ESSAY EVALUATION #1
Everyone's Essay #1 is due at the same time. You have a minimum of two days (sometimes more) to find an essay to evaluate, write your evaluation, and post it to the WebCT Essay 1 Discussion Board.
How to Write your Essay Evaluation #1:
You will provide a written evaluation of a fellow student's essay using the form I provide for you HERE.
First figure out what the question is about (you should have done this when you wrote your own essay). Remember that every essay I assign has at least FIVE points of required information.
Create a list of the items you think a proper essay should include. For Essay 1, your list should include the list of "HOWs" that went into Spain's successful conquest of Latin America and the Caribbean, and then a list of the impacts of those activities on the native peoples.
Your list is the most important part of this assignment. Be sure your list is written in complete, declaratory sentences. Your list should not be a series of questions (i.e., "How did Spain create its empire?"). Rather, your list should be a series of answers: "Spain created its empire by ___, ___, ___." Don't write: "1. The essay should say something about Columbus" or "1. What did Columbus do?" Instead, write: "1. Columbus helped Spain create empire by ... [blah blah blah]."
Grade your fellow student's essay against your list. For each point of required information included in the essay, you will award the author one point. (I provide you with an Essay Evaluation form; see link above.)
For practical purposes, the length of your essay evaluation should be roughly 350 words, or about half a page of typed, single-spaced text.
The maximum number of points you can award is 5, the minimum is 0.
Please be judicious and kind. If the essay is great, you get points (up to 3 points) for knowing it is great and why it is great. If the essay is poor, same thing--you get points (up to 3 points) for knowing it is a poor essay and being able to gently explain to the author what their essay is missing.
You don't have to automatically say every essay is great -- in fact, if, in your opinion, it is missing key elements, your grade rides on knowing what is missing. Just be kind and constructive in your evaluation--that is very important. This interaction between students is designed to be educational, not painful! (This interaction is also a large chunk of what makes this class worth 3 whole units.)
"What if the essay I am evaluating really sucks?"
You don't have to say it in quite those terms, and you shouldn't. We don't believe in drawing blood here at DVC. If, in your opinion, the author missed key elements in composing his or her essay, gently point out what is missing. OUR GOAL HERE IS TO LEARN FROM EACH OTHER. Just remember to be kind and constructive in your evaluation.
Examples:
Use complete, descriptive sentences For example, in a question about the Folsom Bone Pit, don't make a list that begins:
1. Explain Folsom Bone Pit
Say:
1. I expected the essay to explain that bones and spear points found in Folsom Bone Pit made scientists rethink how long humans had inhabited western hemisphere, and how migration occurred.
Second, in evaluating other students' writing, please be specific. Don't say, for example:
"This essay was pretty good except it was vague in some places."
Say:
"This essay was pretty good, but I thought the statement "Mexica religious beliefs explain their society's wealth and power" should have been clearer: Specifically, it should have said that the Mexica worshipped a war god and idealized warriors, and that these religious beliefs supported the Mexica's endless violence against others."
Instructions for submitting your essay evaluation to the Essay 1 Discussion Board:
Go to WEBCT's Discussion Board or follow the link at the bottom of the Week 2 Assignments page. Click on the link for "Essay 1 Discussion Board." Select the student essay you want to evaluate. Click on "Quote" to open a new message form (the essay you are evaluating will appear in the message box). Click inside the message box, BEFORE THE QUOTED TEXT, SO THAT YOUR EVALUATION WILL APPEAR AT THE TOP OF THE POST.
PLEASE PUT " YOUR LAST NAME ESSAY EVALUATION #1" IN THE RE: LINE OF YOUR POST.
Paste in your essay evaluation. Click "post."
Be sure to submit your essay evaluation to WEBCT by the deadline on your Schedule.
How I Will Grade Your Essay Evaluation:
You are being graded for KNOWING the correct elements of the essay and being able to apply that knowledge to another student's work. To get the full 3 points possible for your evaluation, you must demonstrate that you have considered the essay written by your fellow classmate, that you know the elements of a correct answer, and that you have carefully, kindly, and judiciously evaluated your fellow classmate's work.
Your list is the meat of your evaluation. You must write in complete sentences, and make explicit, direct (though KIND) statements of what you believe are the correct elements of the answer.
If you believe the essay you are reviewing should get 5 out of 5 points, say so--if you are right, and if you can explain it to the student and to me, then you will get 3 points for your evaluation.
If you suspect that the essay you are reviewing should get 1 out of 5 points, gently say so--if you can explain it so that the student and I understand, then you will get the full number of points possible for your evaluation.
After I have read and graded your essay evaluations, I will post them to you via the Essay 1 Discussion Board. My comments will be in ALL CAPS. Please use my comments to help you prepare your remaining essay evaluations.