What You Do with the Practice Essay Feedback AND How Grading Works with All Unit Essays |
What’s on This
Webpage:
Making Sure I
Try to Be Clear about the Limits of What I Am Saying
Before You
Look at Your Feedback with the Evidence Rubric, Let’s Look at How the Rubric
Works
Second, Let’s
Look at Evidence Rubric If the Student Did Not Do Well on the Practice Essay
What Do You
Do to Get the Extra Credit?
What You Are
NOT to Do – You Are NOT Rewriting and You Are NOT Editing
If You Are Really Puzzled about Plagiarism or
“Half-copy” Plagiarism Being Marked
if You Are Confused by the Words Cherry-Picking Facts?
If You Are Confused by the Words Embellishing Facts?
If You Are Confused by the Words Assume, Assumption, and Opinion?
What Is the Required Textbook? – Required When You Write
about History and Used When I Grade
How Does Your Instructor Grade Your Writing?
What Is the Evidence Checklist?
Click here to hear a voice explanation of the main points in next heading. |
I stress what works based on learning history. I stress what is necessary:
HOWEVER, if bosses or professors say to do the opposite, then do that for them. That is the right thing to do.
Click here to hear a voice explanation of how grading works and how this process works. |
·
I record a real
grade for your work on the Practice Essay (History Changes Essay). ·
If you follow the instructions below, I record
all of the extra credit I have promised. If
you cannot tell what to do, talk to me. I am glad to help you. · If you change how you work in the future, you will not only learn history a lot better (my goal for all this), but practice skills to help you for your entire life. Practice being the person you want to be. |
Click here to hear a voice explanation of How the Evidence Rubric Works with the Practice Essay—and essay on a single topic (a single part) but you have to understand all the other parts if you are going to make sense. |
I will talk about these things in the order listed:
·
Notice the Concept column and notice that 90% of
the points are from the first two rows:
- Reading for Evidence is worth 60% of
the entire grade (or 6 out of 10 points for this essay).
- Writing with Evidence is worth 30% of
the entire grade (or 3 out of 10 points for this essay).
· Notice the headings that start with “A” Paper Criteria, “B” criteria and so on. Notice what the big deal for an “A” Paper is teaching the content for the question that Blackboard asks you and teaching it in a common sense way as you would with a relative perhaps your own age. If you want more detail on teaching your smart cousin, click here.
· Notice that the last two rows are only 5% each (or ˝ a point out of 10 points for this essay). As the voice explanation says, pretty words that are not true will not earn many points. While writing well matters, in this course the priority has to learning history.
· Lastly, notice that 100 Scale Grade and the Point Scale and next we are going to look at what happens when I enter something in that column.
If you do not see the rubric with perfect scores, click here.
In this case, imagine that the student:
· Had to answer the question—to use an example from United States History I—on Africans who were brought to the colonies in the early part of the 1600s and instead the student wrote about English servants before Bacon’s Rebellion. The score of 25% is usually as high as I do for this kind of error.
·
Just grabbed some words exactly from the source
and copied them and just swapped some other words in the author’s sentences
(what The Bedford Handbook calls
“half-copy” plagiarism). The error is in the “D” Paper column so for the 100
Scale I enter the lowest grade for a “D”—a 59.5% and that percentage of 6
results in 1.50.
If you want more detail on “half-copy” plagiarism, click here.
If you want to see the pages from The
Bedford Handbook that show this standard, just ask.
· Followed the instruction on the maximum length and was using the correct time period in the required textbook so at least followed the directions at “D” level—again a 59.5% but that percentage of .5 points only results in a tiny number of .3.
· Did have only one grammatical error—but mechanics are worth few points (1/2 point out of 10) and a high grade on mechanics won’t save you if you are not factually true.
Notice these things about the example below:
· What happened after I entered the percentages for each row (25, 59.5, 59.5, and 80) in the 100 Scale Grade column and how the Point Scale column now shows the actual points for each row and the total points.
·
How I will use not just the percentages in the
100 Scale column but also a color highlight:
- Of yellow-orange
color as a warning sign about “D” and “ F” criteria (such as highlight in the “D”
column for the two rows getting the lowest “D” percentage—the 59.5)
- Of green color as a
positive sign about “A” through “C” criteria (such as highlight in the “B” column for the row getting
an 80)
· How I will use underlining to get you to see any specifics that you want to focus on (such as the underlining for the issues in the top two rows)
· How I may add in italic for a specific instruction such as Provide URLs if I think you use something other than the required sources.
If you do not see the rubric below showing a student who did not do well, click here.
You read for and wrote the Practice Essay. Now, you are going to do some things to see yourself and your evidence as others (a boss or a prof) might see you.
You are doing things so you can see your evidence as others (a boss or a prof) might see you. You are:
· Not rewriting – If you rewrite it, I care about you but I will not look at it.
· Not editing – If you edit it, I care about you but I will not look at it.
I will, however, gladly look with attention
if you do what the rubric told you to do from the tasks below. I will compare
it with my marks on your printed Practice essays. I will be able to tell if you
understood the issues just by comparing your strike through and underlining.
1. Your required textbook (If you don’t know its title and authors, click here.)
2. A printed copy that you can mark as you work and later a digital copy of both:
a. The question/topic Blackboard asked you
b. The answer you entered in Blackboard
If you don’t know how to do this, here are the basic steps: click on Quizzes & Exams, click on your submitted Practice Essay, and follow the prompts to choose to see what you submitted (usually clicking on OK in the right corner). Then copy and paste the question and your answer into a file. If you need more help, just ask.
3. A print of the rubric
4. Access to a word processor where you can:
a.
Strike through (Strike through looks like this.)
b. Underline (Underline looks like this.)
The strike through and the underline
are about all you need. You can do your strike through and your underlining
in a word processing program that you know how to use and then—when you are
done—you click on my email when I sent you the rubric, click Reply, and copy
and paste your file into the Blackboard message. I will then get back to you
and tell you if we must talk more or I think you are safe as is. As said in
several places,
Alternative
if you don’t have access to a word processor: Blackboard’s message tool
lets you do both strike through and underlining, but it does not let you
save a draft so it is very inconvenient.
Tip for Your
Brain Power in Doing These Actions
Put your book and what you wrote side by side so you can compare them easily. I have found touching the words on each one very helpful in making myself observe carefully. If you are left handed, you may want to reverse the pattern;
· With the textbook on the left
· What you wrote on the right.
The source
turned to the exact page you were using for the content |
t |
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The topic displayed in Blackboard What you wrote for your Practice Essay |
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FIRST, you look at the rubric and see what
I underlined on it. |
SECOND, you scroll below. You stop if the action matches what is on your rubric. |
With these comparisons, you put the pages you actually used as content side by side with what you wrote:
· With the textbook on the left
· What you wrote on the right.
The pages
you were actually using from the
textbook |
or—if you used a URL—a print of that |
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The topic displayed in Blackboard What you wrote for your Practice Essay |
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1.
If your rubric shows either of these words
underlined Wrote passively (including plagiarism or “half-copy”
plagiarism)
Where is this on your rubric? Writing with Evidence row; then column for the “D”
grade
Background: If you want to know what “half-copy” plagiarism is, click here. If you want to talk with me about the pages from The Bedford Handbook on this, just ask.
What you must do: If your rubric is marked with any of the above, underline in your paper every word and every part of a word that you used from the book. (Underline looks like this.)
Example
of using part of a word:: If the author wrote the word demonstrating and if you wrote demonstrated, then you underline demonstrated |
2.
If your rubric asks you to Provide the URL(s)
Where is this on your rubric? Reading for Evidence row; then column for the “F” grade
What you must do: If you used something else than the required textbook, then tell me now and there is no negative consequence.
In the digital file and below your copy of your essay topic/question and your answer provide this for each website you used (except ones in the course):
· The exact URL that will take me to where you were
· Immediately y below that, any content you used from that page.
What
you must do: If you did “half-copy” plagiarism using the words from a website, you also must do what is # 1 with those words.
If you did this with several websites (and there are some of you in that
category), contact me for a fairly easy way to show the difference in the
underlining with different sources.
3.
If your rubric shows underlined these words
Used "" inaccurately or Used "" inaccurately and
changed the meaning.
Where are they on your rubric? Writing with Evidence row; then column for the “D”
and the “F” grade
What
you must do: If you have this marked, then contact me and we will talk face
to face or by phone about what you need to do.
I will provide in the link on Tips for Reading for and Writing with Evidence a way to be accurate with quotations and not have to learn all of the rules for showing changes to quotations.
For the Actions 4 Through 10, you must compare what you should have been reading with what you wrote.
The pages
you should have been using from
textbook |
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The topic displayed in Blackboard What you wrote for your Practice Essay |
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The table below tells you what you required to read for each essay question/topic. This requirement for reading was available for you from the beginning of the term in the link for the Practice Essay.
Possible Topics for the Practice Essay |
Required Reading for the Question (Chapter
and Heading) |
Servitude
in English Colonies in South – Early
1600s (What varied things happened to Africans sold in early Virginia) |
Chapter
2: “Africans in Early Virginia.” For
the meaning of the word servant,
see its use in Chapter 2: “Tobacco Boom.” |
Slavery
in English Colonies in South – Late
1600s |
Chapter
3: “Systems of Slavery in North America.” (Focus
on the content at the beginning of this section. Also, do not read about
slavery outside of the South.) |
Indenture–
Pre-1676 in South (Before Bacon’s Rebellion) Tip: Stop reading “The War in the
Chesapeake” about 1670. Note: In the textbook, the phrase used for indentured
servants in some locations is English
servants. |
Chapter
2: “Tobacco Boom” and “The Colony Expands” (See English servants.) Chapter
3: “War in the Chesapeake” |
4.
If your rubric shows underlined
these words incomplete part of the required source
Where is this on your rubric? Reading for Evidence row; then column for the
“F” grade
With the Practice Essay, some students whose
topic was Indenture–
Pre-1676 in South (Before Bacon’s Rebellion) only read the
first reading, the “Tobacco Boom” in Chapter 2.
What you must do: If you did this or something similar, list
beneath your copy of your essay the reading you did and the ones you should have
done.
How this issue applies to Unit essay exams: You must read everything necessary to answer an essay topic. In this course, I provide a link to all possible essay topics and give tips on where to locate information in the textbook on those topics if you cannot readily find the information using the index.
· If you have tips on where to read, use them.
· If you can’t find where to read and there are no tips, ask for help.
5.
If your rubric shows underlined these words an
incorrect or incomplete part of the required source Caution AND you did
NOT use the correct readings for each question listed above
Where is this on your rubric? Reading for Evidence row; then
column for the “F” grade
Look at what you wrote for the topic. Compare your facts in your answer to the readings listed above.
What
you must do: Strike though all facts in your essay that are not from the
readings listed above. (Strike
through looks like this.)
6.
If your rubric shows underlined these words an incorrect
or incomplete part of the required source Caution AND you used the correct
readings listed above
Where is this on your rubric? Reading for Evidence row; then column for the “F”
grade
Background: Everything on a page may not be about the topic you are to cover. You were not asked to do a summary of the book, but deal with the topic.
To use an analogy that seemed to help one student who seemed puzzled by why she
could not cover Barbados in a topic on Africans in Early Virginia: “if your
boss asked you to find out what was wrong with the plant in Port Lavaca, your boss would think you
were not paying attention if you wrote your report on Dallas.”
Look at what you wrote for the topic. Look at the examples below to help you understand.
What you
must do: Strike though all facts in your essay that are not applicable to
your topic. (Strike
through looks like this.)
Possible Topics for the Practice Essay |
Examples of Facts to Strike Through That
Are on the Pages But Are Not Applicable to the Topic |
Servitude
in English Colonies in South – Early
1600s (What varied things happened to Africans sold in early Virginia) |
White indentured servants in Virginia Africans in Barbados or the West Indies Africans involved in sugar production The “harsh slave regime” in Barbados The Africans being more numerous than the
whites in Barbados and after 1660 |
Slavery
in English Colonies in South – Late
1600s |
Slavery in colonies other than the South Events after 1699 |
Indenture–
Pre-1676 in South (Before Bacon’s Rebellion) Tip: Stop reading “The War in the
Chesapeake” about 1670. Note: In the textbook, the phrase used for indentured
servants in some locations is English
servants. |
African servants Details about how Virginia became a “boom
town” Details about the planters who got land
immediately—They are not indentured servants. The establishment of the House of
Burgesses—Indentured servants do not vote. The Indian struggle in New England The details of the Indian struggle in
Virginia |
7.
If your rubric shows underlined these words embellishing
facts
where is this on your rubric? Reading for Evidence row; then
column for the “D” grade
Background: If you want to know what embellishing facts means, click here:
What
you must do: Look at the examples below to help you understand. Strike
though all facts in your essay that are not clearly and obviously supported in
the source. (Strike
through looks like this.)
Category |
Examples of What You Must Not Include in
Your Essays |
Assertions
of motivation |
If
our source does not say that indentured servants felt honored to do something
or does not say the reason for a group’s action, then you do not say it. |
Feelings |
Your feelings about groups and individuals
in the past are not evidence about what they felt. Your feelings about what you would do in a
specific circumstance are not evidence about what they did. |
Prepositions
before dates |
By the 1660s is not the same as in the 1660s |
Quantities
as numbers and terms |
If the source talks about an increase but
also provides specific numbers showing the limitations to the growth, do not dramatize
the increase when the reality of the numbers is that it was 4% of the
population. |
Quantities
as terms |
Be careful of words like most or more or all or few or any quantities. You do not have
to write about them, but—if you do write about them—you cannot change them to
make a more interesting story. |
8.
If your rubric shows underlined these words cherry-picking
facts
Where is this on your rubric? Reading for Evidence row; then column for the “D”
grade.
Background: If you want to know what cherry-picking facts means, click here:
What
you must do: Look at the definition above to help you understand. If you
give examples of what is happening, those examples must be representative. If something
is atypical, you must identify it that way. Strike though all facts in your
essay that are not clearly and obviously supported in the source and
representative of what occurred. (Strike
through looks like this.)
9.
If your rubric shows underlined these words Assumed
or Wrote opinions or assumptions
Where are they on your rubric? Two places:
- Reading for Evidence row; then
column for the “F” grade.
- Writing with Evidence row; then column for the “F” grade
Background: If you want to know what assumed, assumption, and opinions means, click here. They are the opposite of facts and evidence.
What you must do: Look at the
definition above to help you understand. If you state something in your essays
for this course, you must be able to prove it (facts and evidence) using the
textbook and examining the section of the book specified for essays. If you
cannot prove it, then you must strike it out. It does not count for points. (Strike through looks like this.)
10. If your
rubric shows underlined these words maximum length or source
Where are they on your rubric? Following Directions for Evidence row; then column for the “F” grade.
The words in your essays can be simple, with the goal that you teach your smart cousin. There are, however, specific directions for some essays that you must follow and there are two basics in the directions that you must do.
What you must do:
The directions for evidence that always exist are maximum length for each
essay is 175 words.
They must be based on evidence provided in
the source (the textbook). For detail, click here
for the first item in the Evidence Checklist.
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 |
3. Caution: If you think saying the name of the source means you can copy another’s words without quotations marks, look at this table.
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—although 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 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. |
Merriam- Webster Online (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary) defines cherry pick:
to
select as being the best or most desirable; also
:
to select the best or most desirable from |
It is easier to see its meaning with facts by
looking at its related words.
Synonyms cherry-pick, cull, … handpick, … pick, prefer, select, single (out)… |
Related Words preselect; appoint, … fix, mark, nominate, set, tab, tap; accept, adopt, embrace, espouse … |
Basic Rule: Your credibility will frequently be
tied to your examples. If you select
examples that are atypical or that ignore the contradictions covered in the
section you are using, you will lose that precious credibility
Merriam- Webster Online (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary) defines
embellish:
to make beautiful with ornamentation :
decorate <a book embellished
with illustrations> to heighten the attractiveness of by adding
decorative or fanciful details : enhance <embellished
our account of the trip> |
You can make-up “fanciful details” about your
“account of a trip” but not to
history. If the author of the required source (the textbook) does not give
details, then you can’t—and you don’t need to.
Among the synonyms for embellish are some ugly
words if you are striving to figure things out honorably; … embroider, exaggerate, hyperbolize, magnify, pad, stretch |
Basic rule: Verify what you say by checking the
source, or don’t say it.
Merriam- Webster Online (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary) defines assume and assumption and opinion:
Assume: to think that something is true or
probably true without knowing that it is true Assumption: something that is believed to be true
or probably true but that is not known to be true : something that is assumed
|
Opinion: a belief, judgment, or way of thinking
about something : what someone thinks about a particular thing |
Now look at the definitions for fact and evidence.
What you ought to notice is that there are not a lot of facts and evidence in
assumptions or opinions.
Fact: something that truly exists or happens :
something that has actual existence evidence: something which shows that something else
exists or is true |
Basic rule: Verify what you say by checking the
source, or don’t say it.
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.
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.
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 download those submissions, print them, and place them side by side
(just as I recommend for you above).
·
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. |
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In other words. I make it
possible to grade you accurately and very fast.
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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.
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.
The Evidence Checklist is
the other side of the Rubric. Think of it as a two-sided coin. I use the Evidence Rubric to grade with.
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:
·
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 can also offer additional tips for how to prevent problems (including with Checklist # 3). Just ask and I will provide preventions for these items.
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.
·
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. |
Copyright C. J. Bibus,
Ed.D. 2003-2013 |
History – Dr.
Bibus |
|
281.239.1577
or bibusc@wcjc.edu |
|
2013 |
|