APA Format

So I’ve changed my concentration from Curriculum and Instruction to Reading, because, honestly my Curriculum Professor, that I would have had for 6 classes, was an ass. She kept telling me how this isn’t a doctoral student type of writing, and gave me F’s and D’s. I was like ‘ I know I’m not a writer, because honestly I much prefer the brevity of math, but damn, I can’t be getting no D’s and shit. She kept telling me that I must have copied this from somewhere, simply because I used the word WE?! Her name, in case you happen to be under similar oppression, is Dr. Michelle Teman Zemach.

And now that I think of it, I managed to get through a Masters degree without having to write one of these papers and I was just fine. In all fairness, I majored in Math, and I even hated reading those papers that I was assign the students in college, so I knew that writing would be a problem for me. But nothing that should give me D’s and F’s!

Besides, I didn’t want to have to start my doctoral journey fighting and defending my opinions on things, so I quit…. her program, and moved on over to the Reading. Why not Math, you ask.? Because I like a challenge, and all I’ve ever said to teachers when I ran our school was ‘So what he’s a behavior problem. .. He can read, so figure out the rest’

Time Saving Tips

Mind you, I stated this journey while going through a divorce, working at 2:00am, and raising the last 2 children on my own, so I had to be super intentional with my time. I’d print out my articles and read them on my lunch break and feverishly take notes. I even told the children that I had an online class every Wednesday from 5 to 7 so that I could get some work done! I’d be watching Shameless and doing my math homework, but it was all I had. You don’t have to go to these lengths, but just in case you need ideas on how to carve out some time for yourself, I’m here for yah!

Anyways, I finally figured out how to write a doctoral type paper, and i’t’s shockingly similar to writing a great blog post, which is weird. This process takes time, so what I suggest is to get the syllabus the semester before and plan your work

Respect the Process

1) make your outline (instead of paragraphs, think pages)

2) write it in regular ass language first, just like you think of it - this is the easy part

3) go back, and everywhere you have what could be construed as a fact, put that entire sentence into google and ask, for example: [reference for most of the teachers in the united states are white anyway]

this takes DAYS BY THE WAY, so plan accordingly

4) make your reference page as you go along… do not wait until the end to try and alphabetize and format them all (trust me on this one)

5) use google docs… so you can continue to work a bit at work on a different tab :-) plus, this video explains how to make your template perfectly!

6) Constantly go back and remove the personal pronouns ( I had to look up what the heck these were) So this is the dirty dozen that should NOT BE IN YOUR PAPER ANYWHERE:

I — you — he — she

it — we — they — me

him — her — us — them

Use the Find and Replace option in Word to check for each and every one of these 12 words