Possible Essay Questions for the History Changes Essay 

 

 

What’s on This Webpage?

What Is the History Changes Essay and How Does It Reveal Your Future Grades?  1

Why Offer 10-Points Extra Credit on a 10-Point Written Assignment?  1

How and Why Does the History Changes Essay Have Consequences on Your Doing Other Written Assignments ?  2

How Can You Earn an Additional Extra Credit for the Other Written Assignments?  2

Where, When, and How Do You Do the History Changes Essay?  3

What Do You Read and What Are Your 3 Possible Questions?  3

What Do You Write, How Much Do You Write, and Do You Have to Do Citations?  3

What If You Still Have Questions?  3

 

What Is the History Changes Essay and How Does It Reveal Your Future Grades?

To repeat your syllabus, a lab for a chemistry or biology class is equivalent to what writing about history is for history. Chemistry or biology instructors may do an introductory lab so students know what to do in a lab and how grading works. For this history course, the History Changes Essay is the introductory lab so everyone must do it. After the date in the Course Schedule, when you click on the History Changes Essay on the menu for the course, you see all possible questions, a table comparing the content, the specific parts of the textbook for that content, and resources to help you.

 

Caution:  My experience has been that the grade for the History Changes Essay tells you your probable grade on all remaining writing work unless you change how you work. Here is a practical example:

§         If your History Changes Essay has problems such as plagiarism or factual inaccuracy or assumptions, then you will make less than 4.9 points on a 10-point assignment (less than 50%)

§         If you keep working in the same way on both of the two essays that end Unit 1 (worth together 50 points), you will the equivalent percentage. Example:
-
If you have problems such as the above on the 10-point History Changes Essay, you earn only 4.9
- AND if you work the same way on the 50-point essay part of Unit 1, you earn only 24.5

 

Just so you will know how I feel and my experience:

§         I do not worry about how smart community college students are. They are smart.

§         I sometimes worry a lot about the methods that community college students use. A smart person with a bad method will waste time and not do as well as he or she could.

 

I cannot look at your WCJC identification number or your name and guess whether you have methods of working that are against your own best interests—thus this assignment and the extra credit below.

Why Offer 10-Points Extra Credit on a 10-Point Written Assignment?

The purpose of the History Changes Essay is to help you see your methods for working--how you work. It is not to hurt your grade. The proof of my good intentions for you is the extra credit.

 

Example if you did have a weak method for working on the History Changes Essay:

4.9

If you were factually inaccurate and thus made a low grade of 4.9 out of 10 points

10.0

If you follow the instructions for the extra credit for the History Changes Essay

14.9

< You have gained knowledge about problems with your methods with no loss in points.

 

Example if you did have great methods for working on the History Changes Essay:

9.5

If you had minor errors but you did correctly everything in the Evidence Checklist/Rubric

10.0

If you follow the instructions for the extra credit for the History Changes Essay

19.5

< You have a lot of  points and you know how I grade

 

Reminder from the Syllabus

Extra Credit with the History Changes Essay: The History Changes Essay shows you a) how you work and b) how your instructor grades using the Evidence Checklist/Rubric. If you make a low grade and if you do not change how you work, you will probably make a low grade on the other essays. You can however figure out how you work—and earn 10 extra credit points by following the instructions you receive with your graded History Changes Essay. If you want simple ways to be stronger, I am glad to help you. I enter this extra credit in History Changes Essay_ec.

 

How and Why Does the History Changes Essay Have Consequences on Your Doing Other Written Assignments?

The objective part of the Unit exams is visible automatically. On the other hand, to see the essay part of the Unit exams, you must do the History Changes Essay (or the alternative in the next paragraph). Because the History Changes Essay reveals your probable success in written work, you must do this essay to see other written work in the course. My purpose in blocking you from doing the essay part of the Unit exam is not to hurt you. Instead, it is to keep you from repeatedly doing something such as being factually inaccurate without realizing the cause of your many low grades. FYI: My experience is that if students change how they work, they prevent all of these problems.

 

What is the alternative if you want to do the essay part of the Unit 1 exam but do not want to do the History Changes Essay? It is your decision, but ethically I need to be sure that you understand what you are deciding. . To see the essay part of the Unit exam, copy these words into an email at least 48 hours before the Unit 1 Essay is available for the first time.

What you put in the subject line

Did not do the History Changes Essay but want to try essay part of Unit 1

What you put in the message box

I want to try the Essay Exam for Unit 1 but I do not want to do the History Changes Essay. I understand

§         That my instructor has found that the grade on the History Changes Essay tells you your probable grade on all remaining writing work unless you change how you work.

§         That my instructor will grade the essays for Unit 1 using the Evidence Checklist/Rubric provided in the syllabus

§         That I can find student examples and other resources about grading in History Changes Essay (on the course menu on the left of the screen)

 

How Can You Earn an Additional Extra Credit for the Other Written Assignments?

My experience has been that you do not have to be a fancy writer to succeed at college or a job or life in general. On the other hand, people who work according to the Evidence Checklist/Rubric tend to do pretty well at all three.

 

If you already have great methods, you can still earn this extra credit. If you are, however, trying to develop a new way of working, this extra credit can reward you for persistence. My personal experience is that anything you can make yourself do for several times (3 for example) is the new you. Decide to practice the skills of the person you want to be.

 

Reminder from the Syllabus

Extra Credit with the Three 50-point Written Assignments You Do: After the History Changes Essay, you do three 50-point assignments, the Exam Essays for Units 1, 2, and 3. Reminder: for your third written assignment, you may choose to write a more challenging writing assignment, a comparison. If you want more information on this alternative, contact me.

 

Each written assignment is graded using the Evidence Checklist/Rubric. If you follow the five standards in the checklist and practice good habits with evidence in your written work with history (habits also necessary for many jobs), then you can earn 10 extra credit points (recorded in Habit_ec after I grade the third written assignment).

 

 

Example if you did have a weak method for working on the History Changes Essay and you realize that you very little experience in writing about things that are real and that require evidence and accuracy. You decide to practice these new skills for the 3 written assignments, one ending each Unit Exam.

4.9

History Changes Essay grade - You missed several things on the Evidence Checklist/Rubric.

10.0

Your 10 points extra credit for follow your instructions for the History Changes Essay 

35.0

Your low C on Unit 1 essays – 1st time: You did correctly everything in the Evidence Checklist/Rubric.

40.0

Your low B on Unit 2 essays – 2nd time: You did correctly everything in the checklist.

45.0

Your low A on Unit 3 essays – 3rd time: You did correctly everything in the checklist.

134.9

Divided by the 160 points possible, your average for writing is an 84.3%--a great improvement

10.0

Your 10 points extra credit for success in practicing good habits with evidence for 3 times

144.9

Divided by the 160 points possible, your average for writing is an 90.5%--and great persistence

 

Example if you did have great methods for working on all written assignments. You have several ways these extra points could help you, such as:

§         You might decide to do the Comparison assignment for your third writing project so you could gain greater experience in analysis of evidence while being very sure you grade was OK—with the example of this shown below

§         You could have great objective scores as well and realize that you had too much coming due at the same time that you would have to prepare for the essays that end Unit 3 and you might be able to skip the 3rd writing assignment but still make a good grade.

9.5

Your mid A on the History Changes Essay – 1st time: You did correctly everything in the Evidence Checklist/Rubric.

10.0

Your 10 points extra credit for follow your instructions for the History Changes Essay 

45.0

Your low A on Unit 1 essays – 2nd time: You did correctly everything in the checklist.

47.5

Your mid A on Unit 2 essays – 3rd time: You did correctly everything in the checklist.

40.0

Your low B on the Comparison Assignment – 4th time: You did correctly everything in the checklist.

152.0

Divided by the 160 points possible, your average for writing is an 95.0%-- a great average as is

10.0

Your 10 points extra credit for success in practicing good habits with evidence for 3 times

162.0

Divided by the 160 points possible, your average for writing is over 100%

 

Where, When, and How Do You Do the History Changes Essay?

Blackboard does not display a test until the time occurs when you may take it. Because of that, I place tests in a folder—including the History Changes Essay. For example, if you click on History Changes Essay (on the Course Menu on the left side of the screen) and if you scroll down to the bottom, you will see where you do this essay

 

 

History Changes Essay

The assessment inside of this folder is visible and available beginning at 12:00 AM on the first date to do the essay in the Course Schedule. It ends at 11:59 PM on the last date to do the essay.

 

 

Timing of your work:

§         You may do it any time between 12:01 AM on the first day in the schedule to 11:59 PM on the last day.

§         You have 25 minutes to write your essay. As with all quizzes and exams, you must complete your work within that time.

 

When you click on the essay, you enter this password because you can take this assessment only one time.

onetimeonly

 

Blackboard will display one of 3 possible questions (those 3 shown below), and you write on the one that Blackboard displays.

What Do You Read and What Are Your 3 Possible Questions?

You read about what significant events occurred regarding blacks in the South using the specific required pages of our textbook as your source for each of these time periods:

1.       1865-1867

2.       1867-1872

3.       1872-1877

 

In the link below this one in the History Changes Essay section, you will find aids to help you, including a table to help you notice similarities and differences and the exact pages of the textbook you read for each of these types of servitude.

What Do You Write, How Much Do You Write, and Do You Have to Do Citations?

What Do You Write?

Reminder from the Syllabus

Grading and the Goal of Written Assignments: One of the most powerful ways to learn something is to try to teach it. If you follow the standards in the Evidence Checklist/Rubric and you try to understand what happened so you can teach it as simply but as accurately as you can, you will have something worth writing. If you then write in a common sense way (not fancy) as though you were teaching your cousin history that he or she needed to understand, you will succeed in these assignments.

 

 

Do You Have to Do Citations?

Reminder from the Syllabus

When you write your History Changes Essay, you may use your textbook and you must have read carefully the specific textbook sections for the questions. You do not need to cite page numbers.

 

How Much Do You Write?

Reminder from the Syllabus

You should write no more than the equivalent of a half-sheet of paper handwritten. Blackboard will display one question from the list of possible questions, and you must answer the question that you receive. You write briefly according to the Evidence Checklist/Rubric and the Goal for Written Assignments (covered above).

 

What If You Still Have Questions?

If you have questions, please ask. You can email, talk to me on the phone, or meet me face-to-face. I know it is an old-fashioned phrase, but I am glad to help you.

 

 

WCJC Department:

History – Dr. Bibus

 

Contact Information:

281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu

 

Last Updated:

2012

 

WCJC Home:

http://www.wcjc.edu/