Boring Disclaimers: This document is not to be printed anywhere other than the Hampshire Daily Jolt without the express written consent of Lemmy Koopa.  Lemmy Koopa is not responsible for negative or lack of evaluations that result from attempting the following techniques.  Lemmy Koopa can be contacted via email.

Sections:
Introduction
Make a good first impression
Attend class often and arrive on time
Keep in contact with your professor
Participate in class
How to read
How to write
Do your work on time
Think quality, not quantity
The oral presentation
Group work
Take care of yourself
Make a good last impression
Self-evaluations save all
Conclusion

Introduction

Over my time here at Hampshire I have been amazed at how some people have had serious trouble with their classes.  Many people find themselves getting poor evaluations or no evaluations, or opt to drop courses.  At the same time, I have had little trouble passing my courses and even quickly completing my Division I exams.  What's more, I've hardly even been trying!  Clearly many Hampshire students don't know the secret of how to ensure academic success, but fortunately your favorite demigod is here to help you out!

Below I have listed my tried and true method for getting a positive evaluation for your classes.  The basic goal is to convince your professors that you have done more high quality work than you really have, and it's easier than it sounds.  My method is divided into steps that are not in any particular order.  It is not necessary that you follow every single step, but the more steps you follow the better off you'll be.  Especially important steps will be marked as such.  If you follow these steps you should easily be able to pass four courses each semester, without even trying!

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Make a good first impression

It's a well-known fact that first impressions are very powerful in how people perceive each other.  They can be changed, but you'll be in good shape if you start off on the right foot with your professor.  Make sure to arrive on time the first day of class.  You should plan to arrive ten minutes early if possible; this way, you can arrive ten minutes late and still be on time.  Try not to look as though you were out drinking the previous night and just rolled out of bed.  Be sure to do the first assignment so that you can participate in class during the second session... and if the professor asks any questions during the first session, try your hand at them, you have nothing to lose.  Finally, put some extra effort into that first project of yours.  If your professor likes your first paper/film/duck, he may begin to assume that your other projects will also be good.

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Attend class often and arrive on time

One way to increase your chances of getting a positive evaluation is to show that you're really interested in the course, and what better way to do that than to consistantly show up for class?  If you manage to get there on time you're showing that this class is really a priority for you.  I know it's hard to get to that 9:00 class before 9:30, but believe me, it will pay off.  If you have to be absent, tell your professor in advance or as soon after the missed session as possible.  This way he knows you weren't stoned or something.  Even so, try to keep your absences to a minimum, professors do get suspicious.

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Keep in contact with your professor

Very important.  First, it's hard for a professor to write an evaluation for someone they've never spoken to and barely know.  Second, anyone who would take the time to wait a few minutes after class or, even better, go to office hours must really be interested in the course.  Make sure your professor knows what you're up to.  If you're going to do a project that's not quite like the one assigned, be sure to go check it out.  Try to run your projects by your professor before the due date, even if they're unfinished; this way you can get comments and improve.  Remember, the best papers incorporate what your professor has said because the professor can't be wrong if he's writing your evaluation.  You don't need to be buddy-buddy with your professor, but never voice disagreement either.  That won't help you get a positive eval.  If your professor suggests that you could go down to the children's center to do some research, don't let on that you'd rather stick a fork in your eyes.  You still don't have to go down there.

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Participate in class

Not only does participating show that you're interested in the material, it shows that you did the assignments and are prepared to discuss them.  Try to offer at least one comment during each session, this way your professor is likely to remember you as participating at least occassionally.  I find it's easier to participate if you offer your comment very early during the sessions, perhaps even first thing.  Early comments do not need to go very deep into the assignments, they could be observations or summaries; if you wait longer into the class period the questions are likely to get more complicated and difficult to respond to.  Once I opened a session with an observation about the assigned reading.  This spurned a whole conversation and at the end of class the professor thanked me for bringing that point up, but it really wasn't hard at all.

If you didn't do the assignment of discussion, don't give up hope!  You won't be able to comment first, but if you pay attention to the discussion you should be able to figure out something you can toss in.  You could say whether or not you agree with whatever has just been said, and make up some reason why you feel this way.  Whether or not you participate, be sure to look alert.  Falling asleep does not look good, nor does carrying on side conversations.  I like to have a notebook in front of me and a pen in my hand even though I never actually take notes.  If possible I would avoid bringing sewing materials and the like, as they make it look like you're not focused on the discussion.

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How to read

I do not consider myself a fast reader in the least.  Yet I find I still complete reading assignments considerably faster than many other students here.  This baffles me because reading at a college that doesn't give tests is no sweat.  Elsewhere you would have to make sure you really understand everything and spend time taking notes in order to prepare for exams, but at Hampshire your professor will never know exactly what you learned from the readings.  For those of you who really want to learn from the reading assignments, you can do your reading in more detail when you have the time, like when you've completed your final papers or over breaks.  For now, you really only need to skim reading assignments and get the major points.  It's not important for your class that you understand all the details like the support for each argument.  Someone is sure to bring them up in class anyway and then you'll know about them.  If you're really rushed for time, you could probably get away with just reading the introduction and conclusion.  Do try to read at least a little of each assignment so that you have something you can say in class.

Only rarely will you really need to read an assignment in detail, such as when you've been asked to do an oral report on it.  In that case you'll need to read the whole thing and take notes and maybe even read it several times.  I haven't figured out a better way for this yet.  Even so, like I said, this will happen rarely, and so it's not worth trying to learn how to read faster just for these.  If you've been asked to write a response paper based on your reading, you can still get a good short paper written based on just the intro, conclusion, and previous topics in the class... but I'll discuss writing in more detail later on.  Incidentally, if you're doing research for a project you can really fly through the readings.  Find a chapter whose title looks promising, then skim each page for keywords related to your topic and slow down to read when you find them.  Be prepared to start skimming again if what you find isn't useful.

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How to write

I believe every class at Hampshire requires a certain amount of writing.  You should have known this when you applied, and so I'm going to assume you have at least some basic writing skills down.  This will not be a grammar lesson... but do make absolutely sure your papers have good spelling and grammar.  Nothing says rushed like a paper filled with grammar errors, and you want your professor to think you spent a lot of time on your paper, whether or not you actually did.  Try to type your papers too, even the short ones.  They're just neater and easier to read that way.

I have divided papers into two main categories, research papers and reflective papers.  Research papers are the ones where you have to go out and do some research, then compile it all into a coherent essay.  Reflective papers may be "what do you think about this", or may ask you to discuss papers that you've (supposely) read for class and do not require outside research.  Length does not make a difference in terms of what kind of paper it is.  In fact, the only differences between a five-page research paper and a ten-page research paper is the amount of sources you'll need and, of course, how much you'll need to write.  Likewise, for a long reflective paper you'll just have to do more reflecting.  The tactics involved remain the same.

Research papers first.  You want to get started on these as soon as possible because you're going to be waiting on materials from the library that could take over a week to reach you.  That means if you wait until two weeks before the due date to request your resources, you may only have one week or less to read them and write your paper.  Remember that Hampshire's library is very small, so don't expect your sources to be readily available to you.  Even if you're willing and able to go to the Five-College libraries, you still want an early start to ensure that no one else grabs your materials.  But before you can find sources you need to pick your topic.  This will likely be framed for you by your professor; if you decide to go outside that box or are unsure whether your topic is acceptable, talk to your professor right away.  Actually, you should talk to your professor even if you're sure your topic is acceptable because he may name some good sources for you.  If he does, definitely go find them.  By the way, if you're unsure whether your topic is too broad, it probably is.  You should be worried about finding too few sources.

Once you've got your topic, you want to find some sources.  You can go to Hampshire's library online and look around.  Try doing a subject search for books first because if you can find relevant books they'll keep you busy for awhile.  I've had more luck with finding journal articles, however.  You'll need to read the short journal descriptions to find one that looks relevant to your topic.  Once you do, enter some keywords and do a search.  When the results appear, check to see how many there are.  If your topic is not too broad and not too narrow, you should find enough sources so that you could, if you wanted, read them all, but not so few sources that there's not enough info.  Five to fifteen sources is usually a good number, too much more than that and you won't be able to sort through all the information, fewer and you won't find enough.  Just because there are fifteen sources doesn't mean you need to read them all, by the way, especially if you're just writing a five-page paper.  Mess around with your search words until you find enough sources.  Get these sources as soon as possible so you can move on to reading and writing.

Now that you have the sources, you will unfortunately need to read them... but not straight through, goodness no!  You want to skim your references for stuff related to your topic.  You might look for the same words you used to do your online search.  Remember, many of the sources you find won't exclusively discuss your topic, so you need to weed through and find the good parts.  Once you've read about three of your sources, you're ready to write some of your paper.  You can write an introductory paragraph, which will state what exactly you're researching in as many sentences as possible, and a concluding paragraph, which will state what you've learned or found, also in as many sentences as possible.  You could knock off a page or more with these two sections if you're double spacing, which you probably should be.  Between them you want to draw out the relevant information from the sources you read.  If you're really good you'll have skimmed through those sources the same day you're starting to write so that everything is fresh.  That way you'll get all the good info written out and will easily be able to put in your parentheticals.  Make sure to refer to your sources in a logical order.  You might write a paragraph on each source and, if you end up having enough sources, vaguely refer to one in several paragraphs to sort of tie everything together.

Depending on how long your paper is supposed to be you could have finished a significant portion of it with just the first three sources.  The hardest part, forming the paper's general structure, is now done.  Every time you read a new source you can add another paragraph or two to your paper in a sensible location.  When all your sources are done or your paper is long enough as it is, look everything over to make sure there is some semblance of logic and order.  Soon enough your paper will be complete.

Reflective papers do not have the long start-up process of having to find research.  Nevertheless these can be harder than research papers because you'll actually need to think, whereas when researching you can pretty much spurt out information from your references with a few words changed here and there so you're not plagiarizing.  If the reflective paper is based on some assigned readings you may want to look at them again, especially if it's been awhile since you last saw them or you never actually saw them or you were unaware of or confused by some points raised in class.

You'll need to organize your argument.  What are you arguing for and how can this be supported?  What you're arguing for is your first paragraph, two if you're especially verbose, and sets down your main topic with, perhaps, a summary of the related readings.  Each paragraph or so should represent a different piece of evidence for your argument; how many paragraphs you'll need to write will depend on how long the paper is supposed to be.  If you're running short you can try explain some counter-arguments (statements that contradict your argument) and then examine why they cannot be correct.  End the paper by summing up your evidence and restating your main argument.

I find it is easiest to write reflective papers that are five or less pages long all in one sitting.  Take some time to formulate your argument (this can be done while eating, getting dressed, or even in class while looking as though you're listening), maybe make an outline if you need a more cemented structure, and then sit down when you have two hours or so free and just write.  While you're writing, don't stop to think, you should already have done all of that.  If you stop after each sentence to consider what you just wrote it will take more than those two hours.  Let your argument guide you, and just keep going.  If you've formed your argument well you should be finished in no time.  Longer papers are somewhat more annoying because you probably won't be able to complete them in one sitting.  When you resume your paper read what you've written, figure out where you left off, get yourself focused, and keep going.

Regardless of the type of paper you're writing, make sure it is tailored to the assignment itself.  If you're writing an experiment proposal based on research, the introduction and conclusion sections are pretty much the raw research paper while the methods and results sections will be mostly reflective, based on what you learned from your research.  Your professor should make it clear what he expects in your paper, but if he doesn't feel free to interrogate him.

Try to eliminate distractions while you're writing your papers.  Some people claim they can write well while chatting on IM or listening to loud music, but I am skeptical.  At the very least if you're chatting or grooving to the beat you're typing your paper more slowly and diverting some of your attention.  If you need music, try something light and quiet.  Personally I like videogame music with the volume turned down, but you'll do as you will.  Make sure to reread your paper in full after writing it to catch those nasty lost sentences or arguing noun-verb pairs or those paragraphs that lack a transition so that they seem out of place.  It works best if you wait at least a day between writing and editing, otherwise you may read what you think you wrote rather than what you really wrote.  Of course, your ability to do this is dependant on your having finished writing the paper at least a day before the due date.  If you finished really early, show your paper to your professor and get his comments.  Try to incorporate them into your paper, you can't go wrong with doing what your professor says.  You can show your paper to peers if you wish, but keep in mind that they probably know just about as much as you and not a whole lot more, or perhaps even less.

If you are considerably more artistically inclined than myself, pretty cover pages are a nice touch to any paper.  They make it look like you care, not to mention attaching another sheet of paper to your essay makes it look longer.  Only do this if you really are a good artist or graphic designer though.  A bad picture could backfire on you.

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Do your work on time

My DAD is this important!  Professors are likely to remember if you've handed in your projects late; suffice it to say it leaves a bitter taste in their mouths come evaluation time.  Plus, if you're behind then your work will be necessarily rushed, and that does show.  I have two methods to help ensure that you do, in fact, complete your projects on time.

One way to do this is to pretend that the assignment is due earlier than it really is.  For example, if your final paper is due December 13, you might pretend it's really due December 6.  This way you will guide your progress such that you will intend to finish by the 6th, but if you don't quite manage to do it you still have a week left.  However, this method only works if you really believe, really strive towards the earlier deadline.  It's not enough to set the early deadline but continue to work towards the original deadline.  Also, the larger and more important the project is, the larger the difference between the two deadlines should be.  After all, a larger project is more likely to be delayed, and you want to make extra sure your important projects are done on time.

A second way to ensure you finish your work on time is through a reward system.  Most people won't like this option, but it does work if you enforce it.  In the reward system you give yourself an assignment, say, to write five pages of your paper by 5 PM.  Then you set a reward for your having done so, like maybe you get some ice cream.  The idea, then, is that if you really want that reward you'll get that work done on time.  However, you really have to enforce the system.  If you don't get the assignment done, you don't get the reward, not even if Saga has chocolate ice cream without nuts.  The reward can get more powerful depending on how important it is that assignment gets done today.  One time I must have really been behind because I decided I could not check my email until I had written a short paper.  It's harsh, but that's why it works.  I have added two special clauses to my rule system.  First, if the reward is earned but can't be redeemed (say, Saga has no good ice cream), it can be redeemed at any time in the future or swapped for a similar reward.  Second, if you realize that the assignment was too much because you worked hard all day but still couldn't complete it, a reward may still be in order.  But be honest!  If you didn't finish because you decided to go play Mario Party 4 (though why you would is beyond me) then no reward for you.

These two methods can be used in conjunction if you wish.  They'll need to be tailored to your own needs, but before long you should find a system that adequately motivates you, just in case getting a positive evaluation isn't quite enough.

If you must hand in your project late, make sure you let your professor know.  Most professors are not pleased to receive late work without an explanation.  Even if you are absent the day a project is due it is your responsibility to do what you can to get that project submitted on time.  Find a classmate to hand it in for you, attach that paper to an email, or brave the outside air and hunt down your professor's mailbox or office.  Finally, if you hand in a project late you'd better make sure it's high quality so that it doesn't look as though you were partying every night.

By the way, most professors are not opposed to receiving work early.  Then they can pay special attention to your project because they won't be buried under everyone else's.

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Think quality, not quantity

So this one time I was supposed to write a ten-page paper, but I only wrote six before I reached my conclusion.  Realizing that six is not quite in the ballpark of ten, I decided to consult my professor.  After reading my paper, my professor said, "This is good."  This, of course, is a normal reaction to my written work.  I responded, "Uh... I haven't even edited it yet."  She said, "It's good."  While leaving I added, "Well, if you ever find anything you want me to fix, you just let me know."  That never happened.

This may be a rare example, but the point is to not let yourself be constrained by length requirements.  When you are told to write a 15-page paper, think of that as a goal rather than a restriction.  As it is, many professors will simply tell you to write until you're done.  It's time-consuming to add pages just to reach your quota, and since you'll probably just be rambling those pages are not likely to improve the quality of your paper, they may even devalue it by diluting your important information with repetitive stuff.  When you finish writing your paper, read it over and decide if it's comprehensive and complete... and if so, don't worry about what page number you're up to.  If you're really worried you can speak to your professor, he can give you some ideas.  Or if you don't want to do that, you could add some pictures or something.  Or, better yet, make up for it in your self-evaluation.

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The oral presentation

I used to dread these like the plague.  I'm still not especially fond of them as I prefer writing to speaking, but they're not really a big deal.  You're probably worried about embarrassing yourself in front of your peers, but you gotta do what it takes to get that positive evaluation.  Anyway, your peers are in the same boat as you, so if anyone laughs you can get back at them when it's their turn.

First things first.  If you are given a choice, opt to present earlier rather than later.  Yeah, that means your due date is going to be sooner, but you won't be doing any additional work.  In fact, you can get away with less if you go first because your professor will expect more from later groups since they've had more time to prepare and can use previous groups as an example.  Besides, unless you make good use of the tactics I explained in the do your work on time section, if your presentation is due two weeks later you'll probably start working on it two weeks later than you would have otherwise.

Now you need to prepare your speech.  Just like written assignments, oral presentations can be divided into research- and reflective-based projects.  Check my writing section for more on how to deal with those two categories.  Essentially you could write a paper and read that as your presentation.  However, that would probably be a waste of time, to full out write a paper.  A more time-efficient technique would be to put your ideas into an outline.  Make sure to order the points in your outline in a logical matter and include everything you feel is important to say.

The hardest part of the oral presentation is making sure that it's the right length.  Unfortunately, the only way I know of to ensure that your report is the correct length is to practice saying it.  You could try to write a paper and then equate one page to two minutes worth of presentation, let's say, but then you'd have to write the paper.  Once you have the outline, present it to yourself or a friend and make sure to time yourself.  Ideally you'll actually be a minute or two under the target length, this way you have time to take questions- professors love it if you can fend off questions.  Just like with papers, quality is more important than quantity.  However, be careful about going over the target length, some professors will cut you off in order to get to other students and it's important to get to your conclusion.  In fact, you should really wear a watch for these presentations so that you know if you need to hurry up.

There are a few aesthetic considerations to keep in mind.  First, it doesn't look good to be reading off a sheet of paper, so try to memorize your notes/paper/scribblescratch.  You can have notes in front of you, but only refer to them if necessary.  Second, flexibility is important.  If while you're yapping along you think up a point that would be nice to include but isn't in your outline, toss it out there anyway... unless you're worried about running out of time.  Be on the lookout for questions and do your best to answer them based on your research/reflection.  Third, eye contact really does look good.  You don't need to make real eye contact, I never make eye contact with anybody and tend to talk sideways to people.  But, at least face your audience, and you can sort of look over their heads.  If your audience is too large to face all at once, rotate around so you're facing everyone sometimes (but look towards your professor a lot).  Finally, visuals can be a huge help.  If you really want you could do a Powerpoint presentation (but make sure the classroom has the necessary equipment) or a big ol' poster.  However, I've never done either of those because I don't know how to use Powerpoint and can't draw for my life.  Handouts are a great help, you could hand out a copy of your outline or some relevant tables and graphs that you used.  I use handouts all the time.

Oh yeah, and try to look, you know, decent.  You're presenting yourself as well as your research/reflection, so try not to wear that pair of pants that's more holes than material or that shirt with the racial slur on it.  See if you can do something with that ridiculous hair of yours too.

Lastly, NEVER, NEVER be absent when you're supposed to be doing your presentation!  I mean, you'd best be dead if you miss that session because it's practically academic suicide.  If you miss your spot you'd better be prepared to do some extra work to make up for it, and you'll probably still have to present at some other time of your professor's choosing.

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Group work

Have you ever seen one of those camp exercises where one guy has to fall over backwards and everyone else has to catch him, and then it's like "Yay, we all trust each other!" but then later they all get into a fistfight?  Well, group work is kind of similar in that you are putting your faith in others that they will get certain work done- and if they don't, you're sorta burned.  This is why group work is my least favorite kind of assignment, but there are still some tactics you can use to help group work get done smoothly.  This section applies to the kind of group work where you're expected to meet outside of class and put together some kind of project, not the kind where you spend half the class period talking about the movie you saw last night, how much you've been drinking, and how far behind in your classes you are and then spurt out some off-the-top-of-your-head answer to the rest of the class.

Group work will be oh so much easier if you're in a group with people you can trust, so if you get to choose your group look for friends or classmates you've worked well with before.  Make sure that you get some contact info as soon after the group is formed as possible- phone number, email, residence, mailing address, credit card information, whatever, it's all good.  This way you can pester your group members into agreeing to meet with you.

Setting up a meeting is the next step.  It's important to determine exactly what your project entails as early as possible.  This way you know what has to be done and you can divide the labor.  I find that group work functions best if each member of the group is solely responsible for his own part, and then later you'll come back and fit it all together.  If you try to collaborate on each part you're going to need to spend more time meeting and making sure you're all on the same page.  Ideally the group can meet once shortly after the group's formation to divide up the work, then a second time a few days before the deadline so you can make sure everyone's ok and that the pieces fit.  This way you can make the necessary changes to each piece and still have some time left to pick up the slack for those lazy people.

Between those two meetings you can send your partners email or something to make sure they haven't fallen off the face of the Earth.  If you start to feel as though other group members are not pulling their weight, let your professor know what's going on.  Remember, your professor doesn't know what everyone in the group has done and is likely to judge the group as a whole.  If one of your partners doesn't do his job and you don't give your professor a heads up, that poor job could be reflected in your evaluation.  Like with anything else, try to give your professor fair notice.  Don't tell him the day of the presentation that you won't have that required poster because the guy responsible for it was visited by the nice men in the white coats.

Don't try to do the project yourself either, that's sure to be a ton of work.  Otherwise it would just be an independant project.  You need to trust that your partners will do their work, and you can check up on them, but don't do their job.  At the same time, make sure that you're doing your job.  If the group work is based on something you were all supposed to read, it would be a good idea for you to read the article before the first meeting and be prepared to work with it.  If you haven't done your own preparation then you're in no position to expect that anyone else in the group has.  The same goes for any other work delegated to you.

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Take care of yourself

I know, I know, you've heard this one from a million and two different places, but that's because it's true.  The fact of the matter is, if you're exhausted because the last time you slept was when you were still in high school, you're not going to get your best work done.  Even the no-think method I discuss in the section on how to write doesn't work if you're too tired.  I guess maybe just a little thinking is involved.

You want to make sure you get enough sleep.  Some people claim they can get by with five hours of sleep or even less, and if you're one of those people I envy you.  Most people need more like eight hours, and some need more than that.  That's eight or more hours of being asleep, mind you, not eight hours of being in bed wishing to be asleep.  Be honest with yourself and sleep when you need to.  If you manage to space your work out evenly each day (including weekends) you won't need to do any of those evil all-nighters.  Check the section on how to do your work on time for more info on getting work done during the day.  By the way, if you need more than ten hours of sleep each night you might want to go see a doctor.

Eating is important too.  I'm not even talking about a balanced diet, though all the power to you if you have the will power to keep that up.  I'm just talking about eating on a regular basis.  You shouldn't need to skip meals in favor of class, homework, or anything else.  You don't need a full breakfast with two eggs and two pieces of toast and a thick slice of ham, you just need to grab something.  An apple and a banana can make a good breakfast, and they're easy to sneak out of Saga.  Then you can have a larger lunch or maybe have a mid-morning snack.  But do eat something, if you don't it will be hard to write that early morning paper or pay attention in that 9:00 class.

Some people like to exercise and such to stay in shape.  That's all well and good, but personally I don't recommend it.  Whenever I exercise I get tired and then I want to relax rather than do papers or read stuff.  Relaxing may not be the best use of your time considering you already used a bunch of time to exercise and maybe you even showered too, if you're in to that kind of thing.  I guess my advice here is to exercise enough to get those endorphins going, but not to the point of exhaustion.  Exactly how long this means for your workout session depends on your exercise activity of choice and how physically fit you are.  Me, I might be able to do some exercise for fifteen minutes without knocking myself out.  Better make it ten to be safe.

Remember to take fun breaks for yourself too.  You're probably doing enough of this already, but working day and night is sure to cause you stress, it may even make you depressed.  If you've divided your assignments well you should be able to find some time for recreation every day.  Of course, if you leave your work to the last minute, that's when you get those stressful days at the end of the semester when you don't have time to blink.  Not good.

Oh, and at all costs, do remember to breathe.  This guy who lived in my hall last year once forgot to breathe because he was doing so much work... it wasn't pretty.

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Make a good last impression

Do you remember what I wrote about making a good first impression? I could have practically copied that section and pasted it here.  The last part of the semester, particularily the last week or two after Thanksgiving and spring breaks, are likely to stick in your professor's mind.  The idea is to start off on a good foot and end on one as well.  If you do that it's not so important what you did in between.  In fact, a strong finish after a not-so-good middle period looks like improvement, which is highly valued here at Hampshire.  So, just like with the first few sessions, make sure to show up to the last few on time, make an extra effort to participate in class, and do your best on your final paper.  You can try smiling too.  Looking like a nice person never hurt anyone.

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Self-evaluations save all

Many a student have been taken by surprise by these things, which always manage to be remembered during the last week of classes, on top of final projects no less.  Do not forsake the self-evaluation, as a well-written SE can right many wrongs.  Now, if you couldn't be bothered to show up for class more than five times, and that one comment you made in class that time caused a five-minute silence it was so bad, and you were supposed to do an oral report on the waggle dance in honey bees but instead you discussed why Lemmy is the coolest, well, the self-evaluation isn't going to save you... although, your professor is sure to have enjoyed that oral presentation.  But, if you're sort of borderline between positive and negative evaluations, or if you want an even stronger positive eval, the self-evaluation can be your best friend.

Now, you want to start off slow with a brief summary of the course.  Spend a paragraph talking about the main objectives and conclusions, and then list the most important readings.  If you had to buy some books, list those.  If you just got a packet or something, choose a few major readings to put down.  This is the boring part of the self-eval, but it makes it look like you actually know what the class was about.

Start off the second the paragraph by vaguely referring to the important assignments that students were expected to complete.  Final projects, midterm projects, oral presentations, and group projects can all be considered important and worthy of mentioning.  Next you want to spend the rest of this paragraph and all of the next one talking about what you specifically did.  What was your final project about, and what did you conclude?  Remind your professor how stunning that oral presentation was, and how your group really went all out.

The fourth and last paragraph can discuss lingering details about those important projects or small classroom details.  If you participated often or had consistant attendance, be sure to remind your professor of that here.  This paragraph is also where you sum up your case for why you deserve a positive evaluation.  Your last sentence should be "Although some improvement is necessary, overall I feel my work is deserving of a positive evaluation for this course."  It's important that you don't lie about any of your achievements.  If you talk about how often you participated but in reality the only time you opened your mouth during class was when you let out that huge belch, you could get caught in a lie and burned.

The trick with self-evaluations is that you want to look brilliant, but you also want to look modest and as though you've seriously been considering your progress.  Therefore, you need to make sure to mention at least one negative thing about your work and, at the same time, play it down by making it look not so bad.  This way your professor will think you have honestly considered how you've done, but your faults look negligible.  Here are some examples of faults and playing them down:

Lack of participation: "I wish I had participated more often in class.  However, when I did offer comments I feel they were very inciteful."

Short final paper: "Although my final paper is shorter than I had hoped, I believe that it is thorough and well-written, and that additional information would not significantly increase its quality."

Poor final paper: "I found my final paper difficult to write because this is the first time I have been asked to write using this style.  However, I feel as though I learned a lot during the course of the semester and am confident that I will perform better on similar projects in the future."

Poor group project: "My group had trouble piecing together our project.  Nevertheless I feel that my poster/presentation/sound effects accurately reflect(s) my effort and understanding of the material and that the project, as a whole, adequately conveyed the material/suggested our creativity/caused all chaos to break loose."

You can make up a mildly negative statement for whatever else you want as well.  You can also feel free to tailor the above quotes to your needs.  It is fine to have more negative comment in your paper as they can cover up that botched oral presentation or generally short projects.  Make sure to put in one of these statements even if you can't think of any faults.  You probably did make one somewhere, and you want to look modest rather than arrogant.

Self-evaluations should be as close to one full page in length as possible, not too much longer or too much shorter.  They should be single-spaced so you can squeeze a lot into one page, but put a blank line between each paragraph so it looks nice.  You don't want a really short self-eval because then it kind of looks like maybe you didn't do anything worth mentioning.  If you need to, write a little more about that final paper or you could even expand your summary of the course.  If your self-evaluation is too long you'll start to bore your professor, so it's gets to be over a page and a quarter or so, try to trim some stuff off.  Or use a smaller font.

Back to the top.

Conclusion

If you do your best to follow the steps I have laid out, it is my honest belief that you will indeed be able to easily earn positive evaluations in your Hampshire courses.  Before long, you too could be raking in the positive evals!  So get out there, and good luck!

Questions?  Comments?  Want me to destroy this document because it's revealing Hampshire's darkest secrets?  Send me email!