A Few Quotations On The Topic of Citations

Read forth, ye brown-nosed hopefuls. Here's the quick guide to getting a citation, from the very benefactors themselves your profs and from the very medium that you use to complain about the results, blitz! If you're still working on the A, don't read this. It's just depressing:(Giavanna Munafo, Women and Gender Studies) "When a student's passion for the ideas and materials propel her or him to produce exceptional work work that stands out as remarkably more insightful, adventurous, creative, thorough and/or ambitious than that of the class overall then I honor that effort and productivity through the mechanism of a citation. For me, the citation is symbolic. It is always my goal to have provided that student with lots of substantive feedback along the way and at the close of the term to reflect my appreciation and to be sure that I fully acknowledge the quality of her/his work."(Ernest Hebert, English) "I give out very few citations and A's. The reason is grade inflation. We award so many B pluses and A minuses these days that I feel I must reserve A's for excellent work and citations for the truly extraordinary. I wish we graded creative writing on class attendance and participation in workshops only, so that students could experiment with different kinds of writing without worrying about the damn grade." (Vera Palmer, Native American Studies) "Across academe, and particularly among the Ivy schools, there exists an ongoing faculty concern about grade inflation. At Dartmouth I've observed that students often feel they deserve an A' just because they have worked hard. While such diligence is laudable and necessary for learning, the quality of work produced by a student is the deciding factor; it should rise to the level of an A,' as articulated in the ORC: Excellent mastery of material, a very high degree of originality and/or creativity, excellent performance in analysis, synthesis and critical expression (oral or written), and unusual effectiveness in working independently." (Robert Caldwell, Physics) "I award a citation to students in my introductory physics classes who have performed beyond the level of excellence necessary for an A, who would otherwise earn an A+. I have had many very good students in these courses and have been pleased to give ~2-3 citations per year."(Adina Roskies, Philosophy), "I don't often give citations. They go only for work that is consistently top-notch, and deserves special recognition. I don't think there are directions one can follow to get one."