I have decided to do a masters degree for some fucking reason. Due to these godforsaken circumstances, I am going to be a student again.
Now, based on my experience being an undergrad with my Brain and Misc Issues, I knew that my hubris in pursuing YET MORE EDUCATION would result in having to write a lot of stressful emails, while dealing with a stressful situation.
So, to help myself cope in advance, I’ve decided to write drafts of these emails in advance, so that it’s less agonisingly painful to deal with this shit when it comes up.
And you can use them too!
under the cut, I have some draft emails for when you need to tell your lecturers:
I’m going to miss a lecture.
I have missed a lecture
I will be turning in an assignment late
I have missed a deadline
I have had a personal crisis which impacts my studies.
SEND AT START OF SEMESTER: explaining that you fidget/stim without using the word stim.
This is a wonderful resource! Like you, OP, I decided to do the school thing again after finishing the bachelors, and I hope you experience all the success you deserve!
I’d like to add on to this post with a list of accommodations that many universities have for neurodivergent undergrads and grad students. I went into my grad program not even knowing accommodations were available to us. Thought this list might be useful to others…
YOU ARE GOING TO DO OK!!! WHETHER IT’S REMOTE LEARNING (which can take getting used to) OR IT’S GOING TO SCHOOL DESPITE THE RISKS - I BELIEVE IN YOU!!! YOU CAN DO THIS BECAUSE YOU CARE!!! WORRYING ABOUT SCHOOL MEANS YOU WANT TO DO WELL, AND THAT MEANS YOU WILL DO YOUR BEST - WHICH IS MORE THAN ENOUGH!!!
(i really hope school is safe for you. if it is not, all my love and concern)
Teachers: Wikipedia is very unreliable *Hands out 25 year old textbooks instead*
Alrighty guys ,gals, and other genders and lack thereof I’m gonna teach ya a thing.
A lot of teachers will go on about not using wikipedia as a source.
“It’s bad,” they say. “I will deduct points if you do it.”
Well wikipedia is actually a great source of information and fuck what your teacher said, you absolutely can use it.
The key though is knowing
A.How to use it.
B. How to source it.
and
C. whether it is good info or trash.
NowFirst Lets look up something on wikipedia. Say your writing a paper on Gregor Mendel and Mendelian Inheritance.
So you zoom over to the Wikipedia page on Mendelian Inheritance.
Now there is a lot of information here. Not all of it is strictly necessary for that essay you are writing. So you read through and suddenly you see something that is good info for your essay.
Boy oh boy this information is useful. To bad your teacher said No Wikipedia Ever.
However there is a loophole.
It’s right there.
No. Go closer.
You see that little four? Its a citation number. Think of wikipedia as it’s own essay. It got it’s information from other sources out there. Just like you are trying to right now. And since there is a citation, it’s going to be listed at the end of the wikipedia article.
Look at citation number 4
Look at that you have your first citation. From Wikipedia.
And look. Do you see it. There is a link. It’s the blue words with the boxy arrow thingamajig.
That thing. Click it.
Why did you leave wikipedia you ask? Wikipedia is great. You have several sources from there. But There is more than what the put in to that wiki article. Those sources Wikipedia gave you are helpful. And now that you are at the source, you can utilize it.
But what if its a book that’s the source.
You can either head to your local library and see if they have it, order it, or avoid the book source. Online sources are just as valuable.
Also do not quote directly from the wikipedia. Quote from the source and then use quote citation.
And MLA citation. Use MLA citation. Since you are linked to the sources cite them. Not the wikipedia.
Your teacher will never know. And now you can finish that sweet essay you got planned.
You’re on your way to greatness.
For anybody not aware you can abuse the absolute fuck out of Wikipedia for any papers!
I’m an academic librarian and I 100% endorse this post
I am also an academic librarian and I 100% endorse this post. CITATIONS are important.
i’m tired and angry and i just wanna give a special fuck you to every teacher who implied that using “complex” language meant you were cheating or sucking up, when in fact that’s just how a lot of neurodivergent/autistic kids (and adults) naturally sound
My thoughts indeed
This is so me. I used to use really complicated sentences and stuff, but did a lot mistakes bc i was dyslexic - which of course nobody told me. So the complexity of what I was saying resulted in even more mistakes. Since our school system only counts mistakes… Well… I was a bad student. Of course. Because how else would it be?
