This table shows the Feedback Letters in the left column. The Feedback Letters are also a link that will take you to the specific section of the Evidence Checklist on this webpage.
Feedback Letter |
How to Work to Prevent the Problem With
Links If You Want Them |
NS = Fact is Not
from an approved Source |
Read
the right stuff—the right time and the right place and the right person or
type of persons--for the question:
Read
to understand (to figure out, not just repeat mindlessly) the evidence that
the author is providing you:
|
QP = Quotation
includes Plagiarized text |
Before
you worry about quoting something, click here
to see the basics of facts and: ·
citations
(how you show exactly where the reader can find the fact) ·
quotation
marks (how you show who owns what
words) Then
do the preventions with: ·
NS
(read required sources carefully and figure things out) ·
NT
(select specific facts to reveal the truth) Once
you are sure you want to quote (to use the author’s exact words), then use
the brain trick in QC. |
QC = Quotation is Changed from the source. |
The
rules for showing what you have taken out (…) of the author’s words or put in
([ ]) are complex and for most of us they are not worth learning. This trick lets you be accurate but avoid
learning those rules:
|
NT = Fact is Not
True. It is not verifiable using
the probable page in the source. |
Do
the preventions with NS (read required sources carefully and figure things
out) |
·
So you have a chance to know what you need to read ·
So you can ask a question if you do not understand my question
·
Before you start to read, stop and be sure what you are reading is
appropriate for that question. (Once you start writing, you will not catch
your error.) Examples: Do not use
information about New England to answer a question about the South or information
about ranchers to answer a question about farmers. ·
Before you stop reading, look to see if some other things happened
or if some things changed.
·
Notice
words that reveal limitations of a fact. Examples:
·
Notice
the sentences (and sometimes pages) before and after what you are reading. Example: A truth that requires three
sentences can be a falsehood if you only notice one of those sentences. Caution: You are not summarizing or paraphrasing a section of words. You are
figuring things out so you can briefly answer a question in a common sense
way. Just because some fact is in
that section of words does not
mean it belongs in your answer. If the fact does not apply to the
question, do not bring it up or you will look like you misread or miswrote
(wrote without thinking). |
|
W? = Where
is the specific page where this is supported in our textbook? |
·
The
facts that you write in your own words are in the source. ·
The
facts that are in the author’s words are unchanged between the opening
quotation mark (“) and the closing one (“”) For
some people, touching the fact in the source and in your list of what you
plan to cover helps them. This visual
might help. If you decide to do the
alternative third assignment which does require citations, I will provide
instructions for you. |
With
something that people talk about in many ways, sometimes it helps to state what
is not the goal. With writing in this course,
you:
·
Are not
summarizing or not paraphrasing the textbook.
·
Do not need
to repeat every fact or word in the textbook.
·
Are not
showing your personal writing style while stating your feelings or your
opinions.
Instead,
in this course, the goal of all writing assignments is for you to do
activities that help you learn the history of our nation. One of the most
powerful ways to learn something is
to try to teach it. You will succeed in
these assignments if you do these things:
·
If you read
carefully and work to understand what happened and ask if you need help.
·
If you figure out
what essential facts that you would teach your cousin.
·
If you figure how
you could organize those facts as simply and as accurately as you can.
·
If you write in a
common sense way as though you are teaching your cousin history that he or she
needs to understand.
Because
the goal of writing is to help you learn our nation’s history and the priority
is for you to be accurate, I grade your writing by comparing what you wrote
side by side with the facts in the textbook. With essays submitted, I use a
method that lets me quickly identify all of the submissions where the students
wrote on the same question.
1. I download those submissions, print them, and place
them side by side:
·
On the left, the
textbook opened to the probable section or sections students should have
used. ·
On the right, the
submissions of students’ papers on that question. |
2. I use the Evidence Checklist and its 2-letter
abbreviations for feedback (shown below) and grade each student’s submissions
one by one.
3. If there are multiple possible questions, I then
repeat the steps above with the next question.
With
the two essays for the Unit exams, I grade one of the questions using the
method above. Unless I find problems such as factual errors in that essay, I
grade the other one without the textbook side by side with your paper—a quicker
method.
th the e
I
use the Evidence Checklist to grade on common standards (accepted rules or models) for academics and for jobs
that depend on evidence:
·
The word evidence
emphasizes that you must have proof for what you say—some fact from our
approved source that anyone using that source can see for himself or herself.
·
The word checklist means a list of steps or
things necessary for success (such as a pilot’s checklist for takeoff).
This
is both a checklist (on the left) for success with evidence and a way to
give feedback (on the right) about your use of evidence as a 2-letter
abbreviation. Each checklist item:
·
Begins with an
informal statement of a common standard that applies to academics and to jobs
·
Below that are our
specific requirements, identified with the underlined phrase In
this course.
Do each of the things on the checklist below or you may
see the letters on the right as Feedback on your paper. |
Feedback Letters |
|
1. |
For
your source of facts, you use only
sources your professor (or boss) accepts as reliable.
In this course, the only
sources are the textbook chosen by the History Department and the sources provided at our Course Website. Do not use Internet websites, another textbook, or any other
source—including your own memory. |
NS =
Fact is Not from an approved Source |
2. |
You must follow common
standards to reveal to your reader who created the words and/or found the
facts you are using in your writing. This is a requirement in courses and in
some jobs. In
this course, you may: ·
Either write
facts in your own words ·
Or you may use exact sentences or phrases from the
textbook placed within quotation marks according to the specific rules for
quotation marks (“”) to reveal ownership that are covered in The Bedford Handbook ·
In this course, you may not
copy an author’s phrases without quotation marks. You also may not replace a few words in an
author’s sentence. Both are what The
Bedford Handbook calls “half-copy” plagiarism (page 692). |
QP = Quotation includes Plagiarized text |
3. |
You must
follow common standards to reveal any changes you made to the author’s words.
This may not be just a punctuation error. You may be misleading your reader
about the evidence.
In this course, if
you use another’s words, you must be sure either not to change them or—if you
change them—to follow the specific rules in The Bedford Handbook to reveal those changes to the reader. |
QC = Quotation is Changed from the source. |
4. |
You must use reliable sources
to verify what you write—to confirm its accuracy. In
this course, if you cannot verify
the fact, do not write it and do not assume that the source agrees
with you. If you are certain something is true and you cannot find it clearly
in our sources, ask me for help.
·
If a question is about something specific (such as a time,
type of person, or region), verify that the source is about that specific
thing. ·
If the source covers facts about two or more sides or positions, do
not include only one side as though the other did not occur. |
NT =
Fact is Not True. It is not verifiable using the probable page in the source.
|
5. |
With most written work for professors (or bosses), if
asked, you must be able to state exactly where
(a specific page) in the source
that each fact came from—whether
you wrote the words or the author did. With many college assignments, you
must provide citations and use a specific standard (such as MLA, APA, or the Chicago Manual
of Style). In this course with most
written assignments, you do not need to provide citations (the specific page number from our
textbook) unless I cannot recognize
where the fact came from. If I cannot
recognize where the fact came from, then you must show me the
location on the page. It cannot be a vague statement: if a reasonable person
using a reliable dictionary and reading the entire passage would not agree
that you have evidence for what you say, then neither will
I. If you ask to do the more challenging alternative
assignment instead of the essays for Unit 3, then you must cite according to
the instructions. |
W? = Where is the specific page
where this is supported in our textbook? |
Copyright C. J. Bibus, Ed.D. 2003-2013 |
2013 |
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