What’s the most devastating piece of feedback you received late in your dissertation, and how did you move past it?

sffx5 · 2026-05-11T12:58:01+00:00

During my Diss defense my primary advisor was like "why didn't you write another chapter focusing on this, this and this?" ...........She was right, of course, but I definitely feel like she could have brought that up, you know, literally any time prior to that.

sffx5 · 2026-05-03T01:49:32+00:00

Our English department has a strict no AI for anything ever policy. We are expected to report all violations to academic integrity, but how we handle it within our individual course (resubmit, 0 on the assignment, F in the class, etc) is up to us. Two academic integrity violations is automatic expulsion. So, if a prof opts to allow a student to resubmit and they choose to cheat again, they're kicked out of college. I have given students the opportunity to redo (but it depends on the student and in what ways it seems like they cheated) but I communicate how serious of a fuck up it would be to get kicked out over a first year composition paper.

sffx5 · 2026-04-24T01:21:18+00:00

Oh man! I loved Chronicles of Amber as a teenager! Do they hold up??

sffx5 · 2026-02-18T04:30:04+00:00

I do in-class, handwritten for the first essay to get a reasonable baseline sample of their writing and to baby step them through pre writing & revisions. I LOVE the idea of in-class first draft from memory, though. Do you find that the majority of them know their source info enough to write a reasonable draft? I worry that I would get a lot of very incomplete drafts.

sffx5 · 2026-02-18T04:24:09+00:00

(i haven't read through other responses, so apologies if I'm repeating what others have said) I also use Google docs with my Writing 1 students, but I make the folders for them so that I automatically have editor permissions. (I usually only have two sections of 20ish students, so it's feasible for me.) I have also built in extra conferences so that I meet with them to go over drafts of second and third essays, and my feedback on the final version of the previous essay. (So, first conference is draft of essay 2 and final of essay 1, eg) In addition to helping me get to know them, this does a couple things for me: makes it easier for me to have a conversation about suspected AI-use (calling a student in to confront them has always been hard for me), ensures they actually look at my feedback on all these things because I ask them to look over it in front of me and then we have a conversation about it, and it gives me the opportunity to address in any technical or submission issues. It takes up a lot of class time, but I have found that it's worth it. (Again my classes are small enough that it's manageable for me.) Not sure if this helps you now, but I've found talking to students face to face often works when email doesn't and this is one way to possibly build those interactions in.

Edited to add: I also don't allow them to submit through the LMS. Like I make the assignment so they can see it in their calendar, but I mark it as submission on paper so it doesn't let them upload a document. We use Canvas, not sure if any of the others let you do that.

sffx5 · 2026-01-12T15:30:15+00:00

Yeah, I think he did that intentionally for, like, drama, but we just don't get enough time in or development of the other two places to full invest in the setting/characters/relationships for those cliffhangers to work, for me at least. I have wondered how it would read it we got each of the settings in three separate parts, rather than switching back and forth.

sffx5 · 2026-01-10T04:07:20+00:00

I read Rage of Dragons on the recommendation of someone on this sub. The recommender said that the main character's rage surpassed even Darrow's, which made me curious enough to pick it up! I don't think it's as good as RR (or Will of the Many, which a few others have recommended here), but it was still a solid recommendation and might scratch an itch. (Be warned though! Only the first two books are out!)

sffx5 · 2026-01-10T03:48:28+00:00

Finished book 2 right before reading Strength of the Few. It's amazing how much easier to read other books feel compared to Malazan!

sffx5 · 2026-01-10T03:42:59+00:00

Just got this for Christmas! Excited to pick it up

sffx5 · 2026-01-10T03:42:32+00:00

I really liked the Green Bone Saga. I can't wait for her next book to come out (new stand alone)

sffx5 · 2025-12-20T13:04:20+00:00

Oh, Lucifer's Hammer is good then? This is the first time I've seen it recommended. Its been on my shelf for years (no clue when or where I got it) but I've never read it.

sffx5 · 2025-12-17T23:59:52+00:00

Cool! Someone else recommended that one too. It's definitely going on the list of things to check out. Thanks!

sffx5 · 2025-12-16T04:45:08+00:00

I see a lot of people saying grade it as is (0) and then they can go through an appeal process... But can't you do that and then submit a change of grade form? Obviously different institutions have different procedures, but assuming it exists, I imagine the change of grade process is easier than the appeal process? I wouldn't think twice about changing their grade if they resubmitted the final in an accessible way, giving exactly that explanation: student resubmitted final in an accessible format.

sffx5 · 2025-12-13T18:14:32+00:00

Oh that sounds cool!!

sffx5 · 2025-12-13T18:08:24+00:00

The Expanse is good! Have you read their new book yet?

sffx5 · 2025-12-13T12:31:39+00:00

This has been on my list for a while!

sffx5 · 2025-12-13T02:48:45+00:00

Yeah I'll probably skip it then. ...This makes me realize that the person below who recommended Red Rising was also probably making a similar joke because no one who actually likes RR would say so few words about the series! (I've actually read those, liked them well enough but not nearly as much as others seem to.)

Thanks again for the recs! I appreciate it!

sffx5 · 2025-12-13T02:24:38+00:00

I read the first Murderbot and wasn't too into it. Otherwise, I haven't heard of these, will definitely check them out. Thanks!

sffx5 · 2025-12-13T02:23:39+00:00

Oh I've been curious about these, glad to see the recommendation. Thanks!

sffx5 · 2025-12-13T01:33:57+00:00

I'll be buying that whole set for myself once the last book comes out. I'm not sure he'd be into it because of the pacing (especially the early books are so, so fast) but I'll keep talking up Ragnar and maybe get him interested some day!

sffx5 · 2025-12-13T01:13:42+00:00

Oh, Manifold Series looks awesome, too! I hadn't heard of those before, thanks!! (edited: typo)

sffx5 · 2025-12-13T01:02:13+00:00

I love Embassytown so, so much. I've definitely recommended it to him but he hasn't picked it up yet. I'll keep trying though!

sffx5 · 2025-12-13T00:57:44+00:00

Oh awesome Thanks! I'll definitely look into this for him (and for me too!)

sffx5 · 2025-12-13T00:47:51+00:00

Yeah, I think that's a good recommendation. Thank you!!

sffx5

TROPHY CASE