6.3: Criterion-Referenced Skills for College Writing (Part 1)
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Appendix D
Section I. Common Errors (Editing)
Usage
The student writer demonstrates a thorough knowledge of usage by eliminating:
yes | no | N/A | note | |
---|---|---|---|---|
“you” from the writing | ||||
“a lot” from the writing | ||||
“would” from the writing | ||||
“started to,” “began to,” “headed out” from the writing | ||||
“needless to say” from the writing | ||||
“obviously” from the writing | ||||
“etc.” from the writing | ||||
clichés from the writing |
The student writer demonstrates a thorough knowledge of usage by correctly using:
yes | no | N/A | note | |
---|---|---|---|---|
“…” (ellipses) | ||||
“myself” | ||||
“a person who” rather than “a person that | ||||
“every day” or “everyday” | ||||
“he or she” or “they” | ||||
a comma before “and” in a list | ||||
punctuation marks inside the end quotation marks | ||||
quoted material incorporated into the grammar of a sentence | ||||
defined words in quotation marks | ||||
book titles underlined and all other titles in quotation marks | ||||
words and phrases from foreign languages in italics | ||||
a spell-check | ||||
a grammar-check |
Peer Editing
yes | no | N/A | note | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Did the student use the above checklist? | ||||
Did the student ask a peer to edit his/her paper according to the checklist? | ||||
Did the student make all changes previously requested by the instructor? |
Section II. Essay Structure
A. Argument Essay Assessment
Matrix for Argument Writing Patterns
Choosing an Issue
The student is able to arrive at an issue by answering the following questions:
yes | no | N/A | note | |
---|---|---|---|---|
What is something that is very important to me personally or professionally? | ||||
Is it really an issue? | ||||
Is it something I know much about already? | ||||
Is it something I really want to talk about? | ||||
Is it within the guidelines or restrictions of the assignment? |
1 Introduction
The student is able to arrive at a claim statement by writing the answers to each of the questions:
yes | no | N/A | note | |
---|---|---|---|---|
What is my issue, stated generally? | ||||
How may I restate the same issue as a very specific statement or series of statements? | ||||
How may I summarize in one statement what I have written so far? | ||||
Why do I think this will work (or why should this be accepted)? | ||||
How are some practical ways to implement my summary statement above? | ||||
What is my purpose for dealing with this issue (as an anecdote)? | ||||
How may I restate my summary statement as a claim? |
2 Review of the Literature (Annotated Bibliography)
The student is able to summarize EACH SOURCE by writing the answers to each of the questions:
yes | no | N/A | note | |
---|---|---|---|---|
What is the title, who is the author, and what is a summative statement about the selection? | ||||
The point to the selection seems to be what? | ||||
This point is best summed up by what quoted from the selection? | ||||
How do I assess or evaluate this selection as a whole? |
3 Evaluation
The student is able to evaluate the claim statement by writing the answers to each of the questions:
yes | no | N/A | note | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Does this issue/claim exist? (Is it really an issue?); | ||||
Who will this claim most affect? | ||||
How could I prove this if I had to? | ||||
Where does this issue seem to come from? (How did it begin, as far as I know?) | ||||
How could I prove this if I had to? | ||||
What is the cause of this issue? | ||||
How could I prove this if I had to? | ||||
What will change (How will the world be different) if my claim is accepted? | ||||
How could I prove this if I had to? | ||||
Why is mine a good claim to deal with? | ||||
Why should it be sought or accepted? | ||||
Why is it better than (some alternative)? |
4 Definition
The student is able to define key terms in the claim statement by writing the answers to each of the questions:
yes | no | N/A | note | |
---|---|---|---|---|
What are the key terms in my claim statement? |
For Specialized Key Terms:
yes | no | N/A | note | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Are there any terms in my claim from a specialized vocabulary? | ||||
How does a resource or an authority in that specialized area define each term? |
For Common/Ambiguous Key Terms:
yes | no | N/A | note | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Are there any common terms in my claim that need clarification? | ||||
What different senses of the term are defined in the dictionary? | ||||
What different senses of the term existed in the past (what is its etymology) from the dictionary? | ||||
What are some antonyms, synonyms, and examples of the way the terms is used from the dictionary? |
Re-define Common/Ambiguous Key Terms:
yes | no | N/A | note | |
---|---|---|---|---|
How do I re-define each term as a formal definition? |
5 Procedure
The student is able to outline how to implement the claim statement by writing the answers to each of the questions:
yes | no | N/A | note | |
---|---|---|---|---|
How may I outline each step, in great detail, of my practical statements from my Introduction? | ||||
What has to happen to initiate changes? | ||||
What is the process if this proposal (or claim) is accepted? |
6 Refutation
The student is able to refute counter arguments by writing the answers to each of the questions:
yes | no | N/A | note | |
---|---|---|---|---|
What are some major objections to my claim? | ||||
How do I respond (as copiously as possible) to each objection? | ||||
Why won’t my opponent’s claim work? | ||||
Why is it wrong? |
7 Argument (conclusion)
The student is able to state claim, warrants, and grounds by writing the answers to each of the questions:
yes | no | N/A | note | |
---|---|---|---|---|
What is the central claim? | ||||
What sorts of warrants underlie my claim? | ||||
Which of these underlying assumptions needs some clarification in order for the audience to agree? | ||||
Which of these warrants is the audience most likely to disagree with? How do I explain why my assumptions are different? On what do I rest these assumptions? | ||||
What are some examples of where [my claim] works (or applies, exists, is true, etc.)? | ||||
What is an analogy for my claim? or What is something analogous to my claim? | ||||
What causes this claim to be true? |