Every student at Presbyterian College has experienced the stress of a "hell week." Tests, papers, projects, and presentations all seem to gravitate towards the same week. Students in Roy Campbell's Rise of World Cultures and Ideas and those in The Modern World, however, have some control over their workload.

Campbell assigns his students seven papers with staggered due dates, but the catch is that the students are required to write only four of them. He does not grant extensions, but students may choose which papers to write. "It gives us flexibility," says sophomore Berkeley Aiken. Students can fit papers into their schedules and choose topics of interest to them. Furthermore, inexperienced writers are able to learn from mistakes they make on their first paper when they write the next. Campbell's students have the option of writing more than four papers, and he will count only the highest four grades.

Campbell says some students are tempted to procrastinate to the final four papers of the semester, but students' not fulfilling the required number of assignments is not a problem. Others write the early essays before the semester's work and activities become overwhelming.

This plan also benefits the professor by spreading the paper load over the semester. Campbell comments on rough drafts if asked, so the staggered papers give him fewer to review at one time. Besides learning history, Campbell's general education students also learn how to write a college paper.

Claire George