Friday, March 02, 2007
Anatomy of a C or D paper.
A grammatical error in the title.
The first sentence is a very general statement about the universality of the refranero.
The thesis cannot be found, or is extremely general as well.
All of the texts discussed in the paper were also discussed in class. There is no unifying connection between the texts chosen. An absence of intellectual curiosity: there is more concern with how the text relates to contemporary life; much less concern with wondering how those in other periods conceived of their reality.
There are quadruple spaces between sections of the paper; even then the paper doesn't reach the required five pages.
Vocabulary is very basic. On every page the words "importante," "tema," or "diferente" appear numerous times. The student uses "bueno" and "malo" repeatedly instead of searching for synonyms. Even "negativo" once in a while in place of malo would provide some variation. The student uses the word "trabajo" instead of "obra," for a literary "work."
There is no sense of pride taken in writing grammatical, elegant Spanish.
Portrait of the B Paper
The student has made a careful attempt to follow the assignment. Perhaps she has emailed the professor with a question or two. The writing is clear and, for the most part, grammatical. There is an acceptable, though not particularly original or specific, thesis. There is an overall argument, and transitions between paragraphs.
About two thirds of the material in the paper is basically derived from class discussions, but this material is integrated with some new ideas and analysis. This is genuine college-level work, with no high-schoolish overtones.
An A paper?
There is a sense of passion behind the writing of the paper. The student has gone beyond the basic assignment to figure out an original angle. Most of the material presented is not derived from the professor's ideas. In fact, the professor learns something new from reading it. At the same time, there is a certain mastery of the concepts presented in the class. There may be some flaws in organization and writing, but overall the paper is more than sufficient for the assignment.
A grammatical error in the title.
The first sentence is a very general statement about the universality of the refranero.
The thesis cannot be found, or is extremely general as well.
All of the texts discussed in the paper were also discussed in class. There is no unifying connection between the texts chosen. An absence of intellectual curiosity: there is more concern with how the text relates to contemporary life; much less concern with wondering how those in other periods conceived of their reality.
There are quadruple spaces between sections of the paper; even then the paper doesn't reach the required five pages.
Vocabulary is very basic. On every page the words "importante," "tema," or "diferente" appear numerous times. The student uses "bueno" and "malo" repeatedly instead of searching for synonyms. Even "negativo" once in a while in place of malo would provide some variation. The student uses the word "trabajo" instead of "obra," for a literary "work."
There is no sense of pride taken in writing grammatical, elegant Spanish.
Portrait of the B Paper
The student has made a careful attempt to follow the assignment. Perhaps she has emailed the professor with a question or two. The writing is clear and, for the most part, grammatical. There is an acceptable, though not particularly original or specific, thesis. There is an overall argument, and transitions between paragraphs.
About two thirds of the material in the paper is basically derived from class discussions, but this material is integrated with some new ideas and analysis. This is genuine college-level work, with no high-schoolish overtones.
An A paper?
There is a sense of passion behind the writing of the paper. The student has gone beyond the basic assignment to figure out an original angle. Most of the material presented is not derived from the professor's ideas. In fact, the professor learns something new from reading it. At the same time, there is a certain mastery of the concepts presented in the class. There may be some flaws in organization and writing, but overall the paper is more than sufficient for the assignment.
# posted by Jonathan @ 12:39 PM 
