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Vague Assignments

Catalyst

Catalyst

Mentally Unsound
V.I.P Member
For anyone who's dealt with this... Have you found you have trouble doing assignments that are vague? My bf (also on the Spectrum) just got an assignment where he has to write a paper on a stance. Any stance. And he's having a hard time wrapping his head around it, because there's no real structure to it. I had the same problem in my English 1A class where we had to write a final paper, called the I-Search, but without any ideas on what we were supposed to write about. I asked my teacher for clarification, and she said to just write a paper. But I felt like I couldn't know what I was going to be graded on. I just needed a little structure to get me started, rather than this vague-sounding assignment. I failed the class, and had to retake it, but took it at a different college (same district, and only a different college because we'd moved) and while everything was pretty casual, it was very interactive and I didn't have to do the dreaded I-Search paper.
 
What is an I-Search paper?
  • It's usually less formal than a traditional research paper
  • You choose a topic relevant to your life--like parenting, a hobby, or something related to your career
  • You will often first write what you know from your own experience
  • You will usually use first-person when writing the paper (for example, "I want to know more about...")
  • Other guidelines will be explained to you by your instructor



Subject Guides: English (EN) - Composition: I-Search Paper
 
Mind you, when I was assigned the I-Search paper, it was in 2001/2002, and I had limited access to the Internet. And the teacher gave absolutely no guidelines.
 
I looked it up because I didn't know what it was.

The "other guidelines will be explained to you by your instructor" would be useful.
If there were any.

Not having a clear idea of what is required can be paralyzing.
 
It was. I wound up panicking and not doing the paper at all. Now my bf is struggling with this "write a paper about a stance" thing that's just vague enough that he's not certain what to do, and he's worried he'll do the same thing I did. Just freeze up and not write anything.
 
Yes, that's way too vague, I'd really struggle with that, unless I had previously been given some indication as to what exactly I'm supposed to write about.
 
I would struggle with that too. In fact I would decide that it's impossible for me and I would give up almost immediately. :(
 
This is mostly with my job, but I've experienced it with school assignments too. When I do something initially it is usually all well thought out and done well. When I have to go back and change it, that's often where silly, sometimes costly, mistakes happen. What often happens with vague assignments is I'll do it, then find out later that it's not what was wanted and then have to change it, and make a mess out of it. When they could have just given me all the info initially. Too often I get something where they don't know what they want, they just want it now. A good quote I read "There's never time to do it right, but there's always time to do it over". I've gotten to where I'll just hold off doing something or finishing something until I get all the details. Lately my boss is with me on it, because he doesn't like wasting company resources by doing things wrong the first time. Instead going back to the sales department and having them gather the info that they should have gotten in the first place.
 
tlc said:
This is mostly with my job, but I've experienced it with school assignments too. When I do something initially it is usually all well thought out and done well. When I have to go back and change it, that's often where silly, sometimes costly, mistakes happen. What often happens with vague assignments is I'll do it, then find out later that it's not what was wanted and then have to change it, and make a mess out of it. When they could have just given me all the info initially. Too often I get something where they don't know what they want, they just want it now. A good quote I read "There's never time to do it right, but there's always time to do it over". I've gotten to where I'll just hold off doing something or finishing something until I get all the details. Lately my boss is with me on it, because he doesn't like wasting company resources by doing things wrong the first time. Instead going back to the sales department and having them gather the info that they should have gotten in the first place.
Click to expand...

This is what I'm worried about with my current chosen career path. I want to be a graphic designer, but if the client gives me something really vague or a "just do what you think will work," then I do it and they tell me it's not what they wanted, and I have to do it all over again, I'm worried I'll panic.
 
I used to deal with them too. For me I prefer things to be explained fully before I do them, not leave me guessing.
 
I get frustrated when something is not fully explained with no detail at all and that’s happened before. To make sure I really understand what has to be done I usually go to the professors office and have a discussion about what I have to do for a particular assignment or if I don’t have time I usually just email him or her and it usually helps for me.
I had to write a 10 page paper I had to do for my Anthropology class that I finished a couple weeks ago. There were some things I did not know what to do with it as the semester went by so I asked my professor hey I do not inderstamd what you are wanting could please help me out. You just have to stress about it of not understanding what is going on.
 
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