Details and Tips on How to Use the Evidence Checklist to Be Successful with Reading for Evidence and Writing with Evidence (and Get a Good Grade on the Evidence Rubric)

What Is the Evidence Checklist?

How to Work in Ways that Help You Be Successful with Reading for Evidence and Writing with Evidence

Information Provided in Multiple Locations and Repeated Here for Quick Links If You Need Them

What Is the Goal for Writing in This Course? – Think about it as teaching some part of history to your smart cousin.

What Is the Required Textbook? – Required When You Write about History and Used When I Grade

How Does Your Instructor Grade Your Writing?

If You Are Really Puzzled about Plagiarism or “Half-copy” Plagiarism Being Marked

If You Are Confused about What Words in the Author’s Textbook Require Quotation Marks in Your Writing

 

What Is the Evidence Checklist?

The Evidence Checklist is the other side of the Rubric. Think of the Checklist and the Rubric as a two-sided coin. I use the Evidence Rubric to grade with so you can get detailed feedback. You can use the Evidence Checklist to help yourself be stronger. Both rely 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).

 

Each checklist number from 1 to 5:

·         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.

 

I also offer additional tips below or click here for the tips.

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.

 

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).

 

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.

4.

You must use reliable sources to verify what you write. (To verify means you use a reliable source to confirm the accuracy of anything you write.)

 

 

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.


In this course, you also must select facts to reveal the facts accurately. Examples:

·         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 or actions from two or more groups or individuals, do not include only one side as though the other did not occur.

 

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 2, then you must cite according to the instructions.

 

 

 

How to Work in Ways that Help You Be Successful with Reading for Evidence and Writing with Evidence

There is nothing magic about this list of how to be successful with evidence:

·         I was taught part of it—some things as early as the 4th grade. A mean 4th grade teacher may help you the rest of your life (as mine did).

·         I learned the reading method part from a community college world history teacher whose tips to the class saved my hide because—if I were younger—I would probably have been identified as having learning disabilities.
 I learned more of that method from the Reading Apprenticeship program for community college teachers who wanted to help community college students. (WCJC was kind enough to pay for that training.)
I have combined the reading method with a method for preparing to write a practical essay.

·         I learned part of it by messing up and deciding I didn’t want to do that again.

·         I learned part of it on the job in varied industries. (In other words, these methods help you learn history, but they are useful many places.)

 

If you already have methods that work, then use those. If not, you may want to try these. These methods reinforce each other—they work best if you do them all. This shows only the first lines of each item in the Evidence Checklist.

For the full text in the Evidence Checklist, click here.

 

1

For your source of facts, you use only sources your professor (or boss) accepts as reliable.

 

Read the right stuff—the right time and the right place and the right person or type of persons--for the question:

  1. Turn to the pages that I identified for you to read. If I did not specify pages to read, use your index to locate the content. If you still cannot find the pages, ask for help. (Distance learning classes also have ways to ask questions in the Discussion tool.)
  2. Do not let yourself open other sources. Do not tell yourself the fib that you are just checking the Internet to make something clearer to yourself. Do not let bad data in a good mind.

 

Read to understand (to figure out, not just repeat mindlessly) the evidence that the author is providing you:

  1. If you have no method that works for you, try the method for preparing to write a practical essay to read and determine possible things you will cover. (It you also need an example on a brain trick for reading, you will find one in that link.)
  2. Always double check to be sure your brain is not assuming. Use only the facts you found in the source. If you remember something being true, do not use it until you carefully verify it in the required source. If you cannot find it to verify it, ask me for help in finding it or do not say it.
    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.

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.

 

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)

 

Once you are sure you want to quote (to use the author’s exact words), then use the brain trick in with checklist item 3 (just below).

 

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.

 

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 brain  trick lets you be accurate but avoid learning those rules:

  1. Choose 3 to 6 words to quote and change nothing (not an ing or an ed, not a comma, nothing) between the first and the last word.
  2. Put a before the first word and a ” after the last word.
  3. Place those words with the “”within your sentences.
  4. If something sounds awkward about your sentences, then change your own words—the only words you have a right to change.

 

4

You must use reliable sources to verify what you write. (To verify means you use a reliable source to confirm the accuracy of anything you write.)

 

  1. First, concentrate on the question. What is the prof (or the boss) asking for? Click here for the goal of all writing in this course.  Caution: In this course, I provide all essay questions ahead of time for two reasons:

·         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

 

  1. Second, do two things at the beginning and end of your reading:

·         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.
Caution: In this course, I will provide resources so you have a chance to see interconnections and changes that occur over time. (What’s true in 1619 may be different after 1660—or in 1868 and after 1898.)
Check those resources.

  1. Third, when you read, observe carefully and constantly.

·         Notice words that reveal limitations of a fact.
Examples:
- Verbs such as believed (A person believed something. The historian did not say the person was right.)
- Verbs such as wanted (A person wanted to do something. The historian did not say the person succeeded.)
-
Nouns such as critics and supporters (The historian has warned you of the person’s bias.)
-
Words indicating quantity such as few, many, most, and all. (The historian has warned you of the limits. If she does not say all, then you do not either.

·         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).

 

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.

 

  1. You do not have to cite pages when you write your essays that end a Unit. On the other hand, if I cannot recognize your facts as being from our textbook or from my resources in the course, I will ask you to name the specific page where the facts came from. 
    If you cite, I certainly do not penalize people. On the other hand, if that fact is not on that page, I will ask you to discuss with me by phone or face to face where you are seeing that fact. (I have been wrong before so showing me where will be fine.)

  2. If you follow the method provided in the first row of this table, you will have your reminders for what content you plan to cover and the page number where you can find that content.
    When you are figuring out the content and planning what you will write, d
    ouble check to be sure:

·         The facts that you write in your own words are in the source.
 Caution: You cannot just assert that a fact is true. You must have evidence—a specific place in the source—beyond your own feelings or memory.
Regardless of the requirements of your professor or your boss, you should always know where you found the facts that you say are true. It is the only safe way to think—and pass the course or keep your job.

·         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 assignment which does require citations, I will provide instructions for you.

 

 

Information Provided in Multiple Locations and Repeated Here for Quick Links If You Need Them

 

What Is the Goal for Writing in This Course? – Think about it as teaching some part of history to your smart cousin.

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.

 

 

 

What Is the Required Textbook? – Required When You Write about History and Used When I Grade

This textbook is required. You use it as your only source of facts when you write; I use it when I grade your evidence.

Edward Ayers, Lewis Gould, David Oshinsky, and Jean Soderlund. American Passages: A History of the United States. 4th edition. The ISBN for the current 4th edition in paperback is ISBN: 9780547166469. (If you need tips on buying or borrowing a cheap book, click on the FAQs in this learning module.)

 

Caution: You cannot use the BRIEF, 4th edition which has 2 fewer chapters than the 32 chapters in the other 4th editions and all prior editions of this book.

 

 

How Does Your Instructor Grade Your Writing?

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. It is—as is obvious—a slow method, but it works.

1.     I place side by side these things. (With distance learning classes, I download the submissions, print them, and then place them side by side).

·         On the left, the textbook opened to the probable section or sections students should have used.

·         On the right, a stack of all the submissions of students’ papers on that question.

I also have a stack of rubrics to mark and a matrix for recording the class results.

 

In other words. I make it possible to grade you accurately and very fast.

The source turned to the exact page the student should have used or the content

 

t

 

 

What you wrote for your Practice Essay

 

Grid page (from Banner) that I uses as a matrix to chart which question you had and who misread, “half-copied” and so on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.     I use the Evidence Rubric for feedback (shown above) 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.

 

 

What’s Different with the Practice Essay and the Two Unit Essays

With the two essays for the Unit exams, I grade one of the questions using the method above. Sometimes I toss a coin or something like that to be sure I am not grading the same topic number each time.

 

Unless I find problems such as factual errors in that first essay I grade, I grade the other one without the textbook side by side with your paper—a quicker method.

 

If You Are Really Puzzled about Plagiarism or “Half-copy” Plagiarism Being Marked

Students are usually puzzled about the plagiarism or “half-plagiarism” marking because they lack some basic information. Here are the basics.

 

1.     The submission of a paper with words from an author without quotation marks can be the professor's evidence that you plagiarized. Some professors may not notice, but some may call it plagiarism. Do not assume that past responses by professors guarantee what future professors will want (and no boss ever will pay people—not well anyway—to copy words from one place to another).

2.     If you do this, some professors may label your work as “half-copy” plagiarism (term from The Bedford Handbook, page 692) if you:

·         Either copy an author’s phrases without quotation marks (“”)

·         Or use the author’s sentence structure and just swap a few words with what you think are synonyms

Caution: If you think saying the name of the source means you can copy another’s words without quotations marks, look at the table in How Citation and Quotation Marks Fits Together with Facts in Your Own Words and/or Facts in the Author’s Words

How Citation and Quotation Marks Fits Together with Facts in Your Own Words and Facts in the Author’s Words

If you use a fact in the author’s words, citation is not enough; you must also use quotation marks.


What are the rules for citation and use of quotation marks? The rules vary depending upon whether you are writing:

·         A fact from the source in your own words

·         A fact in the author’s words (you are quoting):

 

What Kind of Fact Are You Using

Do You Need Citation (Page # etc.)?

Do You Need Quotation Marks (“”)?

A fact in your own words

Yes

Note: I do not require that in the Blackboard’s tiny box for essays or in an essay an on-campus student writes in class.

No

A fact in the author’s words

Yes

Yes <Notice this.

 

Specifics about this course:

·         I do not require citations when you use facts in an essay that you do in the Blackboard’s tiny box for essays, but there are conditions.

·         On the other hand, I do require quotation marks if you use the author’s words. In this course, you may not plagiarize or “half-copy” plagiarize. You may however quote, but you have to use the rules for quoting. If you want more tips, check the preventions link below. If you have questions, please ask.

 

If You Are Confused about What Words in the Author’s Textbook Require Quotation Marks in Your Writing

If you are confused about when to use quotation marks, these examples may help you.

What the Author Wrote

What Words You Want to Write

Do You Need Quotation Marks (“”)? and Why

the Mississippi River

the Mississippi River

No – Proper nouns belong to all of us.

the green, roaring river

the river

No – Common nouns belong to all of us.

the green, roaring Mississippi River

the roaring Mississippi River

Yes <Notice this. – These are the author’s unique string of words so you identify them as not your creation with “”:

Trade was harder because of the “roaring Mississippi River.”

 

roaring

Yes <Notice this. – This is the author’s labeling of a condition and it is easier to be clear by using the author’s word with “”.

The author explained that the “roaring” river made trade more difficult.

 

 

Copyright C. J. Bibus, Ed.D. 2003-2013

 

 

WCJC Department:

History – Dr. Bibus

Contact Information:

281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu

Last Updated:

2013

WCJC Home:

http://www.wcjc.edu/