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[llanfair]

Strange as it sounds, I've never had this problem before: a student has passed in a term paper that's about twice as long as the 2000-word upper limit in the assignment description in my syllabus.  She handed it in on the deadline - actually, a few hours after it, since she got the office to date-stamp it for her and wasn't at class (it was actually due at the start of class).

I'm leaning towards returning it to her as "not acceptable", and telling her to cut it down to the required size for resubmission.  Late penalties would start to apply from the time I returned it to her; if she didn't resubmit, it would earn a zero as an unacceptable assignment.

That's my idea.  Thoughts, please?

[wegie]

She submitted it. Her problem.

My lecturers, back in the bad old days, would mark up to approximately the point of the word limit and that was it. The grade was based on what was in the 2,000 words.

It's a great method for scaring people into sticking to the limits ;-)

[systeme_d_]

Llanfair, this just happened with one of my students a couple of months ago.

I gave her the paper back, told her to edit it to conform to the specified page limit, and docked it (just a bit) for lateness.  (She re-submitted it two days later.)

[fiona]

Next time, do put on your syllabus that anything well over the limit will be read only through the limit, and the rest may be shredded.

That'll cure this forever after.

The Fiona

P. S. I wouldn't be surprised if the oversized paper is also from a paper/plagiarism mill.

[tee_bee]

Next time, do put on your syllabus that anything well over the limit will be read only through the limit, and the rest may be shredded.

That'll cure this forever after.

The Fiona

P. S. I wouldn't be surprised if the oversized paper is also from a paper/plagiarism mill.

Chime. Plagiarism was my first thought. I'd check that before trying to get the student to edit. However, for my bright students (and seems like the bright ones run long), I do provide an opportunity to cut down--they don't have long to do it, however.

[zarathustra]

I wouldn't feel comfortable docking points unless my syllabus stated that as a possible penalty, as anal as that sounds.  I'm a syllabus-policy flunky now.   :/

[geonerd]

I set maximum page limits in my graduate classes, to prepare them for page limits in journal articles and grant proposals.  If a paper is too long then it gets docked, with my entirely serious warning that a program manager will be happy to summarily dismiss a grant proposal that fails to conform to the guidelines; it's one less thing for the panel to read.

[thundering_m]

Second Fiona's and TB's suspicion about the origin of the paper if it is not in compliance with the instructions.
Echo stopping at the limit and grading the paper on what is there up to that point.
Cheers for Z's syllabus-as-founding-document strategy (a rubric by any other name).
Chime on GeoNerd's rationale for orienting students-grad and undergrad- to writing for different audiences and conventions.
If the students have already passed freshman comp, they arguably have reading comprehension skills to figure out the criteria for the assignment. They don't need more time or do-overs.

[embitteredhistorian]

I'd read half of it and downgrade her with the comment "this essay seems half-finished."

Seriously, word-limit is part of the challenge of such an assignment, and this student probably is under the dubious assumption that quantity equals quality. I'd suggest she go to a Las Vegas buffet--that'll teach her.

[noof_]

Second Fiona's and TB's suspicion about the origin of the paper if it is not in compliance with the instructions.
Echo stopping at the limit and grading the paper on what is there up to that point.
Cheers for Z's syllabus-as-founding-document strategy (a rubric by any other name).
Chime on GeoNerd's rationale for orienting students-grad and undergrad- to writing for different audiences and conventions.
If the students have already passed freshman comp, they arguably have reading comprehension skills to figure out the criteria for the assignment. They don't need more time or do-overs.

What Thundering said.

[tee_bee]

As long as the syllabus requires an upper limit, I'd enforce it (I have before--I had a grad student write 75 single spaced pages on something completely opposite from what she was supposed to do in seminar). I thought that, in this case, the OP's syllabus might have had a 2000 word suggestion or guideline. For undergrads, I find they whine and carp about coming up with 2000 words, not trying to stay within limits.

[larryc]

Depends on the paper. I'd read it first. If it is reasonably good and it seems like the student just got carried away with the topic I'd grade it with a slight penalty but a stern note. If it is plagiarized or just a bunch of random crap I would mark it down more severely.  Keep in mind this is an undergraduate (yes?) and use the opportunity to educate rather than punish.

[ls410]

Is there any possibility that the student didn't understand how to do a word count or how many words = 1 typed page?  I only ask because as an undergrad I didn't know that stuff (but then again maybe Word didn't always have that feature).

[tenured_feminist]

Here's my question: is the word limit an intrinsic part of the assignment, put in place to teach concise writing and/or writing to narrow specifications? Or is it simply your best guess as to how long it should take a typical student to write a competent paper that covers all the main points?

Different people, of course, have different writing styles, and in many RL instances, a somewhat more verbose style won't hurt 'em.

Unless I'm trying to teach them something about writing to narrow specifications, I generally tell my undergrads that they should write as much as they need to in order to get the job done, but to be aware that if they are substantially over or under my suggested page range, they're most likely 1) incorporating redundancies, unnecessary material, or a lot of passive voice or 2) leaving important things out. If they're going to go way over the range, it had better be good. I find that it usually, but not always, is.

[roguerouge]

Reward ambition and enthusiasm? I'd slightly raise my expectations of them during that assignment, as they had more space to make their case, but, overall, I'd reward them heavily if they make good use of the extra space.