Oh, our beloved discussion posts. How I truly treasure reading through my peer’s ideas and responding to at least two of them in intricate detail. The thought of being assigned another discussion post leaves my fingers feeling all tingly, but the thought of coming up with more generic comments to add on my classmate’s post leaves me feeling chilled…

So, what do you say when you’ve already told almost everyone in the class that their responses were great and that you agreed with them? Don’t you worry — I’ve got just the classy, generic responses that will leave your professor in awe at your professionalism.

• “Great response! I think I’ll use your idea and reword it so it doesn’t look exactly the same!” Don’t worry, this won’t get you in trouble. Professors LOVE honesty. In fact, they encourage it. In academia, it’s almost always better to give your professor a heads up on your plagiarism. That way they don’t have to run it through one of those plagiarism checking sites. They’re busy people, spare ‘em some time!

Which outdoor patio are you?

• “Loved your brave response on your personal experiences with (insert your choice of a complex social subject), but if I were to just play devil’s advocate for a quick second…” Ugh, who doesn’t love the devil’s advocate? Bonus points for being a straight white male, too. Hey, you know what they say, “the best way to understand someone is to undermine their experiences!”
• “Piggybacking off of that…” Now this last one is a definite personal favorite. Short, simple and awfully enticing. Dare I say flirtatious? Yanno what, I would LOVE it if you would piggyback off of that. Hop on my back, dude. Let’s roll.
• “Quick, let me use some synonyms and reorder the phrasing of your original argument to provide a supplemental statement.” Listen, harmony is beautiful. And if that means saying the same thing back to your classmate? So be it!

Reality check no one asked for: What is Banging for Roof, why it’s happening to you

• “As the author of this week’s article said…” EZ money! Want to make an argument, but have no actual original ideas? This is the perfect solution! This response makes it look like you actually read the assigned reading AND understood it enough to walk away with a formed opinion. Chef’s. Kiss.
• “Hey queen! Girl, you have done it again. Constantly raising the bar for us all and doing it flawlessly. I’d say I’m surprised but I know who you are. I’ve seen it up close and personal. Girl you make me so proud.” Need I go on? This one is just inspiring, and I honestly wish I saw this kind of support in my discussions more often.

So, next time you have another discussion post assigned, check back with these unique responses and keep the good time and good replies rollin’.