5.13 Grades

You did an awesome job on your final papers.  For the two sections of ENG 3029, the grades were as follows:

A 11
B  12
C  7

If you have questions, confusions or complaints, write to me before Tuesday at 2:00.  I plan to post your grades to Keanwise on Wednesday.

Thanks for all your good work!  It has been a great pleasure to work with you this term.  Good luck in your lives as writers, students & researchers (and teachers!) and stop by once in a while to let me know how you are doing.

FYI: I did not give credit for blogs posted after the end time (end of class on the last day) posted  on the blog.

5.7 Last class (see previous post for assignment for Blog 28)

Today Alison, Sharyn, and Devon gave their presentations, and we spent the rest of class wrapping up loose ends.

I walked you through the process for your self-assessment of your research projects (see previous post).  You will post this assessment as Blog 28.

Turning in your work:
Blog 29 will be your final research essay.  You should also send your essay to me as an attachment to the course email. 
Any work must be turned in by 5:45 Thursday, May 9.

How you will get your grade.
I will grade your work as fast as I can.  I will send you a grade sheet listing your points for each category listed on the syllabus via the course email as soon as I have finished grading (hopefully no later than Tuesday, May 14 but maybe as early as Sunday).  If you do not feel the grade on the gradesheet accurately reflects your work for the term - you should send me an email within 24-hours where you describe what you think should be different.  At that point, we will either work this out (especially if I have made a mistake, which I sometimes do) - or not.  At the end of the 24 hours I will post your grades to Keanwise, and any further negotiation will have to take place through a grade appeal.

We will not meet in the classroom on 5.9.  I will be in my office most of the day Wednesday and Thursday if anyone wants to stop by for some last minute conferencing.

Closing remarks:
You have been a wonderful group to work with.  I have appreciated your good work both as individuals and as a group.  Your support for your classmates during their presentations, and your participation during group work were outstanding.  I wish each of you the best in your future studies - and have a great summer!

5.7 Assessing your research project

Blog 28:  Using the criteria below, write an evaluation of your research project.  You can earn 25 points extra credit if your assessment of your work matches mine.

Essay: 150 points
Data + analysis: 200 points (with check point grades for data + analysis)
Writing process: 150 points

I. Evaluating your final draft:  Use the rubric below (150)

Focus (45): clear statement of the research question(s) + the importance of the research and what it shows
direct statements of what the data shows
set up any background information necessary for the reader to understand the focus
appropriate choice of research essays
data is connected to the focus/makes points with respect to the focus

Audience/genre (40)
uses the correct forms for research essays
uses language the ways it is used in the sample research essays
draws authority from other research and the logic of the argument

Organization (30)
data is presented in the right place
one idea leads logically to the next
definitions/data/categories  are presented and explained before they are "used" or referred to
uses headings + paragrphing in ways suitable for the material
each section develops the focus in a different way

Development (30)
detailed examples from the data to support the points
says what the examples show
connects to the discussion of the research
develops an in-depth (not obvious) discussion of what the data show

Correctness (5)
writing sufficiently clear so as not to confuse the meaning
not so many errors as to distract from the meaning of the text

II. Criteria: Data + analysis were listed on the assignment sheet as follows (200 points):
1. Data will be collected in a written form and posted on the blog or submitted as an attachment to an email, no less than 2 weeks prior to the final due data (eg. Notes from observations, transcripts, documentation of chats/online posts, etc)

2. Notes with a preliminary analysis (categories=names of important features relevant to the research question, etc along with several sections from the data that are examples of those categories) will be submitted no later than one week before the final due data). 

To evaluate your data+ Analysis:List the blog posts which included data + analysis

Discuss the completeness + quality of your data= did you have enough data to provide a broad basis for your project?  Did you have the RIGHT data to develop an exploration of your research question?

Discuss the completeness + quality of your anlaysis= did you identify useful categories?  Did you discover new ideas in your data?  Did your analysis connect to your research question /or generate a new question?

List how many points you think you earned out of 200 and explain why.

III.  Criteria for the Writing process were listed on the assignment sheet as follows (150 points):

The essay will be developed through a series of drafts that demonstrate:

1. a variety of techniques for invention and revision (blog posts for research plan + brainstorming for topic)

2. increased quality of writing and ideas throughout the revision process (posts of successive drafts or sections of drafts)

3. thoughtful analysis of how and what to revise in successive drafts (evidence in blog posts about what you will revise, how you chose your topic, what you need to work on for your project) 

To evaluate your writing process:

List the blog posts that demonstrate your writing process:
Discuss the quality of your writing process in terms of its variety + effectiveness (point 1 above)
Evaluate the quality of your revising process (point 2 above)
Evaluate the "writing about writing" posts where you plan what you need to do, reflect on the effectiveness of what you have done so far & write about what you will work on (point 3 above)

State how many points out of 150 you earned and why,

5.2 Even more presentations!

Good job  Amy, Sarah, Paul, Oriana, and Bri.  On Tuesday we will hear from Sharyn, Alison, and Devon = and celebrate!

Also on Tuesday, we will look back at the assignment sheet, and you will do some final revising to your essays, and we will talk about how to turn in your work and the process for getting your grade. 

Here are some general tips:

1. Your essay should have a title that gives an accurate (and inviting= maybe even clever?) indication of what you are writing about.  I do not want to read any essays titles "research paper".

2. Headings should give a content-based indication of what is in the section that follows.  Use your headings to give your readers detailed, accurate information.  Informative headings are KEY components of effective essays.

3. As you revise:

• Make sure each paragraph relates to/develops your focus.  If writing goes off on a tangent =>delete it!  Longer is NOT better.
• Check to see that your points are in the right order.
• Write transitions between your paragraphs/sections. 
• Make sure you include a statement of the relevance of your project to writing studies.

4. Remember that the page limit is 10 pages, double spaced.

5.  The Data analysis section should be the longest section of your essay.  Demonstrating that you can break down complex language passages or actions into their component parts and identify patterns and relationships that explain how that language or action works is the point of this course.

Blog 27: If you gave your presentation today, post your reflections on what you have to work on
if you gave your presentation earlier, post your ongoing revisions,
if you are doing your presentation May 7, post the draft you will present on

I will provide feedback on Blogs 25 + 26, Tuesday before class.

Have a great weekend, and THE END IS NEAR!