Grading Criteria and Writing Tips

Grading Criteria

Four main concerns will be taken into consideration when evaluating your written assignments for this class. Each will given approximately the same weight. Below are a few suggestions regarding each of these concerns.

Composition

Primary consideration will be given to:

1. A clear and logical presentation of ideas
2. Coherent and concise paragraph construction.
3. Be concise and precise. Make a habit of' revising your writing.

Grammar

Considerations here include:

1. Pronoun/noun consistency
2. Adjective/adverb use
3. Subject/verb agreement
4. Spelling

Punctuation

Consideration will be given to the proper use of:

1. Commas">

   Grading Criteria and Writing Tips Grading Criteria Four main concerns will be taken into consideration when evaluating your written assignments for this class. Each will given approximately the same weight. Below are a few suggestions regarding each of these concerns. Composition Primary consideration will be given to: A clear and logical presentation of ideas Coherent and concise paragraph construction. Be concise and precise. Make a habit of' revising your writing. Grammar Considerations here include: Pronoun/noun consistency Adjective/adverb use Subject/verb agreement Spelling Punctuation Consideration will be given to the proper use of: Commas, colons, and semi-colons Hyphens/dashes, and parentheses Other common practices (e.g. proper spacing, indenting, as per instructions) Sentence Structure Concerns here include: Coordination of subjects within the sentence Clarity, lack of wordiness Proper use of modifiers Consistency in tenses, mood, and voice etc. Tips for Good Writing   (From: "Writing Manual for Students," Joseph Schall, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, 1991.) Although most of you are aware of what constitutes good writing, there are many fundamentals that are easy to forget. Below are a few rules of the game you should keep in mind when preparing any piece of writing. Composition and Sentence Structure Design should include an introduction, body, and conclusion with effective transitions between each. Make the paragraph the unit of composition - with smooth transitions. Develop the first sentence of each paragraph as the topic sentence. The rest of the paragraph should be built around this topic sentence. Use the active voice wherever appropriate, i.e., "The students read the material," rather than "the material was read by the students." When the subject of a sentence is also the doer of the action, the verb is said to be in the active voice. Jane's father gave her a stereo. The quarterback will autograph the football. When the subject is acted upon by someone or something else, the verb is in the passive voice. Jane was given a stereo by her father. The ball will be autographed by the quarterback. A passive verb consists of a form of be plus the past participle of the verb. The following are all passive forms: is begun is being told are chosen had been thrown was taken will be approached Although there are effective and appropriate uses of the passive voice (see below) the active voice is generally preferred bcause it promotes conciseness, encourages clarity, and helps the writer got to the point. The great majority of English sentences uses active verbs, but sometimes the passive is appropriate. Passive constructions are natural if the actor or agent is unknown or unimportant in the statement. We were robbed! The game was postponed because of rain. The expressway will be completed by spring. A passive verb may also be appropriate if the writer wants to emphasize the object or the act rather than the doer: The fire was discovered by the night watchman. The bill is supported by representatives of both parties. --Handbook of Current English, J Corder & J. Ruszkiewicz, 7th ed., 1979. Put statements in positive form. Use definitive, specific, and concrete language. Omit needless words. Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form. Avoid a succession of loose sentences. Avoid unnecessary changes in tense, person, mood, voice, relative pronoun, and style of discourse. Express main ideas in independent clauses, less important ideas in subordinate clauses. Make comparisons logical and clear. Place modifiers so that they clearly attach to the right word or element in the sentence. Avoid triteness and cliches. Use idioms appropriately. Avoid the use of contractions - i.e. isn't, don't, can't etc. Numbers of ten or less should be written out. If possible, a sentence should not begin with a number, but if it does the number should be written out. The period and comma go inside the quotation marks almost all of the time. The semicolon, colon, dash, question mark, and exclamation point fall outside of the quotation marks (unless the quoted material had internal punctuation of its own). Rely on the simple causal connective words below to draw satisfying causal connections for your reader: - consequently - thus - therefore - because - in order to - as a result Name the thing that the "this" refers to immediately after it. The same principle holds true for words like "that" and "these" and even "it": Do not overuse them, and when you do use them be sure that the reader can easily tell what other words you are referring to. Only be hypothetical-sounding if you really are being hypothetical. Challenge every "would," "could," and "can" that you use—see if you really mean "is" or "will." "Can" is generally used to suggest a hypothetical present or potential, while "will" is usually used to suggest strong probability or future occurrence. In short, use "can," "could," and "would" to express possibility and hypothetical probability; use "will" to indicate strong probability and simple futurity. Do you find aspect a handy, satisfying word? Literally, "aspect" means the idea of a thought viewed by the mind, in other words, a thing. Not so impressive after all then. Yet the word "aspect" seems to sound specific, especially in an introduction or in the opening sentences of a paragraph. If the word "thing' is unacceptable (and it usually is) then "aspect" should be too. When you use "aspect" you usually mean a much more specific word such as principle, property, factor, dilemma, development, reason, part. Write with literal meaning in mind-use the exact, most direct words that best convey your meaning. There are other empty words that show up a lot in writing too. "Deal with" is an ineffectual phrase that puts in a shocking number of appearances and returns for many unsolicited encores. "Deal with" is usually a thinly disguised excuse for a more analytical verb such as show, suggest, imply, propose, theorize. Choose exact words in favor of nonspecific ones-phrases such as "This paper will deal with" or "Cheswick dealt with" are rarely specific enough for your reader's needs. Avoid other nonliteral and wordy phrases such as "the biggest reason for this" (just how BIG are reasons?), "at this particular point in time" (when else?), and ‘it is very interesting to note that’ (just prove it instead). "Etc" is nonspecific. Good alternatives to "etc." are "for example" or "such as" followed by a few concrete representative examples that best illuminate your point. Here is a grab bag of some fundamental but important stylistic concerns: - Avoid the words "very," "pretty," "quite," and "rather." They are too nonspecific for your needs. - When you add an "s" to an acronym you are simply pluralizing it and there is no need toput an apostrophe in front of it. - Even though "United States" sounds as though it is plural, it is still one country and thus it is considered singular. Here are several words and groups of words that are commonly misused in writing, either because they are confused with one another or just because they are tricky: Accept/Except Accept is a verb meaning receive with consent. Except is sometimes a verb but is more commonly used just as the word but is used. Affect/Effect Affect is a verb. To affect is to influence. Effect is usually a noun, and it means result. Effect can also be used as a verb to mean "to bring about," as in the phrase "to effect a change." Alot Alot is never correct. It is supposed to be two words; therefore: a lot. Never write a note to your professor at the end of the semester saying that you really learned alot. Alright Alright is listed in most dictionaries as a common misspelling of what should be two words. In your writing, use all right. Among/Between Among is appropriate when more than two things are involved. Between is used to describe a relationship involving only two things. As/Like These two words are not interchangeable. As means to the same extent, degree, or in the way that: "The engine responds as it should." Like means similar to: "He looks like his father." Cite/Site/Sight Cite is a verb meaning to mention or to make reference to. Site is a noun meaning location. Sight is both a noun and a verb that refers to seeing Compare to/Compare with To compare to is to suggest resemblances between things that have essentially different natures. To compare with is to suggest resemblances between things that have essentially similar natures. Comprise To comprise is to include or contain. The earth comprises rocks, but rocks do not comprise the earth. Different than/Different from Different than is not correct; different from is. Fact/Factor Use fact only in reference to matters capable of direct verification; do not use it in matters of subjective judgement. Use factor as literally as possible to describe a relationship in which one thing is. an actual agent for another thing. Farther/Further Farther is a word describing matters of distance, while further is used in a more general fashion to cover all other situations. Fewer/Loss Fewer is used to describe countable nouns and less is used to describe noncountable nouns. Countable nouns are often physical whereas noncountable ones are often nonphysical. Imply/Infer These two words are too often used interchangeably, but they are completely different in meaning. Imply means to suggest or indicate; infer involves a person actively applying deduction to a situation. In terms of They are virtually meaningless and are almost never needed. In terms of is just a wordy and sloppy transition. Usually it is an unoriginal disguise for a simple preposition, such as in. Irregardless Just wrong—an invented word. Use regardless. That/Which Rules governing these two words are a bit flexible, but "which" is too often used where "that" should be. That is preferable when you are defining or restricting a noun: "A law that does not have public support cannot be enforced." In contrast, which introduces a phrase that provides descriptive yet incidental information, and which usually requires commas on either side of the phrase that it introduces: "The law, which was enacted in 1897, was soon challenged by the courts." Try and Wrong, but often used. Try to is correct. Grammar and Punctuation In General: The comma is a SEPARATOR. Knowing this, it is useful to determine what sorts of things generally require separation. In sum, commas are used to separate COMPLETE IDEAS, DESCRIPTIVE PHRASES, ADJACENT ITEMS, and before and after TRANSITION WORDS. COMPLETE IDEAS need to be separated because, by definition, they could be grammatically autonomous, but the writer is choosing to link them. DESCRIPTIVE PHRASES need to be separated from the things that they describe in order to clarify that the descriptive phrases are subordinate. Descriptive phrases tend to come at the very beginning of a sentence, right after the subject of a sentence, or at the very end of a sentence. ADJACENT ITEMS are words or phrases that have some sort of parallel relationship. They are separated so that the reader can see each item individually. TRANSITION WORDS add new viewpoints to your material; commas before and after transition words help to separate and establish the relationship between major ideas. Colon is like a flare in the road; it announces that something is coming. It acts as an arrow pointing forward, telling you to read on for important information. Use the colon to introduce material that explains, amplifies, or summaries what has preceded it. The dash typed as a hyphen with a space on both sides, or as one long bar if your keyboard offers it—functions almost as a colon does in that it adds to the preceding material, but it is actually a bit more sophisticated. A dash indicates a strong pause, then gives extra special emphasis to whatever follows that pause. A dash is especially effective when you wish to redefine what has just been said and make it even more explicit and interesting. The semicolon almost always functions as an equal sign; it says that the two parts being joined are relatively equal in their length and have the same grammatical structure. The semicolon helps you to link two things whose interdependency you'wish to establish. The sentence parts on either side of the semicolon tend to depend on each other for complete meaning. Use the semicolon when you wish to create or emphasize a generally equal or even dependent relationship between two things. Semicolon is also handy for separating a series of parallel items that could otherwise be confused with each other. The hyphen is a JOINER. It joins two nouns to make one complete word, ad adjective and a noun to make a compound word, two words that, when linked, describe a noun. Also, hyphens are required when you use double numbers, "self" words, ethnic labels, and new word blends. The only easy rule to apply when using the hyphen is that the resulting word must act as one unit; they hyphen creates a word—either a noun or a modifier—that has a single meaning. Use the proper case of pronoun. Participial phrases function as adjectives and modify nouns. Use verbs carefully to express distinctions of time. Avoid unnecessary shifts in tense. Use singular verbs with singular subjects, plural verbs with plural subjects. Pay particular attention to verbs when using compound subjects. A verb agrees with its subject, not with a subjective complement. Use singular pronouns to refer to singular antecedents, plural pronouns to refer to plural antecedents. Use adjectives to modify nouns and pronouns. Use adverbs to modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Additional Information The list above is not intended to be comprehensive; it is offered as an overview of concerns you will want to remember. Among the many sources out there, you may want to investigate those listed below. Strunk, William Jr., and E.B. White, 1970. The Elements of Style, Third Edition, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, New York. Watkins, Floyd C., William B. Dillingham, and Edwin T. Martin, 1974. Practical English Handbook, 4th Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA. Williams, Joseph M., 1985. Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, Scott, Foreman and Company, Glenview Illinois, London England. If you would like some individual assistance to improve your writing, try the Writing Center in 219 Boucke Building (open Monday - Thursday 2:30 - 4:30pm and Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday from 7:00 - 9:00pm). The Writing Center also has an East Halls location in Sproul Lounge, Fisher Hall (open Monday & Wednesday from 8:00 - 10:00 pm). The service is provided by peer tutors and is free of charge to students. The tutors are among the most able student writers in the University and they represent a wide range of majors including science and engineering. Peer tutors will not do your work for you, but they will guide you in learning more about writing. Their goal is to enable you to write better independently after you leave the Center in your Penn State courses and later in your professional lives.