End of Semester Paper length!

[Francophile1]

Hello all,

I hope all are surviving the final weeks of Fall 2013!

 

I had a quick question. I know grad papers are usually 15-20 pages in most Lit programs, however I was wondering if anyone has ever submitted less?

Is that considered really bad, if let's say you submit 10 pages instead of 15 (required) but your analysis is still deep and covers the topic.

 

Has anyone come across this before? From any field?

[Sadie_Bea]

If 15 pages is required, I definitely would not submit any less than that without asking the professor first.  I had a professor this semester who assigned a 14 page paper, and I emailed to ask if more of fewer pages would be acceptable.  The response was that anywhere between 13-16 pages would be fine.  I do know, however, that the papers that were favored were 15.5 - 16 pages long.   You just can't cover the same ground in 10 page paper that you can in a 15 page paper.   It's like doing only 2/3 of the assignment.  Even if the 2/3 is fabulous, I feel like it would come across to the professor as if the student were trying to get away with doing less work (even if that's not the case).  However, I'm sure this varies by instructor and field, and some people just write more concisely than others.  

 

EDIT: For what it's worth, I'm in an English PhD program.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Sadie_Bea

[i.am.me]

Oh, I'm in Edu. and feel pleased to be given assignments that are 15-20 considering I normally get 20-25.

 

As long as you've made your point, it is not really page count that matters. I submitted a 18 page paper that listed I needed 20-25 pages and got an A-...but individual grading schools should be kept in mind. 

[danieleWrites]

It varies by professor. Ask them directly. Sometimes short papers happen because the argument won't accommodate it. Seminar papers are longer, though. The goal in my grad classes has always been journal length papers.

[Francophile1]

Thanks all, actually I already submitted it so I guess we will find it out soon. The professor told different things to different people in our class, as we did not all have the same topic (each person wrote a paper on different topics books.