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 Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 6:02 pm
Was good for nothing more than learning how to write fillers in essays?
Becuase I swear I don't know how to write a good essay without fillers anymore because of how much I had to learn fillers in middle school to get the ridiculous word counts they always wanted.
It's helpful sometimes, but I swear I write fillers subconciously and now I have to go through and delete them so my essays aren't complete crap most times!
Word counts are dumb. Seriously. Let me write however much I need to write to get my point across. If I need 10 words, so be it, don't make me write in 1,000 words what I could say in 250. It's a waste of your time and mine.
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Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 7:04 pm
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Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 9:43 pm
BS and a good outline are pretty much what comprises everything I write. xd Including Ametris. But that's just...good BS.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:57 am
i hate to do this, but i don't really agree.
yeah, maybe middle school was a joke (i personally didn't write ANY essays in middle school that i can recall, but then again...i have a hard time recalling anything from then). i'll say this: you should not write "fillers" (i'm not even sure what that means...), but you should analyze your subject in detail.
that's why teachers stress a certain length, and that's why longer essays tend to be better: they're more specific and tend to have more in-depth analysis.
i think the only reason i'm saying this is because i just got through my first college essay. it was a lot more work than i'm used to, really.
anyhow: yeah, i think you shouldn't "write in 1,000 words what [you] could say in 250," but the point of an essay (most of the time) is to convince the reader of your point, to make the reader believe what you're saying. you've got to provide some proof and sound analysis to do that.
however, if you're so damn amazing that you can convince me of your point in less than one page....then you should be in college, not middle school. i'll tell you this: my intros are usually a page long, so if you can write an entire essay with excellent analysis and a sound argument, then i think your teachers should encourage you rather than make you stick to word counts.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:40 pm
Yeah... I also get frustrated when I'm in class and see people writing 500 words for an essay-type of response, when I'm only writing about 15. I'm not gonna lie, I'm just a "simple-and-to-the-point" person, in my writing and in life.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 6:49 pm
Good point, flick, but the idea is that you have to have so many words, and if you CAN fulfill the purpose of the essay in one page, then the rest just HAS to be filler. The whole system is BS.
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Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:22 pm
KirbyVictorious Good point, flick, but the idea is that you have to have so many words, and if you CAN fulfill the purpose of the essay in one page, then the rest just HAS to be filler. The whole system is BS.
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Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 2:29 pm
I'm a rambler, so I could do filler--but it would make less sense than the BS I cooked up for the rest of it. *shrug*
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 11:57 am
BS is useful if you're a politician... or a teacher. They just like to make us do mindless work. If we only have to use say, 45 out of 150 words to get to the point, so much the better for us! You'd think the teachers/professors/etc would be excited about that. It's totally unfair.
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Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 12:03 pm
Now I'm certain, my Language Arts class is going to drive me insane almost forever.
I agree too!
Hm, if only The Guild could create it's own school. It'd be bigger and greater then...then....hm, what's the biggest and greatest school out there? But anyways, this is why we have the internet, right? To spread the meaning of trueness of writing across the internet world!
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 6:03 pm
Yes!
And when you get to college, almost no teacher will give you a word limit. 
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:41 pm
Not a word count but a page count.
I believe the longest paper I ever wrote in college was like 20 pages long...but that was with a bibliography.
And..I don't think I've ever had a problem with having to use a certain amount of words to write a paper ever.
Probably because I was homeschooled and my mom was happy enough if I wrote 2-5 pages a day on anything. Seriously.
Then again..I actually liked to write and be really detailed in papers.
So...no bs in any of my papers.
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 10:03 pm
As a member of the increasingly populous Natural Bulshitter species, I'm afraid I cannot really sympathize as to your problems with filler. But the rest is true enough; word counts are ridiculous. (Although I'm normally complaining about the maximums, not the minimums).
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Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:02 pm
Word counts, something I've never bothered to do, is ridiculous. However many words you need to complete the thought, convince your audience, or become detailed and thorough, is the amount of words necessary for your essay to be a good one. Although I understand why teachers do that. Laziness, 'tis all. I've just written a pure filler essay for English last week though. sweatdrop My teacher wanted to do something with it though. No clue what...
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:56 pm
I'm not entirely sure what comprises "middle" school, but I know what you mean. English lessons throughout highschool were horrible. I have sometimes struggled to get my essay up to the 2,500 word count at uni, but most of the time I struggle to keep it UNDER the word count. Basically (as we were told during our final highschool exams) it all comes down to planning. I know essay plans and word limits suck, but ultimately it helps you to structure the essay better, organise your points, and create a better piece overall.
Here's how I go about writing essays.
firstly, consider (if there is a question) exactly what the question is asking you. If there is no question, be very clear and sure about what point of view you will pursue about the chosen/given topic.
Order your points appropriately. Put them in a logical order, starting with the strongest, most important point, then building on it.
Paragraph structure is important too. Think of each paragraph as an essay in itself:
*topic sentence = introduction. indicate the point the paragraph centres around
*elaborate on your point of view
*evidence = use a quote or other evidence to support your point
*examine the evidence used to show just how it supports your point. If you are disputing the quote, show and explain how you disagree with it
the important thing to remember is to find material to support what you are saying rather than just stating your own opinion. The would be an opinion letter, not an academic essay.
Establishing good habits and skills for essay writing now will stand you in good stead for university (if you choose to go on to tertiary study). I had one teacher in primary school (i think you call it grade school or elementary school in the states) who taught us how to write essays properly. That sound footing, which I have worked on and improved over the course of my studies at highschool, has enabled me to attain a "distinction" average (70-79%) at university on my essays, with frequent "high distinctions" (80-100%) for the better ones (98% was my best one).
So yes, I know writing essays at school SUCKS, but stick with it and work on it, because it is worth the effort. smile
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