3 Common Errors of Factual Accuracy:  Lack of “Telling” Feedback and Rewards (Grades) for Anything Submitted +  Declining Literacy = Misunderstandings about Evidence

The first column shows the types of errors that have become common. The second shows the student’s submission—they sound good until you compare. The third and fourth columns add the same color coding, underlining, and bolding to both what the student submitted and what the original source said:

§         Underlining = words that are the same in the student’s work and the source

§         Bold = where key words to compare are within a color

§         Orange = where the source says something other than what the student wrote or where the student seems to have ignored what the source said

§         Other colors = where the student was probably looking when the student wrote the words, such as the blue in the third and fourth columns of the first row.

 

The 3 Common Types of Errors

What the Student Thought Was Worth Points

Color-Coding and Underlining to Help You Compare

What the Student Submitted

What the Original Source Material Said

Detailed description of things that do not exist—but cites a page

Around 1867, after the war, the government started to cut back prices on agricultural goods to benefit the economy. Of course, this only worsened farmers’ incomes. Since most farmers already owed money to the government for land and equipment, this only worsened their chances of ever flourishing. Thankfully, the “Patrons of Husbandry, also known as the Grange,” began gathering farmers to protest. (p. 481)

Around 1867, after the war, the government started to cut back prices on agricultural goods to benefit the economy. Of course, this only worsened farmers’ incomes. Since most farmers already owed money to the government for land and equipment, this only worsened their chances of ever flourishing. Thankfully, the “Patrons of Husbandry, also known as the Grange,” began gathering farmers to protest. (p. 481)

You can find a few of the words, but you can’t find the meaning.

 

p. 481 Discontent also flared in the farm belt. The price of wheat stood at $1.16 a bushel in 1873; it dropped to 95 cents a bushel a year later. . . . The changes meant substantial drops in farm income. As a result, farmers’ land-and-equipment-related debts posed an even greater burden. Faced with the economic power of the railroads and grain merchants, the farmer, said one newspaper, was alone, “confronting organized and well-equipped enemies.”

 

The Patrons of Husbandry, also known as the Grange, led the farm protests.

Statements about one subject but the source is about another subject—and cites a page

In the workforce, due to the fact that “[m]anufacturing capacity in the South grew between 1870 and 1900,” African Americans were forced to take the more undesirable labor intensive jobs. (p. 514)

In the workforce, due to the fact that “[m]anufacturing capacity in the South grew between 1870 and 1900,” African Americans were forced to take the more undesirable labor intensive jobs. (p. 514)

p. 514 The Industrial South

Manufacturing capacity in the South grew between 1870 and 1900. In the major cotton producing states of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, capital invested in manufacturing increased about 10-fold . . . .

The South became more mechanized in the 1880s. One of the key industries where that occurred was in tobacco and the production of cigarettes. In this image from Harper’s Weekly, a Richmond cigarette factory is shown in various stages of production. Note the presence of women engaged in rolling cigarettes. Soon machines would take over that task. [This is a caption under an illustration on the page, one that shows a factory in the South whose workers are white women. There is no reference to African Americans on the page.]  

Statements that are false—and cites a page that says the opposite and shows the context for why it is the opposite

The first step in the black’s journey to freedom was an official declaration of their freedom. Lincoln drafted the Emancipation Proclamation, calling for an end to slavery in the United States. (p. 427)

 

The first step in the black’s journey to freedom was an official declaration of their freedom. Lincoln drafted the Emancipation Proclamation, calling for an end to slavery in the United States. (p. 427)

You can’t find the same location for where the Proclamation applied, and you can’t find that this student noticed the source at all.

 

p. 427 In the wake of Antietam, enough of a victory to call a victory, Lincoln announced the end of slavery in all areas held by the Confederacy by January 1. Denounced throughout the South and in much of the North as well, Lincoln tried to strike a death blow against the surprisingly strong enemy. He knew as well as anyone, however, that without victories on the battlefield nothing else would matter.

 

For information or problems with this link, please email using the email address below.

WCJC Department:

History – Dr. Bibus

Contact Information:

281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu

Last Updated:

2012 -06/04

WCJC Home:

http://www.wcjc.edu/