When I was in school, it was always taught, never use clich?s in your 'scholarly' work. The idea is still valid today -- that you are receiving your education and are supposed to be learning to form your own thoughts, without parroting the words of others. Some students, however, don't even realize that what they are saying (or writing) is a clich?. Part of the job (if you could call it that) of being a student is to develop a harsh critical eye when examining your own writings, as well as those of anyone else.
If, after identifying what you recognize to be a clich?, you still feel that it is necessary to convey your message, you should, in my opinion, put it in quotation marks, just to indicate to the reader/professor, that you are cognizant of the use of an un-original thought, and that it (the clich?) should be differentiated from those thoughts that emminate from your own grey-matter. To do so would be a conscious effort to remain honest, in an academic sense, and thereby avoid the retaliation that could come about if a professor recognizes a clich? which was undetected after your own review....
Sep 06, 2009 @ 17:03:34
But I found myself using the "stuck between a rock and a hard place" saying without really thinking about it until after typing it.
But on the other hand I can see why some might frown upon it.
