How to Describe a Paper

To the average college student, writing papers isn't exactly an ideal fun time. But we have to do it, no matter if we mechanically go through it like robots or if we meticulously dedicate ourselves to the making of it. And we all assume that writing a paper is done in the same way. As I'm sitting here with my "Materiality" essay in class, I am to take note of other papers written by other students. And I notice, perhaps for the first time, that everyone writes their paper in a different way. I don't mean by content- everyone is going to have a different content- but by format. Who ever thinks about the format anyway?

I see that everyone has the same white vertical paper with black ink. Most likely the font is Times Newman. Some people have put their names in the left corner, others in the right. Some have double-spaced, others have not. Some gave headings and used bold print. Others have not. Now the question becomes: why have we done this? What is the point of this format style? Why is it dictated as such? It can be assumed that we all think the same thing: it's professional, it's how we've been taught, it seems like the proper way,etc. But it seems like a boring way. Why can't we use black paper instead of white or landscape mode instead of portrait mode? Why can't we use crazy font or write in a different language? Why can't we do whatever we want to our paper? Because society has it set in stone what it wants. If we try to do otherwise, it is sometimes seen as an "error".

Some teachers can fail you for papers they consider to not "fit the mold". Employers can decide not to hire you if your resume appears "sloppy". I wrote may paper the way it is because that is how I've been taught and been told that this is the way to do it. But what constitutes as the "proper" way of "fitting the mold" to writing? Who decides what's okay to use in a paper and what isn't? What is "the conventional way"? Is there a conventional way? So many questions are left unanswered.

If I could re-format my paper, I would stylize it based on my topic, just to be chaotic and creative. Since i wrote about blush and beauty, I would write my paper in eyeliner, then place blush on top of it to give it a musty look. I just think that papers get boring without getting creative and need some spicing up. But I guess for now it just has to be deemed "presentable".