Good Habits for Evidence

Orientation to Good Habits for Evidence

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Only You Can Tell Which of You Don’t Already Have the Good Habits for Evidence--What You Do to Find Out.

I can tell you:

That learning history as how things work (not just memorization) requires Good Habits for Evidence

That jobs that pay well require figuring things out and therefore Good Habits for Evidence

That researching comparing the source to the student’s citations identified that a high percentage of students do not know key Good Habits for Evidence – Click here if you want more.
http://www.cjbibus.com/Getting_Started_Good_Habits_for_Evidence_Research_on_Students.htm

That whether you are already know the Good Habits for Evidence or you don’t know them at all, I’m glad to help you as much as you want

Until I grade your first written assignment, I can’t determine whether you understand the Good Habits for Evidence or you don’t. You, however, can tell right now—before you write and before I grade. You can tell and—if needed—you can figure out the Good Habits for Evidence. You have resources in this link and I am also glad to help you.

This link is intended to let you determine if you already have the Good Habits for Evidence and—if you do not—determine how to find what you need.

Here’s What You Do

1. Read a page and answer its Self Check question.

2. What you do next depends on whether you understood and were correct, you are just a good guesser, or your answer is incorrect. For me, incorrect on a Self-Check quiz does not mean you need to memorize an answer to repeat to me. It means what you understood to be true is not what I meant for you to understand.

* If you understood, move to the next page.

* If you guessed or your answer is incorrect, don’t move on until you figure it out.

FYI: The meaning of incorrect also applies to the Check Your Knowledge quizzes on history content.

How Do You Figure It Out?

When you miss a Self-Check question, the Self-Check feedback tells you to do to. If you still don’t understand, please ask me.

Why do I say “please ask me”? If you as an individual do not understand:

* I do want to help you.

* And I may need to change the instructions themselves so that I can help others as well.

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What’s in the Next 5 Pages?

Each of the next 5 pages:

Is organized in the same way

Tells you the requirement in the world beyond this class and in it

Provides a link to how to work so you develop that Good Habit for Evidence

If you want to see examples of student papers with each of these problems and their source pages, you will find that on the next to the last page:

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Good Habit for Evidence 1: Reliable Sources Only

What’s a Good Habit for Evidence in the World Beyond This Course—Whether Dealing with Bosses or with Future Professors

For your source of facts, use only sources your boss (or professor) accepts as reliable. — For example, unless your boss tells you “Google this for me and copy anything you like from the Internet,” don’t.

What’s Required for This Course

In this course, the only sources are:

The textbook chosen by the History Department
The sources provided within our Course Website.

Do not use:

Other Internet websites
Another textbook
Any other source—including other people or your own memory.

In this course, there are consequences for unauthorized books and for copying from the internet. To quote the syllabus, plagiarism and cheating include use of unauthorized books or notes, securing help in a test, or copying tests or assignments; they will result in a failing grade for the assignment. If any portion of a writing assignment is copied from the Internet or another source, the result will be an F (0) on the assignment.

If You Want Tips on How to Develop This Good Habit for Evidence

If you want more tips on this Good Habit for Evidence, including on how you read, click here

The link above should work in this file but this is to insert in SOFTCHALK: http://www.cjbibus.com/1301_1302_GHforE_HOW_to_Work_ReliableSourcesONLY.htm

Quiz

In this course, you may use these sources:

a. The textbook chosen by the History Department

b. Sources your instructor provides

c. Internet websites developed by reliable historical associations

d. Only a and b

e. All of the above

If you missed this question, be sure to look at the Tips section on this page. You can also see examples in the Rubric with Links to Examples. All problems with the Good Habits for Evidence are under the columns for D and F grades.

If You Want More: Combining rubrics with grading with reliable sources also shifts responsibility to the student, the way responsibility usually works: How Your Instructor Grades with the Source and Your Written Work Side by Side—and how does grading this way change responsibility. http://www.cjbibus.com/1301_1302_Good_Habits_For_Evidence_Why_Required_Source_Changes_Grading_Why_Like_World_of_Work.htm
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Good Habit for Evidence 2: Factual Accuracy That You Verify with the Reliable Source Before You Write

What’s a Good Habit for Evidence in the World Beyond This Course—Whether Dealing with Bosses or with Future Professors

You must use reliable sources to verify everything that you write or say. To verify a fact means to confirm that the reliable source specifically states that fact (whether you wrote the words or the author did). — With bosses (or professors), you will be in trouble if you are incorrect so never guess and instead verify before you write or speak.

What’s Required for This Course

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 that you write to reveal accurately the facts that the author presented. You cannot misuse the source. Examples:

§ If a question that you have to answer 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, do not cherry pick or embellish them.

§ If the source covers facts about two or more sides, positions, individuals, or groups or their actions, do not include only one as though the other did not occur.

If You Want Tips on How to Develop This Good Habit for Evidence

If you want more tips on this Good Habit for Evidence, click here.

The link above should work in this file but this is to insert in SOFTCHALK http://www.cjbibus.com/1301_1302_GHforE_HOW_to_Build_Factual_Accuracy_By_Verifying_With_Reliable_Source.htm

Quiz

In this course, you are to:

a. Verify every fact that you write by using the required, reliable source.

b. Show your personal writing style and interest in history by using facts from the source.

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Good Habit for Evidence 3: Factual Accuracy That Is Verifiable for Every Statement You Make

What’s a Good Habit for Evidence in the World Beyond This Course—Whether Dealing with Bosses or with Future Professors

If a boss (or professor) asks you for the proof of something that you said or wrote, you must be able to state:

· The name of the reliable source—one that the boss (or professor) considers reliable

· Exactly where (a specific page) in that source that each fact came from (whether you wrote the words or the author did).

With bosses (or professors), you cannot just claim that a specific page provides evidence. If a reasonable person using a reliable dictionary and reading the entire passage on that page would not agree that you provided evidence, then neither will your boss (or professor).

What’s Required for This Course

In this course with written assignments, you must write according to the instructions and that includes citations that show exactly (a specific page) where each fact is from. You must cite both facts that are in the author’s exact words (quotations) and facts written in your own words.

The style that you use for that citation may be:

· Citations based on brief instructions on the Chicago Manual of Style, the citation method used in history.

· Citations done using a very simple method with endnotes provided as an additional instruction.

A frequently asked question: If you have a couple of sentences from the same page of the source, then you only cite after the last sentence.

If You Want Tips on How to Develop This Good Habit for Evidence

If you want more tips on this Good Habit for Evidence, click here

The link above should work in this file but this is to insert in SOFTCHALK http://www.cjbibus.com/1301_1302_GHforE_HOW_to_Succeed_Factual_AccuracyThatIsVerifiableForEveryStatementYouMake.htm

Quiz

In this course, you must:

a. Cite (provide an exact page number) for every fact you write in your own words

b. Cite (provide an exact page number) for every fact in the author’s words (a quotation)

c. Both a and b

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Good Habit for Evidence 4: No “Half-Copy” Plagiarism or “Patchwriting”^{^[1]}

What’s a Good Habit for Evidence in the World Beyond This Course—Whether Dealing with Bosses or with Future Professors

If you use words (even phrases) created by another person, then follow standards for using quotation marks (“”) to reveal clearly to your reader what words you created and what words the author created. — This is a requirement in courses, and in some jobs failure to do this is a firing offense.

There is another form of plagiarism and it is covered in the syllabus. In this course to quote the syllabus, plagiarism and cheating include use of unauthorized books or notes, securing help in a test, or copying tests or assignments; they will result in a failing grade for the assignment. If any portion of a writing assignment is copied from the Internet or another source, the result will be an F (0) on the assignment.

What’s Required for This Course

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 9^th edition of The Bedford Handbook describes as “half-copy” plagiarism or “patchwriting” (page 746).

Why do I make a big deal about “half-copy” plagiarism and “patchwriting”? Click here because the reasons are in your interests and may surprise you.

The link above should work in this file but this is to insert in SOFTCHALK: http://www.cjbibus.com/1301_1302_GHforE_Why_I_Make_aBigDealAboutHalfCopyPlagiarism.htm

If You Want Tips on How to Develop This Good Habit for Evidence

If you want more tips on this Good Habit for Evidence, click here. This link takes you to the same tips for Quotation Changes Reveal Clearly because they have the same background information. Many students do not know these basics and all students need to know them.

The link above should work in this file but this is to insert in SOFTCHALK:http://www.cjbibus.com/1301_1302_GHforE_HOW_to_Work_WithoutHalfCopyPlagiarismOrMisquoting.htm

Quiz

In this course, you may:

a. Write the author’s facts in your own words as long as you cite

b. Use the author’s exact words for facts as long as you cite and you place those words within quotation marks according to the specific rules for quotation marks (“”) to reveal ownership that are covered in The Bedford Handbook

c. Both a and b

Be sure to look at the Tips section on this page. You can also see examples in the Rubric with Links to Examples. All problems with the Good Habits for Evidence are under the columns for D and F grades.

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Good Habit for Evidence 5: Quotation Changes Revealed Clearly

What’s a Good Habit for Evidence in the World Beyond This Course—Whether Dealing with Bosses or with Future Professors

If you use quotation marks (“”) to reveal words created by another person but you change those words, then carefully reveal those changes by following standards for using quotation marks (“”), ellipses (…), and/or square brackets ([ ]). This may not be just a punctuation error. — Instead, by your changes, you may be misleading your reader about the evidence, and never mislead a boss (or professor) about the evidence.

What’s Required for This Course

In this course, you may quote if the quotations are carefully selected. 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.

You also:

May not change the author’s meaning
May not make the author’s sentences look grammatically incorrect (The best way to explain this is with an example. There is one available from the links from the rubric.)

If You Want Tips on How to Develop This Good Habit for Evidence

http://www.cjbibus.com/1301_1302_GHforE_HOW_to_Work_WithoutHalfCopyPlagiarismOrMisquoting.htm

Quiz

In this course, you may quote

a. If quotations are carefully selected

b. If you follow the rules in The Bedford Handbook to reveal any changes you made to the author’s words—or you use the Brain Trick provided in the Tips for this Good Habit for Evidence

c. If you do not change the author’s meaning or make the author’s sentences look grammatically incorrect

d. Only a and c

e. All of the above

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Finding the Other Information that You Need—Including Talking to Your Instructor

What Is a Rubric? What Are the Parts of This Rubric? How Is the Rubric Used to Determine the Separate Grades for What You Wrote and for Whether You Follow All 5 of the Good Habits for Evidence?

· What Are the Parts of the Rubric and How It Used for Grading?
The link above should work in this file but this is to insert in SOFTCHALK: http://www.cjbibus.com/Getting_Started_Good_Habits_for_Evidence_Parts_of_the_Rubric.htm

How Do You Find More Information That Matches Your Needs?

· Rubric with Links to Examples and How-To-Do-It Tips
The link above should work in this file but this is to insert in SOFTCHALK:

http://www.cjbibus.com/Good_Habits_for_Evidence_Rubric_with_Links.htm

If You Need Help, What Is Your Instructor’s Approach? (A Student Example)

Everything about the Good Habits for Evidence is meant to be a way to help you develop skills for today and for your future while not hurting your points in this course. I have asked students over the years to write something that would help future students understand its purpose. This distance learning student chose to talk with me by phone as the fastest way we could work and here is what she wrote after the class ended:

Dr. Bibus,

Thank you for spending the time with me this semester going over how I can improve my writing skills on an evidence based paper. I have learned that I need to allow the book to tell me what they are trying to teach me instead of me trying to tell the book what the message means. After speaking with you on the phone, I have realized that I was doing a lot of assumptions on what the message of the book says instead of me learning the facts and message of history. Talking with you really helped me understand better what history is and learning that real "evidence" is important in history.

If You Want More: Combining rubrics with grading with the source shifts responsibility to the student, the way responsibility usually works in a job or in a profession: How Your Instructor Grades with the Source and Your Written Work Side by Side—and how does grading this way changes responsibility. I will always be willing to help you, but you have to decide you want help.

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What You Do for the 20 Points And Where You Do It?

1. Download the file provided.

2. Respond to the Questions and write the brief reflection on your personal responsibility to meet the 5 Good Habits for Evidence—including the responsibility to ask for help if you need it.

3. Follow the link of instructions from Turnitin on how to upload a file to their assignment tool.

4. Use the Turnitin Assignment in Blackboard in the Good Habits for Evidence folder of Getting Started.

Note: I will enter the 20 points for your file, but I will not read your response unless you get a D or F grade on the Practice Comparison. You only earn a D or F grade if you fail to follow one or more of the Good Habits for Evidence in those columns of the rubric.

If you do have marks in the D or F column, you:

1. Do not earn the 10 points for the Good Habits for Evidence grade for the Practice Assignment

2. I also change the 20 points above to a temporary—notice that word—grade of 1.11. After you complete the instructions stated in your rubric, I change the grade back.
The syllabus explains more on how the temporary grade of 1.11 works.

WCJC Department:	History – Dr. Bibus
Contact Information:	281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu
Last Updated:	2014
WCJC Home:	http://www.wcjc.edu/

[1] The quoted terms are explained on page 746 in the ninth edition of The Bedford Handbook by Diana Hacker and Nancy Sommers.