ABSTRACT
Looking forward to reading his students’ fi rst essays, the new teacher of writing pours a cup of coff ee and sits down at his desk to assess the papers. Th e fi rst essay, printed on good quality paper, has only one punctuation error, but little specifi c content. While the second paper has many punctuation and usage errors, it has passages that seem to be insightful and poignant. Th e third has no point. Aft er two hours, the instructor has rewritten whole sentences and marked numerous errors in grammar and punctuation, but he has not written a comment or put a grade on a single essay. He wonders how he will respond to these papers and what he could have done to guide students to a more acceptable product.
