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.

One of the top scientists from Anacreon describes his method of scientific research. He looks at all the texts and findings of one scientist on a certain subject, then looks at all the texts and findings of another scientist on the same subject, compairs the two, and decides which one he believes. That was not science, it was literary criticism. It was backwards. Nothing new, no progress, just recycling old data.

I mean no offense to you directly when I say this, but if Historical Archaeology specialises in nothing more than combining two kind of evidence, the written and the physical, then what you have there is not science in any sense of the word.

Granted, science is useless unless you report your findings. No argument there. But it doesn't matter how well you write, so long as you're able to communicate your findings and get your points across. If Einstein had spoken entirely in sentence fragments and written his theories in purple crayon, E would still equal MC^2. The difference, if there were one, would be negligible.


" 'Ideas are tested by experiment.' That is the core of science. Everything else is bookkeeping." -xkcd (http://xkcd.com/397/)

[Danzaver]

More and more often these days, I see a student, a teacher, a class, a school, sometimes even a society try to combine English/Language Arts with science, and end up with something that puts more emphasis on the language than the science. Every time I do I am reminded somewhat horrifyingly of a bit from Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.

One of the top scientists from Anacreon describes his method of scientific research. He looks at all the texts and findings of one scientist on a certain subject, then looks at all the texts and findings of another scientist on the same subject, compairs the two, and decides which one he believes. That was not science, it was literary criticism. It was backwards. Nothing new, no progress, just recycling old data.

I mean no offense to you directly when I say this, but if Historical Archaeology specialises in nothing more than combining two kind of evidence, the written and the physical, then what you have there is not science in any sense of the word.

Granted, science is useless unless you report your findings. No argument there. But it doesn't matter how well you write, so long as you're able to communicate your findings and get your points across. If Einstein had spoken entirely in sentence fragments and written his theories in purple crayon, E would still equal MC^2. The difference, if there were one, would be negligible.


" 'Ideas are tested by experiment.' That is the core of science. Everything else is bookkeeping." -xkcd (http://xkcd.com/397/)

I hate to break it to you, but the majority of the work anyone will ever get to do is just recycling old data. When you get to uni, you will figure that out, or you will get frustrated with it. You would be surprised what you can gain by recycling old data, if you ask new questions of it. It can be quite rewarding, and a lot more than mere book-keeping

I think you may be confusing literature with academic writing. It's got nothing to do with eloquence, but, if Einstein had written in crayon he would never have been published and no one would know E equaled MC squared. Choosing one paper or viewpoint over another is nothing like literary criticism. Style doesn't enter into it. It's something that all academics must do, and ultimately, you must follow the majority opinion of your peers. It's the lynch-pin of credibility for the entire organisation. Less proving things, more not being disproved yet. That is one of the ways that science is very much like history. It is all very transient, and when you come down to it, you're not proving anything for certain, you're just finding the explanation that works best with all the factors you can imagine and actually test.

But we are confusing the issue slightly. We are talking about Archaeology, which is a science only part of the time, and the rest of the time it is is a highly theoretical loose gathering of individuals all looking at the same evidence and asking questions of it so as to try and gain a perspective into something that we may never understand for certain (actually, that sounds just like science).

...and no offense, but the author of a webcomic is hardly an authority on what is science based on those credentials alone (EDIT: I mean the guy you cited, not you. Just realised how that could be misunderstood :smalltongue: ). But I will play ball with that. By that definition, using the written record and the archaeological record to try to gain a better insight into the past is a science, as it is experimentation. If you take something, say the bible, specifically the records of moses parting the red sea, and combine it with something like rigorous archaeological survey of the red sea area combined with egyptian hieroglyph translations and contemporaries, that is experimentation. Having a problem, developing a hypothesis, treating it to rigorous scrutiny, repeat if necessary, record your findings and your conclusions, wait for it to be disproved. Sounds like science to me.

..of course I still maintain it's more of an art than a science. Although it is every bit as vague and inconclusive as science, and equally as clinical and critical, the breakthroughs, the new view-points, the comparisons, all come down to inspiration. Everything else is bookkeeping, including the experimentation. But, that's just my perspective. doesn't matter which way around you see it in the end. You will still need to do have the inspiration, run the experiments, and do the writing. If you have been thoroughly prepared in all three areas through your education, all the better.

[RTGoodman]

I sympathize with you. In the span of about 2 1/2 weeks or so (which only ended last Monday), I wrote something like 60 pages worth of term papers. I did ten pages on Antioch in the Crusades, 22 pages on St. Augustine as the philosophical heir to pre-Christian North African religions, and 28 pages on music of the Vietnam War era. Oh, and presentations on the first and last, and probably one for them middle one on Wednesday. Of course, at least the Vietnam one was easy to write, and the St. Augustine one was relatively easy to do once I settled on a topic (a week before the paper was due).

I don't know if it would help (or if you need more sources/research), but one of my mentor/professors has done some work in topics loosely related to yours. I don't know how much it'd help since his stuff is later than what you want, but I know he's done a lot of work regarding archaeology, history, and culture. His info, including selected publications, is here (http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cas/history/enright.cfm), but his books may be hard to find.


Oh, and Archaeology, at least as I've been taught, is sort of a crazy hybrid of History and Anthropology, and is more of a social science than a regular science (meaning writing is definitely going to be a part of it). Of course, I don't see how any profession can get away without doing essays and articles and stuff, but then again I haven't taken any math or science class since I started college because of AP exams.

[Moff Chumley]

Ouch. Good luck with hat pile of work, and you have my permission to buy yourself a cookie when your through.

[Danzaver]

I sympathize with you. In the span of about 2 1/2 weeks or so (which only ended last Monday), I wrote something like 60 pages worth of term papers. I did ten pages on Antioch in the Crusades, 22 pages on St. Augustine as the philosophical heir to pre-Christian North African religions, and 28 pages on music of the Vietnam War era. Oh, and presentations on the first and last, and probably one for them middle one on Wednesday. Of course, at least the Vietnam one was easy to write, and the St. Augustine one was relatively easy to do once I settled on a topic (a week before the paper was due).

I don't know if it would help (or if you need more sources/research), but one of my mentor/professors has done some work in topics loosely related to yours. I don't know how much it'd help since his stuff is later than what you want, but I know he's done a lot of work regarding archaeology, history, and culture. His info, including selected publications, is here (http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cas/history/enright.cfm), but his books may be hard to find.


Oh, and Archaeology, at least as I've been taught, is sort of a crazy hybrid of History and Anthropology, and is more of a social science than a regular science (meaning writing is definitely going to be a part of it). Of course, I don't see how any profession can get away without doing essays and articles and stuff, but then again I haven't taken any math or science class since I started college because of AP exams.

Your professor looks like a really nice guy. Mine is younger than me. XD

We also have this guy at our uni who is world-ranked on several centuries and is the world's leading authority on the lombards, but he doesn't teach undergraduates any more. :smallfrown:

Yeah, that Antioch assignment sounds really really interesting. I love the crusades (from an academic point of view, not from an endorsing religious violence sense), especially the first crusade, and Antioch is one of my highlights. The siege of Antioch in the first crusade was just absolutely inspiring, as far as disease, death, and horror can inspire.

Helluva city. Build by Romans, reinforced by Byzantines, conquered by everybody.

[RTGoodman]

Your professor looks like a really nice guy. Mine is younger than me. XD

Well, he's an old Irishman, with all that entails. He grew up a poor farmboy in Ireland, moved to the US, went to college, served in Vietnam, came back to the US to get a PhD, taught in Germany, and then somehow ended up at the great academic mecca that is East Carolina University.


Yeah, that Antioch assignment sounds really really interesting. I love the crusades (from an academic point of view, not from an endorsing religious violence sense), especially the first crusade, and Antioch is one of my highlights. The siege of Antioch in the first crusade was just absolutely inspiring, as far as disease, death, and horror can inspire.

Helluva city. Build by Romans, reinforced by Byzantines, conquered by everybody.

Well, the paper was less about the fighting and more about non-violent interaction. The assignment was to find a relatively recent article about the Middle East and review, plus research the topic to decide whether the article is good, bad, biased, unbiased, well-researched, full of crap, etc. My article was by Thomas Asbridge ("The 'Crusader' Kingdom at Antioch: The Impact of Interaction with Byzantium and Islam"), and it turned out to be pretty interesting. For the most part, it didn't talk much about crusading at all, and focused on non-violent interaction among Muslims, Byzantines, and Western Europeans, which is something you don't hear about much.

Yeah, I love the Crusades-era also. If I weren't trying to figure out how to get my PhD by studying Mythology (and specifically, Celtic and Norse mythology), I'd probably try to head across the Pond to study under Asbridge or one of the other great Crusades scholars in Britain or Germany. I mean, I love the US, but there's not a lot of medieval stuff to be found here. :smalltongue:

[Danzaver]

Well, he's an old Irishman, with all that entails. He grew up a poor farmboy in Ireland, moved to the US, went to college, served in Vietnam, came back to the US to get a PhD, taught in Germany, and then somehow ended up at the great academic mecca that is East Carolina University.

Mine, from what I can gather, is a long-haired, skinny good little Anglican boy who gets very excited when talking about violence in history, especially toward catholics for some reason. He is basically a genius. He finished his BA, and they just gave him his Masters he was so good. He is teaching while he does his p.h.d.




For the most part, it didn't talk much about crusading at all, and focused on non-violent interaction among Muslims, Byzantines, and Western Europeans, which is something you don't hear about much.


Until some Christians came along and slaughtered Muslim, Christian and Jew indiscriminately. :smalltongue:



Yeah, I love the Crusades-era also. If I weren't trying to figure out how to get my PhD by studying Mythology (and specifically, Celtic and Norse mythology), I'd probably try to head across the Pond to study under Asbridge or one of the other great Crusades scholars in Britain or Germany. I mean, I love the US, but there's not a lot of medieval stuff to be found here. :smalltongue:

Oh yeah, I am sooooo frustrated with Australian medieval studies. I am doing Ancient History/Archaeology. I wanted to do Medieval History but they stopped offering the major 2 years before I came along, despite more people being interested in doing it than ever before. :smallmad:

So i took the Archaeology section, because I would looooooove to work on sites of medieval fortifications and towns and stuff. But recently I discovered that a degree in Archaeology from an Australian University is practically useless outside of Australia. My only hope is to get a scholarship to study in Europe now.

I absolutely live and breathe Medieval Europe. I can't describe to you the lengths to which this is true without sounding like a total weirdo.

EDIT: In regards to the Celtic part of your interests, the University of Glasgow has an entire Gaelic department...

[EvilElitest]

Yeah, i have an AP final and an English final. Somebody was saying i should be working on those, instead of, oh what was that thing i was doing when i should be working.....
from
EE

[RTGoodman]

Oh yeah, I am sooooo frustrated with Australian medieval studies. I am doing Ancient History/Archaeology. I wanted to do Medieval History but they stopped offering the major 2 years before I came along, despite more people being interested in doing it than ever before. :smallmad:

Well, we have our Medieval & Renaissance Studies program, which allows both a major and a minor. I was going to just major in MRST, but it turns out that requires 50+ pages of paperwork and would have taken me an extra year to finish (since I'm getting my BA in only three years). Of course, even as a minor, I'm still the only student that's actually in the MRST program, as far as I know. All the rest either dropped the minor or graduated last year. :smallfrown:


So i took the Archaeology section, because I would looooooove to work on sites of medieval fortifications and towns and stuff. But recently I discovered that a degree in Archaeology from an Australian University is practically useless outside of Australia. My only hope is to get a scholarship to study in Europe now.

Well, if you get to Ireland, get in touch with the Discovery Programme. We've had a three-year series of lectures on Medieval and Early Modern Irish History and Archaeology, almost all of which were by actual Irish historians and archaeologists. Most of the early ones were from the Discovery Programme and talked about their work at various castles and fortifications (as well the possible destruction or at least deterioration of freakin' Tara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_of_Tara) because the government is putting a motorway right through the valley).



Yeah, i have an AP final and an English final. Somebody was saying i should be working on those, instead of, oh what was that thing i was doing when i should be working.....
from
EE

Ooh, what AP exams? Some are pretty tough, but some aren't that bad. I took several (two Englishes, US History, Environmental Science, Biology, and Statistics), and I made 4 or 5 on almost all of them (even, somehow, Biology). I hella-failed the Statistics one. I mean, how was I supposed to remember all that between the end of my actual Statistics class in December and the AP exam in May?