Abstract
This article is a report of the results of a study conducted on the reasons and reactions to page requirements in college writing. Using grounded theory as a basis for the research, college professors were interviewed and college students were surveyed to ascertain the pedagogical motivations of the professors and the students’ interpretations of page requirements. This study creates a new conversation in the academic community which lacks sufficient exploration of this particular concern. The results show that educators have good reasons for creating the requirements that they do, but they recognize that those reasons are often not elucidated to their students. Students have mixed experiences with page requirements, and the results were contradictory. A majority of students found the requirements arbitrary, yet a majority also understand why teachers utilize them. The primary conclusion drawn from this research is that a conversation between professors and students on this issue needs to occur frequently to maximize student learning and assignment potency.