What’s on This Webpage:
What Is the
Evidence Checklist/Rubric and What Are Its 2-Letter Abbreviations for Feedback?
How Does Your
Instructor Grade Your Writing?
Alternative Links That You May Want
I
use the Evidence Checklist/Rubric 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). The word rubric usually means a way to give feedback (such as confirmation of success, guidance for
improvement, or corrections) that is useful but quick for instructors and
students.
The
term checklist/rubric indicates 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. Beneath 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 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? |
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 paraphrasing the
textbook. You do not, therefore, need to repeat every fact or word in
the textbook. You are also 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 hTo 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
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/Rubric 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
In
the module for the History Changes Essay, you will also find brief tips on
reading for evidence and writing with evidence (including preventing problems
with quotations). If you would also like a personal conference, I am glad to
help you.
With
all written assignments, you write briefly and within the maximum length listed
for the assignment and according to the Evidence Checklist/Rubric and
the Goal for Written Assignments (both on the prior page).
§ You
know all of the possible questions before you write, but you do not know which
question(s) Blackboard will display for you.
§ You
must write on the question(s) displayed. The reason for listing the
questions and providing ways to locate what you need in the textbook is for
you to read and prepare ahead of time for all possible questions.
History Changes Essay, a 10-point assignment: You
know the questions ahead. It is brief—you write about the amount you would
write by hand on a ½ sheet of Xerox paper. You must write only on the question
you received.
After the date listed in the Course Schedule, you
can click on the History Changes Essay. You can see not only the list of all
possible questions but also aids to help you. You see a table comparing the
content to help you see changes over time (also provided as a handout) and you
know the specific parts of the textbook for each column in the table.
The History Changes Essay
is meant to introduce you to several things:
§ Content
that is part of Unit 1 and essential to understanding the remaining Units in
the course and our history as a whole
§ Content
as a way to examine how and why events change over time—something key to being
accurate in writing about history and to noticing how human beings’ actions or
lack of action can alter their futures.
§ How
grading works in this course and what
is frequently expected in courses and jobs that require evidence
§ How
you work with evidence, with reading,
and with writing
Because some students have an “aha moment” when they
do this essay and follow the feedback instructions, this is the assignment
where you can receive up to 10 extra points (100% extra credit) for following
the instructions with the feedback I provide on your History Changes Essay.
This means full credit for this assignment no matter what your initial grade.
Caution: You must
do the History Changes Essay to see the essay part of the three Unit exams.
Essay Part of the Exams That End Unit 1, 2, and 3, with
2 essays, each at 25 Points:
You can take an exam only one
time. You know the questions ahead.
Each question should be brief—for each one, you write about the amount you
would write by hand on a ½ sheet of Xerox paper. The questions work in this
way:
§ At the beginning of a Unit,
you see at the top of the Unit a link to all possible essay questions, with the
possible questions grouped for the first essay question and for the second one.
§ On the day of your Unit
exam, Blackboard displays 2 of the possible questions in the group for the
first essay and 2 for the second essay. You write one essay for each group.
Alternative Assignment for Unit 3’s Essays (1-page
typed essay at 50 points): You
may choose to write a more challenging writing assignment, a comparison,
instead of writing the essays for Unit 3. It is requires citation and is graded
on formal language and organization. If you want more information on this alternative,
contact me.
If you
want to go to the link on what you are to do to History Changes Essay, click here.
If you want to go to the
Preventions link, click here.
|
Copyright C. J. Bibus, Ed.D. 2003-2013 |
|
2013 |
|