A Response to “The Dog Ate My Flash Drive, and Other Tales of Woe” The purpose of Carolyn Foster Segal’s essay “The Dog Ate My Flash Drive, and Other Tales of Woe” is to entertain readers by writing about the bizarre excuses that students come up with to avoid an assignment or homework deadline. Segal classifies the many excuses she has heard from students during her teaching career into broad categories, including: the family, the best friend, the evils of dorm life, the evils of technology, and the totally bizarre (Foster Segal 258). The essay’s thesis statement is that even though she reminds students that she will not accept excuses for late work, her students continue to make excuses which fall into several categories (Foster Segal 257).
