I want to be a zookeeper...pilot...teacher...princess! Like every other kid's, my list was endless and ever-changing. Most of us outgrow that. We decide what we really want to do with ourselves, or at least land on something we think will make us happy. I was never quite able to narrow it down to one thing, still haven't. It's okay, I've done some reflection and come to terms with my indecisiveness. I even figured out how to major in "a little bit of everything," and I'm almost finished with my Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies (BIS) at Western Kentucky University. If all goes well, I'll graduate in December. The BIS Program requires a capstone project before graduation, and this blog is mine. Hopefully while being somewhat entertaining, I'll reflect on my college career, how I have progressed personally and academically, and what it's been like, for me, attending school as a non-traditional student.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Is not this incorrect?

My Advanced Composition classmates and I are in the middle of revisions for our second paper of the semester.  We're required to critique/edit our group members' work in the second round of the process.  The class followed the same procedure for the first paper earlier this semester, when one of my proofreaders suggested, or instructed, I refrain from using contractions.  She went so far as to point out, in red, each of the contractions in my paper so I could eliminate them.  The issue came up again on Paper 2, and I decided to confront it.  I asked the red inker, and another of my fellow group members who seemed to be anti-contraction as well, why they don't use contractions.  Since I haven't had a writing class in several years, it was very possible I was missing something here.  I got one response.  My classmate said that her last writing teacher likened the use of contractions to writing with abbreviations and acronyms like WTF or OMG because it slows down the flow of the writing.  Sorry, I fail to see the similarity there.  Actually, I think it has the opposite effect when you don't use contractions at all.  It sounds stiff and fake, like the quote one of the aforementioned classmates used in her paper: "It is okay"  That was a mother comforting her daughter - a real mom, not a robot.  It just doesn't sound right to me.  I realize I probably should not - SHOULDN'T - be so bothered by this, but I am.  If these gals are right, though I'm pretty sure they're not, it will affect everything I write from now on.  So, I researched a little, checked the OWL, and only found any question about it when writing business or formal material.  Even then it's best to use some contractions, "judiciously," I believe they said, and when it prevents the piece sounding too stilted and formal.  I suppose I'll post something on the topic in the "questions and answers" folder on discussion board and see what the instructor says.  I could just let it go, but I'm unlikely to do so until someone tells me (and maybe my classmates) that I'm right.  ; )
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