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[Aqizzar]

Not to mention textbook companies that change one page in a book every semester so they can render used books forbidden and keep charging people $150.

[Taniec]

http://static.scribd.com/FlashPaperS3_6.swf?guid=iyf3q21g5duht&document_id=91&INITIAL_VIEW=width

You will be suprised at the grade at the end.

[Christes]

heh writing English papers.

That's one thing I never really figured out how to do properly.

[Sowelu]

heh writing English papers.

That's one thing I never really figured out how to do properly.

Just remember that teachers are really bored by common topics.  I had a gemology prof tell us that anyone who wrote a paper on blood diamonds would insta-fail, because 2/3 of the class did that the last quarter.  If you can coax a weird topic out of familiar territory, and still write it in a way that fulfills the basic requirements, your teachers will usually love it.

I mean, it's kind of hard to identify a good topic sometimes, but I've had great luck with random stuff like "this character's dog is actually the symbolic center of the story" and "Hey look, you can kind of compare Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now to Fight Club if you squint really hard".  It was mostly nonsense, but it was well-supported nonsense, and got my teachers to suspend disbelief for just long enough to be entertained.

Remember, people wouldn't become English teachers if they didn't like to read stuff that challenged them to think a little!  Even if they think about it and decide "Nah, that's still totally wrong", at least they thought and/or were amused.  Just don't write in a way that insults your teacher's intelligence.  c_c

This stuff won't get you an A+, but making your teacher crack a smile when they're on their 20th out of 30 papers to grade that weekend is a guaranteed B.

[Christes]

I figured that much out.  It's more or less how I managed to survive being in the honors program (!).  That, and actually talking with my professors.

In the end, I basically just said "Screw it" and majored in math.

[Awayfarer]

Sowelu's advice on being original is a good idea. I have an English prof. who has explicitly stated that he gives credit for answers that are wrong but still interesting.

[Muz]

Lol, I found my old DF proposal for my Strategic Leadership and (Engineering) Ethics assignment.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfmhbfsm_12f7kmrpcf

It's only semi-formal, because I already discussed most of it with the professor and he wanted that just as written proof of the marking scheme we agreed to. Also, google docs messed up the format a bit.