Trying something new

In the past, I have posted excerpts from some of my school papers. I did this for two reasons: (1) to give you readers some idea of what I'm doing with my time, and (2) to have an excuse to post. But the more I think about it, the more this seems like a silly thing to do. If you're interested in the topic, excerpts don't do much for you; if you're not interested, you either skip the post or are bored by it. Either way, I've wasted your time and mine.

But I still want to fulfill those two goals, so I'm going to try something new. Instead of posting an excerpt, I will write a precis (a short summary) of the paper, limiting myself to one single-spaced page's worth of text. Not only will this accomplish purposes 1 and 2 above, it will also allow me to review what I've studied and make sure I really understand it. Obviously, if you're not interested in the material, you can still skip it. But this way, even if nobody reads the post, it won't have been a complete waste.

If you have an opinion about this idea (pro-, anti-, or even ambivalent), feel free to comment. In any case, I'll try to have the first "Schoolwork Summary" up before too long.