The end is in sight people! I have one big assignment, and
one big exam left before I am all done with my work in Australia. Can you
believe it?! Time has flown and dragged all at the same time. I will write a
sappy post later about how sad I am that classes are over (Last night was my
last forensic science class and I am truly sad that its over!) But right now I
want to talk about my recent assignment predicament.
I was responsible and finished four hard assignments that
were due the day after I got home from Sydney, before I even left to Sydney so
that I could relax in Sydney for 2 weeks… but sadly my fore sight ended there…
As I explained, I left to California after getting home from
Sydney and being in Perth for only two days.
What I neglected to notice was that I had FOUR assignments due the week
after I got home from California. MEANING that I landed Monday night (11:45pm)
in Perth, had a presentation Tuesday morning, and then had Tuesday-Sunday to
finish four HUGE end of semester assignments.
AND THE ASSIGNMENTS ARE! (drumroll please…)
Due October 21, 2013:
#1: Forensic Science Essay (Forensic Science Class)
#2: Family Law Workbook (Family Law Class)
#3: Reaction Paper (Counselling Class)
#4: Offender Profile (Offender Profiling Class)
My Family Law workbook is worth 50% my grade in that class
and also functions as my final exam for the class.
My Offender Profile is worth 50% of my grade in that class.
My Forensic Science Essay is worth 30% of my grade in that
class.
My Reaction Paper is worth 30% of my grade in that class.
When I couldn’t sleep Monday night after my momentous traveling, and I lie awake in my
vastly uncomfortable twin dorm bed, I realized the massive undertaking I had
ahead of me. I decided to e-mail my Family Law teacher and ask for an extension
on my assignment because she is the most understanding of all my teachers, and
she hates for students to be stressed out by assignments. She gave me a
week-long extension making my workbook due October 28th. So I was
able to cross that assignment off, and prioritize it as “the coldest fire” in
my current situation of putting out the hottest fire first.
So starting Tuesday after class I began to organize. I
re-read all the instructions for each of the three assignments, highlighted the
rules, concepts, or ideas that were most important for me to include, and then
retired to bed. Wednesday, after my Offender Profiling lecture I took a break
for lunch, then headed to the library to begin the massive amounts of research
that were necessary for each assignment. I spent hours in the library. Thursday, I began to actually write my assignments. I started with my Offender Profile
but after a few hours I got frustrated and stopped. I decided to do my Forensic
Science Essay first instead because it was the shortest assignment out of the three, and I figured
I could knock it out real quick and move on to the harder more complex
assignments.
By Saturday I felt like I was making good steady progress
having finished my Forensic Science essay, and having the majority of my
Offender Profile done (so I thought) but come Saturday night the panic was
beginning to set in. I hadn’t even started my Reaction Paper for my Counselling
class, and my Offender Profile wasn’t completely finished, and I only had
Sunday left to finish them! I wasn’t upset at myself because I had literally
spent the whole week in isolation, oscillating between my room and the library,
with zero social interaction, and only my music (and Harry Potter movies) to keep me going. I knew that I
did a good job maintaining my focus, and that I really was doing the best job I
could do.
Sunday proved to be a great day for progress as I finished
my Offender Profile, and had started AND finished my Reaction Paper in one day (I was
really proud of that fact).
So here comes D-Day… Monday October 21st… a day
that will live in infamy. (okay not really… but you get the idea) I slept in
until 11 (boy that was nice! I had been getting up early to work on
assignments) and then began to edit my three assignments. All three of them
were due online by 11:59 pm you see, so I had time to do a final once-over and
catch any mistakes. Also, I had to do the reference page for all my papers. I
always leave that for last as I LOATHE
the reference page and it takes proper attention to format it correctly.
I looked over my Forensic Science essay: I corrected spelling
and grammar, changed the wording in a few sentences, and composed the reference
page. DONE. I turned it in.
I looked over my reaction paper: I corrected spelling and
grammar, added some definitions and justifications, and composed the reference
page. DONE. I turned it in.
Then came the Offender Profile…. **wah, wah, WAAAAHHHHH**
(I’m trying to portray that sound on tv and movies when
something goes wrong, or unexpected and you hear that three note melody where
the last note is draaaaaaawn ooooooouuuuuut.)
My conflict came to an abrupt fruition.
See, they have these stupid things called word limits here in Australia, which I
hate. If you know me you know I can talk forever, and especially when it comes
to my academic work I always write as much as I can to ensure I prove my point (beyond a reasonable doubt).
But not in Australia. The teachers here want you to be able to prove your point
in the least amount of words possible. Now, I understand the logic behind
that….teaching students to be succinct in their writing and show they can
portray their thoughts in the shortest and most effective way possible, and it
makes shorter papers to grade! And I wouldn’t have a problem with this except
for the feedback I’ve gotten on each assignment I have turned in with a word
limit. Each time, my teachers have said “You should have included this, or you should have expanded on
this thought, or you should have given more evidence to prove this claim.”
Really? REALLY?! I WOULD HAVE DONE THOSE THINGS IF I DIDN’T
HAVE TO ADHERE TO YOUR STUPID WORD LIMIT! BAHHHH!
So, going back to my Offender Profile I was once again faced
with this problem. I’m supposed to profile an offender (obviously) based on a
thirty page case file I was given containing information about three homicides
that had occurred, the victim autopsy results, forensic evidence, interviews,
and case notes. Based on the information from the case file, information in the
textbook, and relevant literature published on the content in the case file, I am expected to compose my report.
In a nutshell, I am supposed to take a 30-page case file,
over 400 pages of information in the textbook, and at least 15 academic journal
articles published about serial homicide and offender characteristics and
condense ALLLLL that information into a 2,500 word report.
NO. JUST NO. [Dad, you know what I REALLY said here ;) ]
Seriously? Not possible. Not only is it impossible to
include all the necessary information in under 2,500 words, she gave us
multiple subsections that we were required to include. Which I thought were rather unnecessary, and I would have rather spent more of my word allowance on different sections.
So do you see my predicament? At noon, on Monday, I looked
at my report. It was under the word limit, but I believed it sat there, on my
computer, as an injustice to all the hard word and analysis I had labored so
dedicatedly over. I delved so far into this project that I went as far to
specifically classify the offender into a serial murderer typology, predict his
psychological development in his life, and whether or not he was married and
what car he drove! (Yes it is truly possible to figure these things out based
on crime scene clues… the whole purpose of this class).
What should I do? Do I include absolutely EVERYTHING in my
report and display all the hard work I did? Or do I adhere to the word limit
and turn in a report that meets my teachers requirements? I was distressed. I
wanted to follow the rules, but I also wanted my teacher to see exactly HOW MUCH EFFORT I put into this report
that is worth 50% of my grade. Because I truly did go above and beyond the requirements to produce, what I think, is a stellar report.
I decided to abandon the word limit and include everything I
thought was relevant and important in the report. I did my best to include
those things in the shortest way possible while still explaining their
justification, and I was satisfied.
...That is until I went to my Forensic Science class Monday night.
I spoke with Hannah, a girl I sit with in both Forensic Science and Offender
Profiling, and we chatted about the report. She reminded me about 3 different
things that were a requirement to include that I had completely forgotten, and also reminded me
of a few other things I had forgotten to include. GREAT. Now I have 3 hours to
include all of those requirements that I had forgotten about and turn it in
before 11:59pm! CRAP!
Needless to say I spent Monday night in a fit of
frustration, anger, and crying. I turned in my report after some HEAVY editing,
and it was 409 words over the word limit (not too bad) it was a total of 3,992
words but I figured she wouldn’t include the reference page, title page, table
of contents, all that rubbish in the word count, so by MY COUNT, I was only 409
words over the 3,000 word limit (she increased it to 3,000 from 2,500 after
multiple complaints from students).
But now, on Tuesday morning, I am finally at peace. (MAJOR
brownie points to Ryan for dealing with me and my roller coaster of emotions
the past few days while I was dealing with my conflicting feelings about this
report).
I realized that no matter what grade I receive, I have truly learned SO
MUCH through this assignment and I am proud of how much I have learned, the
research I did, and the amount of information I have truly absorbed and retained. This assignment wasn’t a copy and paste, write and forget
assignment. I truly learned so much and I am so proud of myself for that. So I
am at peace! And I am comforted by the fact that my personal growth through
this assignment in the field of criminal justice was HUGE and that is what
truly matters. The purpose of school is to learn and internalize information
and that is EXACTLY what I did whether my report reflect that or not!
Ryan also put things in perspective for me when he said “Babe
in the large scope of things it is just one little report. Your life will go on, you
won’t even think about this report in three months. It will just be a distant
memory. Be proud of all the hard work you have done! You did the best you could,
and you learned so much. Be proud of yourself!”
On that note, here I am on Tuesday morning feeling relieved
that at least it is over, and finding solace in the fact that I learned so
much. I have a definite appreciation for all of the things I have learned from
that report and my Offender Profiling class as a whole.
WOW this turned out to be WAYYYYY longer than I thought it
would!
I would also like to add that (as usual) Harry Potter has
gotten me though rough times! During the stressful times this past week in
order to relax a little, I would watch Harry Potter on my laptop as I fell
asleep, and I’ve been re-reading the 7th book when I have time to
relax. I will never get tired of J. K. Rowling’s magical world :)
Now the hard-work on my family law project begins :(
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