October 17, 2005
Free Advice to Grad Students Who Play Professor
(aka, TAs)
Painstakingly marking in red pen and commenting on all the times I use numerals instead of writing out numbers (less than 100) in my paper will make you look like a complete idiot when I am using direct quotes from written sources.
And I'll mention it in class just to be sure.
Bitch.
(Yes, I will be contesting my grade.)
(Yes, this is the kind of post I would normally keep to myself because I do not post anonymously, but I decided I don't really care in this instance because the TA in question is not giving me anywhere near my money's worth anyway. Teaching involves more than making PowerPoint slides to summarize the day's reading assignment with no additional information, and then sitting behind a desk and reading them aloud for us. I can read, what do I need you for??)
Posted by Jennifer at October 17, 2005 08:27 PM | TrackBackYou are righteously upset and exactly right. To spell out a number when the numeral is in the direct written quote would be a misquote. I think you can prove that in any court.
TAs can be a bit clueless sometimes. Call them on it everytime.
Oh, and call him "son" at some appropriate point. He's a TA -- afraid to leave school. He's so insecure he'll either cave in imediately or make a fool of himself in front of the class.
It's a win-win! :D
Posted by: Tuning Spork at October 17, 2005 08:51 PMIt is a TA of the "she" variety.
Posted by: Jennifer at October 17, 2005 09:30 PMI think those kids in second grade who always wanted to be the line leader eventually grow up to become TA's. But that's just my theory.
Posted by: shank at October 18, 2005 08:14 AMI was always taught to write out numbers when it's less than ten but use numerals for anything higher.
I'd get red marks all over the place on my papers, then!
Truthfully, I suspect that the "rule" is far more loose than the red pen implies.
And at any rate, that TA is a mo-ron.
Posted by: Trey Givens at October 18, 2005 10:51 AMI had an undergrad-senior TA recently hand me back a paper from one of my classes saying I had the most atrocious grammer ever, yet she never explained what I kept doing wrong. Gr @ TAs, Gr.
I feel your pain.
Posted by: Mookie at October 18, 2005 01:20 PMI'm with Trey. The cutoff for writing out the numbers is ten, not 100. At least, that's how I learned it.
Posted by: Perry at October 18, 2005 02:20 PMIt is a TA of the "she" variety.
Then throw in a 'bitch' every now and then.
Posted by: Victor at October 19, 2005 07:42 AMFrom my copy of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (Third Edition, 1988): 2.4.2 "In general, write as words all whole numbers from one to nine and use numerals for all numbers 10 and over (over 500 years ago). But never use a numeral at the beginning of a sentence..."
Posted by: Dr_Funk at October 19, 2005 12:40 PM
Jew