Another weird student paper

[Hegemony]

I have another first — a student paper that has electronic comments all down the side. Things like "Put this paragraph first and move the other one second," "You have quoted this author wrong," and "Rewrite this sentence as follows..." They look a somewhat like a tutor's work, but a very directive tutor. I am not entirely happy with how much help the tutor/commenter is giving. However, the student has not followed the suggestions — or perhaps did and turned in the wrong version.

What now?

[eigen]

Honestly? I'm going to guess parent.

[dismalist]

Once upon a time, in the 12th century or so, there was a concept called "the clean copy". I would request a clean copy.

[spork]

Grade the version that was submitted. Use the comments, which the student ignored, as your guide.

[Hegemony]

I doubt it was a parent, because the student is a middle-aged man.

[Caracal]

I am not entirely happy with how much help the tutor/commenter is giving.

Just curious about this point.  I've always believed as long as help falls into the category of editing, not writing, there's nothing wrong with that. All of those comments seem to me to fall on the right side of the line. Suggesting new language for a sentence for an occasional sentence is generally ok. 

I suppose this is one of these things where the artificiality of student papers makes the distinctions a bit murky. In the context of professional academic writing, you really wouldn't get into questions of impropriety unless the level of help received was more like ghostwriting.

[RatGuy]

My students regularly use the writing center, mostly because I offer bonus. Help and revision and even collaboration are all part of the writing process, and I'd be happy the student was getting such feedback. It's better than "hey, can you look at this before I turn it in?" emails I sometimes get.

[Cheerful]

My students regularly use the writing center, mostly because I offer bonus.

I used to refer students to our "Writing Center" -- then I learned about the qualifications of those who work at the center.  Especially informative:  a grad student in my course who submitted papers with atrocious writing worked at the "Writing Center" as a writing tutor, advising students on their drafts.

[Hegemony]

Well, if this is a Writing Center tutor, I'm not that happy with it. The comments don't say things like, "This is a little unclear — clarify your thesis" or "Does this paragraph have a topic sentence?" It's just a list of corrections to make. The student could easily make all the changes mechanically without making any progress in learning how to write better on his own. Hmph.

[arty_]

Our writing center doesn't edit/copy edit in the way you describe. I think it's hilarious the student didn't take advantage of the comments!

[polly_mer]

Is it possible that the student made the comments to himself and then just failed to make the corrections?

When I write, I often put the comments on what to improve and then submit anyway if I run out of time before making all the changes.

[Hegemony]

I asked the student who made the comments, but the student has evaded the question. Now on to the next set of issues!  There have been more weird issues with papers this year than I've ever had before. This was true even before the pandemic, for some reason.

[theblackbox]

I was wondering if the comments might have been from the student to his hired ghost writer, and he accidentally turned in this feedback draft instead of the final version by the ghost writer?

[Katrina Gulliver]

I asked the student who made the comments, but the student has evaded the question.

Then that's a zero for cheating. If this had been the writing center or something, they would have said. They were paying for help.

[dr_codex]

I asked the student who made the comments, but the student has evaded the question.

Then that's a zero for cheating. If this had been the writing center or something, they would have said. They were paying for help.

Yeah, the evasion is weird. I encourage my students to get everybody's help. Heck, in Freshman Comp they are required to get it, and to give it, as part of peer review.

But honestly, if any of our Writing Center tutors were giving that kind of feedback, I'd personally walk over there and try to get them a raise. Mostly all they do is make spelling and grammar corrections, often not as well as SpellCheck and GrammarCheck could do.

I'm curious, Hegemony, why you think the money matters? If it was a girlfriend or roommate doing it pro bono, would the distinction matter?