#but the prof's directions are so vague and I'm not used to it

[comehomet0myheart]

Every time I have to write something more deep than a report for class I'm like "suddenly I can't write anymore. I don't know how to write. no thoughts head empty." I know I'm a social science major but doing analysis stresses me out I'm so DUMB

[nolanhollogay]

where did you come from ?

chadtateethan love triangle but not really bcuz ethan made that shit up in his head !! also chadtate being in love and vaguely hornknee about it

+

Tate would like it to be known that he wasn't a party person. Or he wasn't in the past at least. During high school he hadn't had the same rose colored glasses as his peers about getting wasted on the worst alcohol imaginable full of people you would have to see the next day in your AP English class.

Honestly, he wasn't into parties until a month or so ago, the trauma connected to the last party he went to enough to deter him.

But Chad was persuasive and he convinced him to go to a party a friend of a friend was throwing and one thing led to another, and now Tate mostly enjoyed parties.

Probably because he and Chad used it as an excuse to make out – not that they usually needed an excuse – but that was neither here nor there.

As expected, they were pressed together, in one of the corners of the basement of some frat house Tate only half remembered the name of. Delta something. Or Zeta maybe?

Chad pulled away from their kiss, sliding his hands from Tate's back to his waist. "I missed you today."

Tate snorted. "You woke up next to me."

"Yeah but," Chad kissed his jaw, making Tate shiver, "I didn't get to see you all day after that. I missed you ranting about how everyone in Prof Crane's class is derivative, and performative, and some other -ive."

Tate was too distracted by his lips moving down his throat to be offended at being teased.

"Chad."

Both of them jumped out of their skin, and Tate reflexively reached for the knife he kept in his pocket, before he realized who it was.

"Jesus fuck, Ethan," Chad said, releasing Tate's waist to press his hand to his chest, feeling his presumably erratic heartbeat. "Where did you come from? You can't just sneak up on people!"

Ethan pouted, looking like a scolded child. "Sorry." He ran his fingers through his curls. "You just said you'd walk me home when I was ready to leave."

"You're ready to leave already? We just got here," Chad said, more concerned than annoyed because he was a good person. Tate, on the other hand, was less than pleased.

Ethan shrugged. "It's been half an hour. But I guess you didn't notice because you ditched me as soon as he–" He waved a hand in Tate's direction, "–showed up."

He said it as if it was a joke, but Tate could still hear the bitterness he was trying to mask, and fought the urge to roll his eyes.

Chad uncurled himself from Tate, turning to Ethan, face apologetic. "Sorry bro. Didn't mean to leave you out."

Ethan stood straighter, smiling wide, as soon as Chad's attention was on him. "It's okay. I just.. You'll still walk with me, right?"

Chad nodded. "Yeah, it's no problem." He turned to Tate, looping a finger in his belt loop. "Wanna come with?"

Ethan's face crumpled over his shoulder.

Tate shrugged. "Might as well. Safer in numbers."

Chad whooped, because he was a huge loser. "That's my boy!"

If possible, Ethan managed to frown even deeper. "I have to go find my coat. I'll meet you outside."

Tate waited until he was gone, watching him retreat up the steps basically stomping, to say, "He wants to bang you so bad, and he hates me so much."

Chad rolled his eyes, though the action was full of affection, a hint of a smile on his lips. "You keep saying that, but I don't understand why. He's just my friend. Not everyone who's friendly wants to fuck me. You have nothing to worry about."

"I know. I'm not threatened by him. I'm just stating a fact. He hates me because I'm stopping him from fucking you," Tate shrugged. "It's not my problem."

"You're ridiculous," Chad said fondly, pressing a kiss to his cheekbone. "Let's go before a strong gust of wind knocks him over or something."

[snailsgoingdowntown]

Love it when my online prof doesn't answer my gmails at all even though I'm using the one the school gave me just as she directed 💖

For real though the assignment directions are fucking vague af and idk what she considers to be a "complete" assignment -

MLA format. Okay. But with MLA comes the cities page on the last page. So I asked about that because some prof don't really care about that.

No answer

And I didn't receive a grade or it is not showing on the website. So I asked if I did the assignment properly. No answer.

Kinda walking blindly into the dark because I'm literally being left in it.

Maybe she's busy maybe not, just irritated from a lot of other stuff and this is adding fire to the fuel. Which it shouldn't since she does have a life outside of work.

But it's still irritates me.

Will probably get over it soon. Just hope I pass.

[thatfrenchacademic]

Hi! Sorry to bother you but i'm desperate and desperate times call for desperate measures. i'm studying political science (in my first year) and i have one class about international relations theories. each student has been assigned one theory and we have to apply it to something. i got english school and my prof said i have to apply it to european union. the problem is, we are supposed to cover english school theory in the next semester. i know it's about international system, international society and global society but other stuff is confusing like hell. i don't even know how one applies the theory into practise. there are a couple of us who are struggling but the prof said we have to learn by ourselves. the assignment is worth 60% of our final grade and we're desperate. i was wondering (if you have time and space) if you could point me in the right direction? thank you for even reading this message. you're my role model. ❤️

"desperate times call for desperate measures" this should be the tagline for my phd.

Welcome anon !

Ok, I am not going to lie, I had to look up what you meant by "English school" because I had seen that denomination before, and I see what it is - I have read some of it, but never realized it was under a single common intellectual flag.

So. How does one "apply a theory to something" in International Relations ?

It would depend on what the goal of the theory is. Not all theories are trying to explain the same thing! the English School is a fairly traditional IR, positivist : it tries to explain why things happen or do not happen. So already, you are probably going to have to answer some variation of "why is the EU is the way it is? How come it is the way it is, instead of not being, or being something else?

Next you want to get familiar with the theory. And it is fun !!

Get yourself an International relations manual. I like Heywood's Global Politics, it's a classic and it's student-friendly. The Sage Handbook of International Relations and Oxford Handbook of International Relations are also my more "proper" academic go-to, and they will contain loads of literature you can refer to next.

Break down the theory.

This is probably the most important part. A theory usually has the following elements:

Assumptions

Mechanisms

Consequences

Identify those, for the English School, based on what you have read. This should allow you to get a broad idea of where the theory stands on the big questions of IR : who are the main actors ? What do they want ? What constrains them?

Continue getting more detailed with the theory

. It is time to actually read a few foundational texts. By this point, you will have noted some names popping up all the time, and it's time to sit down and get to it. Go for articles, the ones that people seem to refer to all the time. If you are not sure what to read from a specific author, go on Google scholar and look for their most cited text. read it, make notes on the theory (add more and more details on this handy document you now have summing up the theory!)

You now have a sufficient grasp on the theory (for the purpose of this exercise anyway - other exercise could require you to read more on the criticism of this theory!). You understand how the theory says things work, how it expects international relations to BE.

Your next question : ok, but are they right though ?

This is where the EU becomes useful. Virtually, you are going to compare how the theory would expect things to go for the EU, with how they actually went. It's the methodological equivalent of the "expectations vs reality" meme.

"The EU" is vague af though. It could be about the development of the EU, the current state of the EU, the EU's foreign policy.... so you might want to look at what the theory you are working on is the most interested in, what sort of phenomenon does it try to explain most of the time, and zoom in on that aspect of the EU.

At this point, once you have already started to brainstorm your own ideas, go look for people who have already answered that question.

Look for literature, specifically, on that theory, and on the EU. Start with the major authors you have already identifies, and see if they have written something about it ? Add this into your analysis (remembering to give full credits and references!)

Now it's time to come up with your actual assignement.

Outline the whole thing, focusing on STRUCTURE - which will depend on the word count. The prompt you have bee given could make a decent 2000 essay or a full blown 300 pages phd dissertation, and they are not going to cover the same things.

But it should still have some form of thesis, you overall conclusion at this point, some form of "yeah, the English got things right when it comes to the EU" or on the contrary "holy shit they are so wrong it's not even funny", or anything in-between, "they got some stuff right, but when it comes to X Y Z, it does not hold up".

Remember that at this point, you are very familiar with the theory, but your reader is not. They are going to need some form of quick TL;DR about the theory, before you move on to the EU. And then, you want to always hand the theory in one hand, the EU in the other, with each paragraph being a neat little "clap" bringing them together. When you open your hands again, do they fit nicely, or were they clearly not w good fit for each other?

I hope that is of help. Remember that there is no "right absolute answer" to this sort of exercise. The goal is to show that you have done the work, that you understand how theories in general, this one in particular, work, and what are their uses. Take it one step at a time, you've got this !

[saltandlimes]

How DO you give good feedback, both positive and negative? (especially negative, I don't want to come off as rude) It's one of my least favorite parts of college, but I'm taking a class this fall that I know is very heavy on peer revision, and I never really know how to be helpful. The few classes in the past I've had to do it, the profs have always given really vague instruction that don't give much direction, and my class this fall, students actually get graded on their comments :(

I’ve written a little on how to comment on fanfic here (x), but commenting on academic work is a little different. So here’s the process I use:

Step 1: Do a first pass of the work. Don’t focus on making notes this time around, just highlight the sections that jump out at you as either good or bad. Get a sense of what the argument of the paper is, and whether or not you think it’s well supported. If you’re commenting on a piece of fiction, get a sense of the work and the objectives.

Step 2: Go back and comment on each place you’ve highlighted. For the things that you thought were good, figure out why they worked for you, and point to that specifically. So instead of a comment like “great job,” say something like “You’ve made particularly good use of your citation here by supporting your base claim and then elaborating on that,” or “the use of adjectives here really helps to build your central character’s pov” 

For critical comments, be as straightforward as possible. I’ve looked at a few of my own comments on other people’s work, and here are some examples. “A “warm-up” sentence. Because this is self evident, it’s worthwhile to delete this sort of sentence in a final draft” and “Using “coded” here is a little misleading. I might say, “assumed to be”” Be super specific, and don’t try to couch things in pleasantries.

Step 3: Write a long comment at the end. I like to highlight the thesis, and point out how well it worked. I then go through and talk a little about how the evidence is or isn’t working, and if the analysis of the evidence holds together. Last but not least I talk about prose style, any quirks that need to be ironed out, and any problems with grammar.

If I’m commenting on a fiction piece, I leave a long comment at the end of that as well, talking about how the plot works, whether or not there are areas that can be improved on, the prose style, etc. (If I beta for people, I do this as well ;))

For long comment, when you’re being critical, explain the criticism as much as possible. Here’s an example from one of my long comments “Yourprose, however, is jargon filled. It is always better to beunderstandable than to be complex.” Note the criticism “jargon filled,” and then explanation “jargon make your work hard to understand. Always explain the “why” of a negative comment.

Last but not least: this isn’t the only process that works, and if you have a better one, go for it. This is the one I’ve developed, and it seems to get good results.

[punkyhunk]

I know this ultimately is because of what my profs teach but the reason why I'm so attached to brief forms of art is because I only really feel happiness very shortly and. It's awful just how attached I can get to the experience but if there's supposed to be a Good experience I don't think I could ever enjoy it. my mother and I watch these shows on weddings and marriage and I realize more and more that I cannot even have a day of happiness. It's the moment that you know is already gone. Maybe why I left you was because I wanted the happiness to leave faster. The songs I like are short and have been getting shorter, a minute is all I need. A vague short story, snapshot of poetry.

on the other hand, maybe the reason why I like visual art is because it commands my attention. There is no happiness, if there is it is when I first see it. paintings by Morisot, I know, make me feel this way where I am struck by the beauty and the quiet and the reflective pause of her figures. How does the light and the colour direct my eyesight, I am not aware. I look with awe and love and I remain there, past my initial judgement. I will search for the mother's hand and her gaze, I am transfixed by the hands of each of her figures, where they go, what they are doing, are they actively taking part or resting. By the end, I no longer am happy, but I am in love. I have become intimate, reflective, I enter the interior of the ephemeral. The moment is gone, the model sighs.

There is no permanence in us. Happiness is not a companion, happiness is awareness in a way I crave. Awareness of love and gratitude and this moment of realization it is gone. I am gone.

[saltandlimes]

Sleepover sat: I have a business comms paper due in 2 hours. I've been working on it all day, and my proff's directions are so vague that I have no idea if I'm even doing what she wants. I emailed her for clarification this morning but she still hasn't responded, and I have the Stress. Even her comments on the first draft weren't as helpful as I'd like, especially since the directions seem to completely change the type of paper we're writing !!! sry just needed to vent, it's been a Long Day lol

Are you my roommate? (JK, though she also has a paper due).

I’m sorry you’re struggling with this. One of the things that usually helps me in these circumstances is to reorient who I’m writing for. Right now it sounds like you’re trying to please your professor.

What if you decided to write to please yourself?

And by that I mean, what if you took the assignment, imagined how it could apply to the real world, and then decided to use this to learn as much as possible about how you would do this task irl? Write for your own future, not for the prof’s ears.

Often, by thinking of a paper as a way to prepare for something else - a conference presentation, a talk, a business strategy meeting - I find that I can see what the problems are in it much more clearly, and am better able to do late stage edits.

You rock and you’ve got this!

[It’s Sleepover Saturday]