I also think that not reading the book, but still trying to understand it may be harder, but better in the long run, because you only remember what’s truly important.

If they are assigned in school, they are after all meant to be educational and not entertaining. (mostly)

People need to quit half-assing things and just DO IT.

I’m sure you can skate by on many things, without actually having to put forward a lot of effort, but only if you’re interested in designated sheet of paper, rather than your own intelligence.

A little trick I used many times was reading the epilouge, reading the back of the book, the first chapter, a chapter in the middle, and the last couple of chapters. If you pay attention in class, you will be filled in on the rest of the details and know what they’re talking about. If the book is read by you only it gets a bit more tricky, but I just used to fluff the parts I didn’t know.

This worked great for me until one year in college I was duped by a rather tenured college professor. He gave us a list of possible books to do a ten-sentence thesis and have turned in to him next week in class. Well I didn’t even make it to the library until two days before the report was due, and it sat in the back of my car until I remembered it just before class (on my way to go to class). So I hurried to the computer lab, flipped the book over, re-worded the script on the back and turned it in. The grades were given back to us the next week and I’ll be damned if I didn’t get a 98% on it, with a note saying it was the best work I had done all year. Other students I spoke with who actually read the book and took the time to think about it, basically thought too hard and over three quarters of the class received F’s. I thought I had won the battle, but boy was I wrong. The following week he surprised us with a pop quiz which had us write an essay on how the book I read pertained to the historical factors we had been studying in class. There was no bullshitting at this because I couldn’t even remember what the name of the book was and it was a complete disaster. Final grade on the paper was counted as 30% of my final grade. Finished with a D, but I tell you I learned a valuable lesson that day. Don’t cheat yourself. Education is what you make of it.

I’m an adjunct English professor at a large state school in the southeast, and you remind me of my more advanced students. Many of them admit to me that they aren’t good writers, they’re just “good at bullshitting.” Call it what you will, this process is exactly how I teach my students to write. Writing is a process, and what you have written here teaches that idea.

I can’t necessarily agree with you about not reading the book; it really would enhance the paper that much more. Reading a book should be cathartic, or at least experiential, and experiences like this can really make an essay sing.

As much as it pains me to admit it, however, I didn’t read a book in high school and “bullshitted” several remarkable essays. Regardless, thanks for this, and I hope your readers take seriously your definitive guide to bullshitt– I mean, good writing.