You want to be positive, but you need to be honest and avoid hyperbole. If you played a sport for two years, don’t say that you did so for three. If your class selection has been broad or general, don’t say that you had a demanding course load.
First things first, it is possible that this advice will not be helpful. Power dynamics being what they are, there is often very little you can do without experiencing repercussions. Professors who harass or otherwise abuse students have often put a lot of effort into insuring that their bad behavior is hidden from colleagues, or anyone who has enough power to disrupt their careers. This post will be about professors who truly stink, but it may not be helpful if the problem includes sexual harassment or other types of abuse beyond garden variety horrible. With that out of the way, here are some steps to take when dealing with terrible professor if withdrawing from a class is not an option.
There are some traits that a good academic writer needs to have. You need to be self-motivated, because no one is going to check up on your work pace and keep you going. You need to be organized, because you will often have more than one assignment due each day. You need to be able to clear away mental clutter in order to focus on the core each essay, even as you change from subject to subject over the course of a day. You need to be a good written communicator, not just in academic writing, but also via email with your clients and various freelance coordinators.
First of all, don’t be afraid to talk to your grader in advance and let them that you are struggling to understand the material. They may have suggestions for other readings or Web sites that might help you get a handle on things.
People are often surprised to find out that as a professional writer I’ve written countless poems, short stories, plays, and even screenplays, for clients. Students in all types of programs need support sometimes and ghostwriting is exists in all professions. There is an underlying assumption that writers must love their jobs and therefore are eager to do them 100% of the time. That might be true, but writers are also human beings who experience all of the stress and demands that other people do, and sometimes they have writers block or some other issue that interferes with their writing. As a writer I’ve also written religious speeches for officiates from a host of religious perspectives, romantic poetry, and ghost stories.
Sometimes students are stressed out and they go to counseling services for help, but the help doesn't come. The counselor is fine, but nothing is getting better and you're starting to wonder if you were ever in need of the extra dose of emotional support. Consider this, maybe it isn't a counselor you need, but a tutor.
First of all, prepare yourself to hear something negative. If you can’t handle that, then you aren’t ready to go talk to your instructor yet. If you are imagining a scene where they apologize and beg your forgiveness while bestowing an A+ upon you, don’t drop in during office hours just yet. Once you’ve gotten that far, look at their feedback again. Try making changes to your writing or improving the graded work. With that complete, you can collect your original assignment and your updated assignment and stop into office hours. Show your instructor the edited work, and ask them if it fulfills the suggestions. If it does, then you know you are on the right track. If it doesn’t, ask for more feedback. Note: you should not have asked for an improved grade.
Academic writing can be great, but sometimes, you’re just sick of it and it feels like writing one more conclusion will kill you. If you have time, talk to your instructor. If you don’t know how to talk to your instructor, here are some hints. First, think about what you’ve read, heard, and done, so far, in the class. What interested you? Was there something you loved? A subject you absolutely loathed? If that doesn’t give you any ideas, take it to your instructor during office hours. Tell them, I hated X or the way that so-and-so described X. Would recommend some reading that would help me analyze those ideas in a paper? See how easy?
It is invaluable to your work as a student, your homework, paper writing, research, and professional development all depend on your ability to make professional connections and engage with the subject matter. You can get better by being yourself; you don’t need to turn into someone else. If you only speak once a term, then it’s time to make the goal, speak once in every class. Get in the habit of doing things at least one small measure better than you usually do them and you will find yourself growing academically and professionally from there.
There is a hierarchy in every college and university, and you should be wary of anyone who claims otherwise. You will often hear certain majors, academic departments, groups of staff, etc., routinely spoken of in derisive terms. If you are studying business, you may find that you hear the arts or literature always mentioned as if the joke were obvious, and you might also complain about the sciences doing the same to you.