Is this common

[universitystudent]

I have two profs so far who requested for electronic copy of my paper on two different occasions  because my paper was "left at work". The course outlines did not even say we have to email the paper. Why do profs do this? Do they think my paper is too great or something? And is this common?

Edited March 6, 2016 by universitystudent

[fuzzylogician]

I haven't submitted a paper in any form other than electronic for so long, I don't think I can answer the frequency question, but I am very confused as to why you are even asking. They left the copy they were reading in the office and wanted to continue working at home, so they asked you to send a copy. Why is this a problem?

[rising_star]

I don't understand the question. Although, to be honest, if I forget a paper at work, I just wait until I go back to work to read it.

[St Andrews Lynx]

Sometimes professors forget that you emailed them a document last week. Or the email got buried in their inbox and they don't want to waste time hunting for it. Laziness and absent-mindedness seem to be the main reasons.

So yes, I'd say what you describe is fairly common. Don't take it personally if they can't remember where they left the printout of your paper.

 

[universitystudent]

So I told the prof that I didn't save the latest version of my assignment (but I did already handed in the hard copy of the assignment prior to his request for an electronic). The prof replied back with "according to university policy students need to keep copies of their work. Do you have a print copy?". Why would the prof change the topic? It seems as if he is trying to catch any mistake?

[MathCat]

2 hours ago, universitystudent said:

So I told the prof that I didn't save the latest version of my assignment (but I did already handed in the hard copy of the assignment prior to his request for an electronic). The prof replied back with "according to university policy students need to keep copies of their work. Do you have a print copy?". Why would the prof change the topic? It seems as if he is trying to catch any mistake?

I have to ask: why don't you have the latest version? Certainly there are legitimate circumstances for this, but I really don't see why this scenario is such a big deal. If you hand in something printed out, they will assume you have an electronic version. Being asked for another copy is not an outrageous request and there are many legitimate reasons for your prof to do so.

[fuzzylogician]

2 hours ago, universitystudent said:

Why would the prof change the topic? It seems as if he is trying to catch any mistake?

He didn't change the topic -- this is directly on topic given your reply. I am again confused about why you are reading so much into a simple exchange. I don't think he is doing anything out of the ordinary. If anything, your reaction would probably seem odd to him. 

[universitystudent]

I was working on the assignment before class at school so didn't save. Also, I think it's weird that he asked if I have a print copy even though I already gave it to him prior to his electronic request.

Edited March 8, 2016 by universitystudent

[ashiepoo72]

This happens more often than you think, and you're making a big deal out of it for nothing. Professors are humans and forget things at home or misplace them. If he's asking for a copy of the assignment, that is not an unreasonable request and your inability to provide it probably seems extremely strange to him. There could be a variety of reasons why he would want an electronic copy (including facility of providing feedback, checking for plagiarism, wanting it for future reference, or he honest to god forgot the original at home like he said). I don't know a single graduate student who wouldn't save an assignment, even if they were working on it at school (this is an undergrad move, one I pulled several times my first year, but I was barely 18 years old). Let this be a lesson for you to always carry a USB drive or email yourself all the assignments you complete on campus.

[marycaryne]

15 minutes ago, universitystudent said:

I was working on the assignment before class at school so didn't save. Also, I think it's weird that he asked if I have a print copy even though I already gave it to him prior to his electronic request.

I'm not in grad school yet, but wanted to weigh in because I've experienced profs asking for another copy. My response to them was simply saying "sure!" and providing it. From my perspective, it doesn't seem weird to me. Clearly he needs another one, which likely means something happened to the first. There's really no need to read anything into it other than to assume that something must have happened to the copy you gave him for him to need another one.

I can't think of any time I didn't save my work, even if I wasn't working on my own computer. Get yourself a USB flash drive. You can't just assume your professors will never request another copy from you, and I highly doubt that telling them you didn't save it because you were on the school computer is going to be considered a reasonable excuse. They're going to rightfully expect that you take measures to save your work.

[GradSchoolTruther]

A good deal of anxiety exhibited by the OP and other thread-starters in this forum can be avoided by not thinking every request from a professor means the professor is out to get them.

[universitystudent]

^ it has happened to me before, so I'm extra careful. Interesting feedback everyone, thanks

[GradSchoolTruther]

Obviously, you're not careful if you don't save the finished product.

[universitystudent]

^ Well I do have another print copy.....but I'm not going to retype it since the prof has the paper already. Hopefully he did not lose it....

Edited March 8, 2016 by universitystudent

[knp]

Oh my god, just scan it and send it to him already!

[universitystudent]

Why? The prof did not reply to my email after I said I have an extra print copy. "Keep it simple"

Edited March 8, 2016 by universitystudent

[marycaryne]

He needs another copy. Instead of just providing it, it almost appears as though you're trying to get out of it. If I was the professor, I would be questioning your odd behavior. After all, you didn't save it (using school computers is not an excuse for that), you only had a print copy yet you wanted to know why he "changed the topic" when requesting another print copy (even though he didn't change any topic), you keep questioning why he wants it. All this for the very simple request of sending it to him. It's great you have another print copy, but I would still question why ALL the difficulty in trying to get that extra copy and why you don't really have a valid reason for not having an electronic version. You don't want to retype it, ok fine. Except not having saved copy is on you, not your professor.

Honestly you've made it the entire thing difficult for yourself. And perhaps that's why you feel like your professors are out to get you. Good luck.

[fuzzylogician]

3 hours ago, universitystudent said:

Why? The prof did not reply to my email after I said I have an extra print copy. "Keep it simple"

You, my friend, are in for a world of trouble if this is going to be your attitude for the duration of your graduate program. One can only hope that it's a short professional masters that will lead to a job in industry and not much reliance on your advisors, and not a PhD that you hope will lead to a job in academia, because for that you will need a serious attitude adjustment. 

[universitystudent]

No, the prof asked "do you have a print copy", not "can you give me another copy". And no, I'm not going for a job in academia.

Edited March 8, 2016 by universitystudent

[GradSchoolTruther]

As most of us would have guessed, the story keeps changing.

[knp]

On 3/6/2016 at 11:11 PM, universitystudent said:

I have two profs so far who requested for electronic copy of my paper on two different occasions  because my paper was "left at work".

 

9 minutes ago, universitystudent said:

No, the prof asked "do you have a print copy", not "can you give me another copy". And no, I'm not going for a job in academia.

Just because he didn't repeat his request doesn't make the request go away.

[marycaryne]

8 minutes ago, universitystudent said:

No, the prof asked "do you have a print copy", not "can you give me another copy". And no, I'm not going for a job in academia.

According to you, you gave him a print copy before his request for an electronic one. You couldn't provide that so he requested a print copy. By definition, requesting for a copy outside of the original you handed in would be requesting another copy, regardless of the format he requested it in. Does this really need to be explained? I don't understand why you are making this so difficult. If such a simple request garners this much difficulty from you, I can only imagine what the rest of your program will be like.

[fuzzylogician]

43 minutes ago, universitystudent said:

No, the prof asked "do you have a print copy", not "can you give me another copy". 

A lesson in pragmatics that I just taught in my freshman Intro to Linguistics class: questions like "do you know what time it is?", "can you open the window", "could you pass the salt?" are not (usually) information-seeking questions. If you answer "yes" and do nothing else, any reasonable person would consider you to be uncooperative. This is a request for you to take action! There are some background assumptions that all speakers in a conversation share -- for example, that the contributions we make to a conversation are relevant, and that they are truthful, and that they give just as much information as is needed, not more and not less. In most contexts, if someone asks if you can pass the salt, it's not just so they know whether or not you can do it. Unless the conversation is about your physical abilities (maybe you had a stroke and can't move your arm very well, for example, or maybe we're testing you ability to reach very far in the distance), in most contexts it's assumed that of course you are physically capable of passing the salt. We don't ask just to get a 'yes' answer. Instead: we ask an obvious question: of course you can reach the salt --> we are making the salt relevant to the conversation, and specifically making your ability to pass it relevant --> it's a request for actual action to be taken, of the kind that we just made salient --> so please pass the freaking salt! The exact same logic works here for your professor's request. He is not asking if you have a copy of your paper just to have that information and to do nothing with it. He is asking because he *wants you to send him a copy*! So a simple "yes" or "no" response isn't being cooperative in the conversation, it's exactly like answering "yes" when someone asks "could you pass me the salt?". And it'll be perceived in exactly that way by your professor, who I am sure is very confused about why you are being so difficult. 

[universitystudent]

As mentioned in my previous post, the prof's latest email was literally "according to university policy students need to keep copies of their work. Do you have a print copy?". So I told him yes, and never heard from him again. If he wanted another copy, he should have told me to email, mail, drop off in-person or something. I'm going to bring another copy to class just in case, and see if he asks me then. 

Edited March 8, 2016 by universitystudent

[GeoDUDE!]

the world is out to get you.