Suggestion Can physics forums create a subforum for essay editing and advice?

[DR13]

I had an idea to open up a new subforum (probably in the homework section) that could be used for help with college app essays, scholarship essays, etc. People could post essays and others could read it over and give advice. The advice does not have to be focused on grammar (ie "you missed a comma here, here, here, and there). Rather, it could be focused on general advice about ideas and direction of the essay. The obvious downfall would be people posting their essay willy-nilly because it takes no effort on their part. That being said, if we could find a way to regulate it, I believe that it would be a good addition to physics forums.

 

[waht]

This has been discussed before. Even one of the mentor's daughter was going to run it. However, there is not enough people requesting essay tutoring. In my opinion, critiquing an essay on this forum that you are going to be submitting to your professor is not fair to your classmates, as the people here are so smart that can literally turn around your essay into a professional manuscript that can be published.

What would be interesting is if we give a topic to write an essay on, and then we will analyze it in great detail. This ensures that a user isn't going to be submitting it somewhere. The point is to help you find gaps in your writing so that next time you write something it will be better, and entirely your own.

 

[DR13]

What would be interesting is if we give a topic to write an essay on, and then we will analyze it in great detail. This ensures that a user isn't going to be submitting it somewhere. The point is to help you find gaps in your writing so that next time you write something it will be better, and entirely your own.

The problem with this would be that most people will not want to put in that kind of effort. People have a lot of their own work to do (work that actually counts for something).

 

[story645]

people here are so smart that can literally turn around your essay into a professional manuscript that can be published

Intelligence does not equal good writing skills, nor does it equal good critiquing and editing skills. If you want proof, read some journal papers in their rough draft form.

I had an idea to open up a new subforum (probably in the homework section) that could be used for help with college app essays, scholarship essays, etc.

US college and university students have a great resource for this, their friendly local writing center. I do tons of essay tutoring (work in my school's writing center, help friends with their stuff), and the poorer the writer, the more they need real world help. It's very different from helping with the average short homework problem because proper editing can take hours of work; it's like helping with every problem in the book.

I've seen some threads asking for essay advice, but they're pretty sporadic.

 

[waht]

The problem with this would be that most people will not want to put in that kind of effort. People have a lot of their own work to do (work that actually counts for something).

True, but that's the price of learning, only those who want to learn will learn.

Intelligence does not equal good writing skills, nor does it equal good critiquing and editing skills. If you want proof, read some journal papers in their rough draft form.

There is a lot of talent on this forums, and some have shown willingness, and exceptions skill in essaying.

US college and university students have a great resource for this, their friendly local writing center. I do tons of essay tutoring (work in my school's writing center, help friends with their stuff), and the poorer the writer, the more they need real world help. It's very different from helping with the average short homework problem because proper editing can take hours of work; it's like helping with every problem in the book.

That's true, tutoring is available in every school, but it's sort of underused. Some part time tutors I know show up to work and browse web, read, and listen to music. There doesn't seem a lot of demand, especially when it is all free.

 

[story645]

Some part time tutors I know show up to work and browse web, read, and listen to music. There doesn't seem a lot of demand, especially when it is all free.

I browse and read the web and whatever else; I still have to be there if the student doesn't show, so I don't see a problem with doing stuff while waiting for the next session. I've been a writing tutor for three and half years now, and there's usually the same traffic patterns: finals week is usually half dead, the week before finals is crazy packed, midterms week is also insane, nobody's around in the morning, very long lines in the afternoon, and nobodies around right before vacations. My school has a lot of ESLers, so our writing center probably gets utilized more heavily than others, but my school also puts an effort into publicizing the tutoring resources available.

There is a lot of talent on this forums, and some have shown willingness, and exceptions skill in essaying.

I wasn't saying there wasn't. I agree with you that there are plenty of posters who are very capable of offering good writing advice. I just disagreed with the claim that intelligence automatically equals good writing skills.