Examples of Student Essays

 

 

What’s on This Webpage:

Example 1: Teaching in a Common Sense Way What Anyone Would Need to Know about the Question – 1302 Student (an A)

Example 2: Teaching in a Common Sense Way What Anyone Would Need to Know about the Question – 1302 Student (an A)

Example 3: Understanding the History Well and Using Quotations Effectively (Not Just Copying a Bunch of Quotations) – 1301 Student (Grade Averages as an A-)

Example 4: Understanding the History in a Promising Way with Some Errors BUT Following All of the Basic Standards from the Checklist – 1301 Student (a B—but catching the errors in the future should result in an A)

 

No example is perfect (but neither is your instructor). What the examples show is the varied ways that students succeeded in trying to understand history:

 

 

Reminder: You will have an easier time with links if you open them in a New Window. If you do not know how to do this, click here for tips.  If you need help, just ask.

 

With great thanks to the kind students who gave permission to make scans of their examples.

 

Example 1: Teaching in a Common Sense Way What Anyone Would Need to Know about the Question – 1302 Student (an A)

This is a lovely example of some really working to understand the content. This person did not just copy stuff, but understood it.

 

Click here to see the words above and a picture of the Example 1.

 

Source to look at on the question blacks in the South from 1865-1867

Look at Chapters 15 & 16 and for these headings:

  • “Emancipation in the South”
  • “Black Mobilization”
  • “Andrew Johnson”
  • “Johnson and the Radicals”
  • “The Reconstruction Act of 1867”
  • “Reconstruction Begins” (stops at “Despite these…”)

 

 

Example 2: Teaching in a Common Sense Way What Anyone Would Need to Know about the Question – 1302 Student (an A)

This example was from a prior year and I used it as an example in a class. It has:

  1. At the top in green, tips I wrote for a class when I used a transparency to show the class this example.
  2. My tiny comments to the student because this person was working hard on a strategy to be a superior student and I’d agreed to give detailed feedback
  3. The student’s own words

 

Click here to see the words above and a picture of the Example 2.

 

Source to look at on the question blacks in the South from 1872-1877

Look at Chapter 16.and for the heading “The Failure of Reconstruction” which includes

  • The Stigma of Corruption”
  • “The Resurgence of the Democrats”
  • “Why Reconstruction Failed.”

 

 

Example 3: Understanding the History Well and Using Quotations Effectively (Not Just Copying a Bunch of Quotations) – 1301 Student (Grade Averages as an A-)

This person used quotations, and that’s fine in this course. (Caution: Typing another’s words without quotation marks is not fine.) The person did two things that make the use of quotation earn high points:

  1. Selected quotations that indicated understanding of the content.
  2. Placed the quotations in context of introductory sentences and phrases that showed any reader the purpose of the quotation

 

Had one error in using a quotation (CL 3) and that’s very unsafe if you use quotations. Had two minor meaning errors.

Additional Caution: What fails is just writing a bunch of quotations one after another with no way for a reader to guess why you chose them.

 

Click here to see the words above and a picture of the Example 3.

 

Source to look at on the question of Slavery in the English Colonies – LATE 1660s

Look at Chapter 3: “Systems of Slavery in North America.”

 

 

 

Example 4: Understanding the History in a Promising Way with Some Errors BUT Following All of the Basic Standards from the Checklist – 1301 Student (a B—but catching the errors in the future should result in an A)

This student did promising work and already knew the basic standards. Some errors are marked but the student still had a B.

Click here to see the words above and a picture of the Example 4.

 

Source to look at on the question of Indenture Pre-1676 in the South

Look at:

  • Chapter 2: “Tobacco Boom” (See English servants.)
  • Chapter 3: “War in the Chesapeake.” (Do not read about events after 1676.)

 

 

 

Copyright C. J. Bibus, Ed.D. 2003-2012

 

 

WCJC Department:

History – Dr. Bibus

Contact Information:

281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu

Last Updated:

2012

WCJC Home:

http://www.wcjc.edu/