Only You Can Write This!
by Marco Sanfilippo
The beginning of the semester has begun yet again, and with it comes new classes, assignments, and responsibilities. Some of us can manage stress better than others, and while I have become better at managing my responsibilities, there’s always that one misstep that leads to the next crisis. In my experience, my stress is a direct result of anxiety. But I’m not a bad student. In fact, I consider myself a good one, since the last time I got any grade below a B was in my senior year of high school. So why would I have stress, especially when it comes to the proficiency of my work?
About three semesters ago, I had to tackle the kind of paper that I’ve never had to write before. I had to write 10 pages minimum, 12 max—and the way I had to go about writing it was not what I was used to. As the due date was drawing nearer, I was getting more and more anxious. I only wrote three of the required 10 pages, and I had about half of the sources I needed. Then I reached the night before the day it was due, and I was nowhere near finished. So at around 6 p.m. I ordered a 4-shot macchiato, pulled up my document, and got to work. By the time I handed it in almost 13 hours later, I was convinced that it was the worst paper and I had also convinced myself that it would receive the corresponding grade for such a paper.
But the outcome wasn’t at all what I expected. A week later the paper was returned to me and I was surprised to see that I got an A—. I was dumbfounded. This was a paper that I was concerned about, but it was a paper that I put the least amount of effort in until the last possible second. I didn’t think I deserved a grade like that for a paper like this.
As I was having these thoughts, I wondered: was my paper that bad? I pulled up the finished product on my computer screen and read it again. After being a week removed from worrying about the paper, I started to see it differently: it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. My paper was well-written, its claims backed up by sources and facts, and it met the requirements that the professor wanted. Why wouldn’t it get an A? Surely it didn’t deserve the C that I thought it did.
I realized I had gone about this assignment the wrong way. I wrote the paper with absolute worry about the grade, and not what would made it a great paper. I was worried about the wrong things. When I was writing, I should’ve been focused on what makes good papers good papers.
If you need any help with anything that has to do with writing, you can visit the Writing Center on the first floor in the library. They're great!
Marco Sanfilippo '18 -- is an English major with minors in Communications & Journalism.