BP-TheGuy88

Just to make it clear I do not have problems writing papers. I usually do very good on them.

Now to my question, why is it that professors will often set a minimum amount of pages that students have to write?

It seems to me that it would make sense to allow students to write as much as they need in order to answer the question being asked by the professor for that particular assignments.

The reason I ask this is because I have one accounting professor (I know a class which isn't writing intensive at all) who is giving out a paper due on the Final exam. However he did something that just makes so much sense. He said in response to how long the paper is, "i do not want to see fluff, just give me the essentials and answer the question. so if that takes you 1-2 paragraphs that's ok. if that means 2-4 pages that's ok."

It occurred to me that sometimes when I'm writing papers I have to DRAAAAAAG out some ideas which I hate to do but is necessary in order to meet the minimum page requirements. It sucks to do that because it's not like I'm adding in any extra useful information.

My major is not writing intensive so I am just curious about this.

On a side note, I notice that at one of my jobs where I work (a law school) students are constantly printing out huge chunks of papers at a time. These are assignments they have to hand in to their professor. We're talking easily 50pages single spaced at least. Does the same problem apply here from earlier? Is it that people feel that more writing automatically equals better work? I feel it's probably different at the law school than at the undergraduate level of education.

Anyways what are your thoughts on this?

quirky

I totally agree. My favorite papers were the ones I had to write for my Psych professor, who said that they should be as concise as possible.

b@r!um

If you have to drag out ideas to meet the minimum page requirement, chances are you have not yet explored the topic at the depth that the professor expects you to. I think minimum page requirements are a good thing because they (i) force you to develop your ideas further than what you might be comfortable with and (ii) they give you a guideline to the depth of coverage that is expected. You usually approach a four-page paper differently than a ten-page paper, or at least that's what I do.

RacinReaver

I remember I had a lab report that had a seven page maximum (before figures). I had spent about 8 hours a week for the entire semester on the lab, and my first draft was over 18 pages.

It was one heck of a weekend trying to pare all of that information down to just seven little pages.

Fanatic517

One of my professors said "I only gave a page requirement of 7-10 pages because students always ask how long it should be. Make it however long you want."

AUlostchick

Because if a teacher doesn't give a minimum, there will be those idiots who only write like a page because they hate writing and don't want to be there (such as my world literature class). Page limits force you to really expand your topic. However, another professor I had gave a 10-12 pg limit, but then said, when I asked her and was worried about my rough draft's length of 7.5 pages, "If it's a GOOD 7 pages I don't care". I did finally end up adding enough to it to make it about 9.5 pages though, for the final draft.

OKgirl

I think that it's a great idea to have the minimum/maximum page limits. I know that you feel like the "fluff" isn't necessary, but it shows that you comprehend the subject. I think that it also gives you more chances of getting a better grade.

demeter

I agree with everyone else who says that minimum page limits often encourage you to explore your topic at a sufficient depth. You can always find something that complicates or adds another dimension to your argument. Also, professors who have been teaching awhile probably have a general idea of how long a paper should be to cover a topic at the level they want you to cover it. Whenever I worry about word limits, I always find that I end up going a little over.

soccerguy315

This is the correct answer. Another possibility is, maybe you are not analyzing enough, just writing what you read somewhere else.

Weskid

I think this is totally right. I have a parent who is a prof, and they've explained min and max page #s in terms of trying to give students a sense of the depth of coverage they want, especially. Basically, my parent said "Yes, sometimes a student is two pages under because they are REALLY concise, and it is still a great paper. Sometimes they are two pages over because that is their style/their argument was interestingly complex, and it is still a great paper. But normally, if a student is really off of the page limit, they are either not making a deep enough argument, or they are trying to cover way too much, and it is not so good a paper."

Basically, it's good to learn how to tell exactly what your prof is getting at with the limits. For example, some people I know think its good to go way over the page limit b/c the prof will be impressed or something, but most of the time that means they are approaching the topic too broadly. Many profs see value in being able to narrow your argument so as to not go over the limit as much as being able to make it broad enough to hit the limit.

kelseyg

My professors explained that he gives a page and word range because if you want to write in real life, you'll be given similar specifications - almost no one will tell you just to "write as much as you want", whether it's for a book, news magazine, academic journal, etc.

BP-TheGuy88

What Weskid said, that's sort of what I was getting at. Some people can write really concise arguments in their papers. I'm not one of those people. But for example, I wrote a paper last semester or possibly last year in which a friend of mine (an English major) looked at it. One paragraph was trimmed down to 1-2 sentence. She knew what words could be used to connect the ideas I was trying to get across the paper.

I really don't see it as a problem of students not developing their ideas enough. Students should be taught how to be short, sweet and simple and to the point. Because in the end, the longer something is in writing, it means the longer it takes for someone else to read it.

Branching a bit off into the real world, who the hell wants to read a proposed bill that's 10 pages long if it could have easily been 1-2 pages. Who wants to read a business proposal that's 25 pages long, if it could have been summed up in 1 page. It seems to me it takes more creativity and thinking to make sure one gets down what's important on paper rather than drilling through one topic for xx amount of pages.

ken285

More and more of my classes have had a maximum limit, which I found to be tougher. It's not as easy to be concise and explore the subject in depth.

Weskid

But see, you can be short, sweet, simple and to the point in one page, or ten pages...its depends on what your point IS. And that's what the page limits (on either side) are supposed to give you a sense of, as I understand it. For the same generally topic, there are tons of different theses you could write about...one of the skills professors want you to learn is how to pick a theses that is the right scope for the page limit. It might not be as applicable in the real world, but it's really important in acedemics, at least, to be able to moderate the size of your project by narrowing (or expanding) the scope of your argument.