Assignment

% Final Grade

Essay 1 (Diagnostic)

 

Essay 2 (Personal Narrative)

7%

Essay 3 (Analysis of Fiction)

10%

Essay 4 (Argument on Drama)

14%

Essay 5 (Analysis of Poetry)

16%

Essay 6 (Self-evaluation and Final Portfolio)

18%

Final Exam

20%

Quizzes/Teamwork/Discussion/Corrections

15%

 


 

Grading

Essays are graded with letters (A+, A, A-, etc.). The grading scale for the course is: A= 93+, A-=90-92, B+=87-89, B=83-86, B-=80-82, C+=77-79, C=73-76, C-=70-72, D+=67-69, D=63-66, D-=60-62, F=59 or below. (F's on individual assignments are recorded as 50.)  For each essay type, I will describe criteria/basic features on a handout. I will remind you of these criteria on assignment sheets, first draft check sheets, peer review sheets, and the grade sheet I use to evaluate the essays. Throughout the semester I will emphasize the important criteria for each assignment in our class discussions and as we evaluate sample essays. If you are uncertain about how I grade, please ask. I follow these grading policies:

  • All essays will be collected at the beginning of the period, and essays submitted after that time are late. You may submit one paper late (one class meeting) without penalty. After that, late papers lose three letter grades per day late.

  • I will deduct points from essays not submitted in a complete portfolio.  

  • Essays that contain an excessive number of major grammatical errors like fragments, comma splices, fused sentences; and problems in subject/verb agreement, pronoun/antecedent, verb tense, and tense shift may fail automatically.

  • You must revise all essays and submit them in a final portfolio in order to receive course credit. Save all of your work on disk to facilitate this requirement.

  • You may re-write one essay for a new grade if you confer with me and substantially revise it. This re-write is due one week after the original is returned to you.

 


 

Format Guidelines for Essays and Portfolios
1. Out-of-class essays should be typed. Save your work-in-progress often and print a hard copy every time you shut down the system.

2. See Chapter 6 of Bedford for guidelines on manuscript form.

3. The top of your first page should look like this (DO NOT USE A COVER SHEET):

Your Name
English 110
Hale
Assignment Name
Date

Title of the Essay

4. The first page should not be numbered, but the following pages (including Works Cited Page) should include your last name and the page number in the top right-hand corner of the page.
5. Portfolios will vary slightly depending on the assignment, but this is the basic structure, with lower numbers nearer the bottom of the stack:

Left Side

Right Side

1. Pre-writing/invention (bottom

1. Final draft (bottom)

2. Copies of outside sources

2. Writing goals

 3. Labeled drafts with earlier drafts nearer the bottom.

3. Self-evaluation

4. Labeled Peer Review sheets stapled to drafts that were reviewed.

4. Unit Evaluation

2. Conference Summary (top)

6.Grade Sheet (top)

7. After essays are graded, you should correct and return them the following class meeting. You will receive a quiz grade if the corrections are done correctly and in a timely fashion. You will receive a zero if they are not submitted. You will not receive credit for the course unless all essays are returned and corrected. SAVE ALL OF YOUR MARKED ESSAYS AND GRADE SHEETS THROUGHOUT THE SEMESTER TO INCLUDE IN YOUR FINAL PORTFOLIO.


Academic Honesty:   In order for an academic community to thrive, members of that community must be able to trust the honesty and sincerity of communication between members.  The very integrity of a college is grounded in academic honesty. One form of academic dishonesty that can undermine this integrity is plagiarism, intentionally or unintentionally copying the words or ideas from another source without giving that source credit.  Because of the serious harm plagiarism causes an academic environment, I have zero tolerance for it: students who plagiarize will automatically fail the class. Do not hesitate to consult with me if you have questions about academic honesty.  (For more information, see also "Academic Dishonesty" in the Scot's Guide or  college catalog and chapters 52 & 54 in Bedford.)

 


CORRECTIONS

  1. Read over the comment back page of your essay and make sure you understand all my comments.  If you don’t understand them, you should talk to me during office hours so I can explain.

  2. Check the grammar, mechanics, punctuation, spelling/diction, and sentence errors that I have marked on the essay with handbook numbers and symbols.  Look up the numbers and symbols on the inside back cover of Bedford Handbook (you'll have to look up particular chapters in some cases), and make sure you understand the mistakes.  If you don’t, come and see me during office hours.  Correct all of these errors in a different colored ink on the actual essay.  MAJOR ERROR NUMBERS ARE CIRCLEd.

  3. Staple the corrected essay on top of the writing goals sheet and return them to me by the due dateKeep the portfolio materials and the folder for yourself.

  4. On a NEW writing goals sheet make three goals for improving your next essay based on problems you had with the present essay (Save it for next time).  For example, you might have neglected to use specific examples to improve the present essay, so your goal for the next essay might be to use specific examples to develop your argument.  Maybe you had several comma errors in the present essay, so your goal might be to eliminate the comma errors in the next essay.  In each set of writing goals try to have at least one stylistic/mechanical goal and one content goal.