As I write this, it is essay season at many colleges and universities. For my own courses, I just graded 52 research papers. This week, I will receive 25 additional essays to grade. It will take (and did take) a significant amount of time to grade them, but it will be worth it.

Essay writing is an invaluable learning tool. It gives students the opportunity to practice identifying and defending their strongest views—a skill that helps them flourish in democratic contexts. Students learn to identify expertise and its absence and recognize reliable and dubious sources of knowledge.

Students are also shaped, character-wise, by the act of writing. Struggling to think clearly and communicate effectively, they discipline themselves to stay put, committed to a heavy task. Students confront the limitations of their own understanding through writing and develop the ability to confront those limitations—by asking for help and reading more.

By extension, certain types of bad characters can have a negative impact on writing ability. So with the grading of the paper in mind, here are the common mistakes students make in their essays—and what these mistakes can indicate about their character.

negligence cited

Sometimes I get a powerful piece of work – well designed and successfully executed. However, the paper warrants deductions for failure to follow formatting guidelines, word count, citations, or reference pages.

In some cases, a lack of citations signals a breach of integrity, such as plagiarism, taking credit for ideas that are not your own. But in most cases, when students quote inconsistently, it is not due to plagiarism, but absence care. This is an excellence positioned between indifference (insufficient payment Careful to avoid errors) and scrupulousness (an excessive concern for avoiding errors).¹ The relevant mistake here is indifference.

Carelessness is unfortunate because it can tarnish an otherwise strong essay. Minor misfortunes are distracting for readers. Furthermore, carelessness makes students vulnerable to accusations of plagiarism. So aim to be careful, paying special attention to citations. I remind students that they would not leave a store after only paying for some items. They should also not leave an essay without attributing all received ideas to their sources.

Doesn’t finish strong

There is a second type of paper that I often receive. It starts promisingly – structured, thoughtful and clear. But the end of the paper is a mess, with wild assertions and imprecise language; it is rushed and messy. I call it the chevron paper—business in the front, party in the back.

What the mullet paper demonstrates is a lack of perseverance or non-resolution.² Students only make it so far before they give up. They run out of steam before accomplishing their task. So aim to finish well. Mullets make good haircuts (sometimes) and failed essays (always).

Making grand claims

Students often make grand claims—claims beyond the scope of their research or even beyond the realm of human knowledge. They think it sounds confident.

Students can be forgiven for thinking this is necessary in our current digital context. We often assume that the expert is the person who is the loudest and most reckless in their claims. But exaggerations and grandiose claims are generally less susceptible. Often the more modest, narrower claims make more successful arguments.

Socrates noted that inquiry begins with recognizing the limits of one’s knowledge.³ In so far as Socrates is at all wise (something the oracle at Delphi told him), his wisdom it consists in knowing what he does not know. When we write wisely—and in sincere pursuit of truth—we are honest about our limitations and only make claims we can defend.

Presenting a weak version of the opponent’s point of view

Presenting a weak version of an opponent’s vision is called a “straw man.” It’s tempting to do this because defeating a straw man is easy. Have you ever tried to knock down a scarecrow? They practically fall by themselves.

It is more difficult to recognize the merits of an opponent’s point of view and to be punished by their arguments. It takes more work to engage with others seriously, evaluating the best versions of their arguments. However, evaluating the strong forms of another’s argument is what requires good scholarship. And it is what we would want for ourselves.⁴

The relevant virtue here is intellectual charity. This is the virtue of desiring the intellectual good of others. The purpose of writing is not to win arguments; is to seek the truth and help others to seek it.

Final thoughts

Essay writing is important. It teaches us to think critically and develop agency around knowledge. Essays are also a site where character deficiencies are expressed. Without care, perseverance, wisdom and charity, it is difficult to think clearly and write well.