Since I'm Up...

In true college student fashion (the fact that I'm in graduate school will probably never hit me, since I've had no real world experience to cultivate this 'discipline' I've heard so much about), I just spent the last two hours churning out a paper that should have been sent to my professor hours ago. It's a three-page paper, which I haven't had to write since freshman year (the last paper I wrote on my own exceeded 25 pages), and yet despite that fact, it sucked.

We had to write about three emerging trends that would affect the practice of IMC (don't worry about what the letters stand for, it's a particular marketing discipline). I started with the least original thing I could think of (ads showing up in more and more places as the internet plays a larger role in our lives) and let the power of association take me from there (to the proliferation of data, which is even less creative, if that's possible, and increased efficiency of data exchange). I might have had a couple of mildly interesting points to make, but I failed miserably at turning out a paper that met any of the professor's listed criteria (which did not actually say "All sentences should make sense and adhere to the point being made in the paragraph," but probably would have if the professor had had an inkling of what the fruits of my labor look like).

All this makes me wonder what a paper of mine would look like if I put real effort into it; if everyone actually tried their best, where would I come in on that curve? (I've been reading the Bell Curve and if I wasn't lazy before, I sure as hell am now because I have scientific data that says I can get away with it.) I've actually never done what one is supposed to do for a paper: write a draft, rewrite it, edit, get feedback, re-edit and then turn it in all polished. Because by the time I get the damned thing written, it's a. three days late and I don't have the time and b. I've just pulled an all-nighter and I don't have the desire. I hate group projects, but the accountability is definitely helpful. (I'm accountable for individual stuff too, but I care less when I know I'll get whatever grade I deserve.) I think I need to reevaluate group vs. individual work...

(Disclaimer: it's late and I know this entry doesn't really make sense, but the up side is that the reader gets an excellent feel for how moronic my academic writing must be.)