The Mindless Sociology Paper
Back in Spring semester of 1999, I signed up for SYG 2000, an introductory sociology course. I did this primarily to pad out my schedule. I often preferred to learn computer programming or play video games with my spare time instead of doing mindless busy work to learn disciplines that I really didn’t care about but which fit beautifully into my schedule. Introduction and survey courses were the most forgiving of this kind of behavior, and I accordingly filled out my semester load with such courses.
I knew almost immediately upon looking at the syllabus for SYG 2000 that I had no intentions of doing the midterm paper. You see, unlike my English courses, which had papers worth 20-50% of my final grade, this mid-term paper was worth a measly five percent of my grade. Half a letter grade? Not worth my time and energy. My only real dilemma came in if the TA were draconian. What if he chose to flunk me on a technicality for not turning anything in? This was the genesis of the Mindless Sociology Paper.
I decided to fill a few pages of utter crap that I found funny at the time and turn that in to my TA. I sat down and wrote this gem in only about 5-10 minutes.
Mindless Sociology Paper (PDF)
I gave a few copies of the paper out to friends and acquaintances who thought it was funny. It in turn hung out in a few dorm lounges and generally made the rounds on the UF campus. Now I share it on the Internet for all to see.