West of Bathurst on grading papers.

T.A. Barbara of the webcomic West of Bathurst has this to say on grading papers, and on the quality of the papers themselves.

"See this pile of essays. Observe it closely. No strings attached...no trickery of any kind. What follows, ladies and gentlemen, is genuine magic. This student argues that 'To the Lighthouse" is concrete proof that Virginia Woolfe suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This one spells Byron's name 'B-I-R-U-N' and asserts that he wrote, and I quote, 'Mary Shelley's Frankenstein'. This one has submitted a paper that consists of only three paragraphs, but is two thousand words too long. This one cites 'The Family Guy' as a legitimate secondary source. This one is wrong. This one has plagiarised. This one writes off-topic. This one does not know what a comma is.

"Average mark if I follow the guidelines of our University's English department: seventy-two. As I said, genuine magic."

Ah, It's a sad state of affairs...