Essay Assessment Details (Semester 1, 2017) Marks 60 Weighting 30% Due Date Week 9 (submit to Turnitin by the end of Week 9: Friday, 6pm) Length 1200 words (+ or – 10% i.e. from 1080 – 1320 words) Topic Group work is frequently used as part of the assessment process in university. While it is generally seen to have many benefits from an educational point of view, students may find it challenging. Discuss. Required Reading Essay Required reading: Hillyard, C., Gillespie, D., & Littig, P. (2010). University students’ attitudes about learning in small groups after frequent participation. Active Learning in Higher Education, 11(1), 9-20. doi:10.1177/1469787409355867 Details • Use FIVE (5) academic sources, including the required reading. No additional sources need be used as the aim is to select and use five (5) good quality sources only. • You CANNOT use Internet websites as sources of information for your essay. For example, Wikipedia or Baidu. • You are advised NOT to focus on advantages and disadvantages in relation to the topic. Rather you are encouraged to examine key points raised in the topic and consider different perspectives found in the sources. • You are NOT required to provide solutions or recommendations for the topic in your conclusion. Rather you are required to write a summary of the main point discussed in your essay as a way to reinforce the ideas presented. • Present your essay using one consistent referencing style (APA 6th or Harvard if you are a Design student). Indicate on the front page of your essay which style you are using. • Show your knowledge of the topic area as it is discussed in the literature. • Write in academic essay style (including paraphrases, quotations, citations, correctly written paragraphs, appropriate introduction and conclusion and a clear argument, and a reference list). Headings are NOT required in this essay. Use Turnitin to help correct your essay before final submission Griffith College uses Turnitin to check the originality of your essay. Turnitin finds material that is plagiarised from a range of sources such as other students’ essays, the web, databases and the Griffith Library Catalogue. Before the final submission: Use Turnitin to check the originality of your essay and to allow yourself to make improvements where necessary (paraphrasing in particular). Your essay must be uploaded onto Turnitin as a Word file. In other words it must be a .docx or .doc ONLY and NOT any other file type such as txt, .xml or .pdf. Submission Marking Electronic submission • An Electronic Copy of your essay to Turnitin (Essays NOT submitted to Turnitin will receive a mark of zero). Your tutor will provide details for you to do this. Paper Submission • A Griffith College Assignment Coversheet filled in with all the details required INCLUDING the Academic Integrity Declaration and Student Consent tick boxes. • You are required to provide the following paper copies. Highlight one example from your research articles showing where you paraphrased an idea AND one example from your research articles showing where you selected a quote. You may print the relevant pages only showing the evidence you used but it must be clear to your teacher where the ideas appear in your essay. • Each time you make a change to your essay document [drafting and editing] you MUST save it with a new version number, e.g. Essay v1, and then Essay v2. This is to show you have added new information or changed something [edited] to improve your essay. You MUST be able to provide these early drafts of your essay for your tutor or the Program Convenor if requested. Therefore, you are advised to save all your essay drafts on the student drive or in another secure place. • A Paper Copy of your essay is to be submitted to your tutor ONLY IF YOUR TUTOR REQUESTS IT. • Your essay will be marked electronically in Turnitin (called GradeMark). Once results are released for the essay, you will be able to see your mark and feedback from your teacher in Turnitin. • You will also be able to see your mark in the ‘Results’ section of the student portal. Submission Turnitin Originality Report shows appropriate matches Document submitted in the correct file type for checking Yes Yes No – essay cannot be marked at this stage; tutor to investigate No – essay cannot be marked at this stage; student required to resubmit essay as a .doc or .docx. Penalties may be applied for late submission. Authorship Authorship authentication – language is representative of the student’s usual level of English communication Yes No – possible collusion OR copying from another person OR submitting another person’s work as if it were the student’s own work – drafts requested / student required to explain circumstances – essay cannot be marked at this stage; tutor to investigate Marking Criteria and Standards Essay Structure Dimensions of the essay Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Essay Plan (completed) - essay plan provides clear and specific points directly relevant to the topic (to establish the argument) - all sections are complete and show development of ideas - source material cited is selective - essay plan provides clear points directly relevant to the topic (to establish the argument) - all sections are complete and show development of ideas - source material cited is selective - essay plan provides points directly relevant to the topic (to establish the argument) - most sections are complete and show some development of ideas - source material cited is relevant - essay plan provides points related to the topic (to establish the argument) - most sections are complete and show basic development of ideas - source material cited is sound - essay plan provides points that show minimal / no relation to the topic most sections are complete / incomplete and show little development of ideas - source material provided is scant / not provided 4.5 – 5.0 4 – 4.25 3.25 – 3.75 2.5 – 3.0 0 – 2.25 Introduction - First sentence, background sentences Position statement or argument - begins with a clear statement of the general topic area. - provides well selected and cited and uncited background material. - provides a comprehensive position statement which gives an excellent indication of the full essay argument - begins with a clear statement of the general topic area. - provides well selected and cited background material. - provides a comprehensive position statement which gives a good indication of the essay argument - begins with some acknowledgement of the general topic area. - provides fairly well selected background material. Citation may have been used. - provides a position statement which gives an adequate indication of the essay argument - begins with some indication of the general topic area - provides adequate background with a citation or is relevant but does not come from the literature. - provides a very basic position statement or provides a basic outline of all the main content areas for the essay - no topic sentence or deviates from the set topic area. - provides no or inappropriate background material. - provides little or no outline of the essay content Paragraph order & topic sentences - paragraphs follow the order indicated in the position statement and progress logically - topic sentences clearly express the topic and position of paragraph - paragraphs follow the order indicated in the position statement and progress logically - topic sentences clearly indicate the topic and position of paragraph - paragraphs follow the order indicated in the position statement. - topic sentences generally provide an indication of the topic and position of the paragraph - paragraphs sometimes follow the order indicated in the outline. - some topic sentences provide an indication of the topic and position of the paragraph - paragraphs order lacks logicality and argument detracts. - no topic sentences provided or topic sentences do not indicate the topic or position of the paragraph Conclusion - conclusion gives a clear summary of the content and skilfully returns to the background to provide a strong conclusion - conclusion gives a clear summary of the content and makes some attempt at linking back to the background - conclusion gives a clear summary of the content - conclusion gives a basic or partial summary of the content and/or contains new material - conclusion gives an inadequate summary of the content or it is not evident 8.5 - 10 7.5 – 8.25 6.5 – 7.25 5 – 6.25 0 – 4.75 Essay Content Dimensions of the essay Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Quality of sources Required reading - selected a diverse range of relevant and reliable sources (from more than one discipline and including a book). - selectively used evidence from the required reading - used the required number of sources Selected a range of relevant and reliable sources from more than one discipline. - ably used evidence from the required reading - used the required number of sources - selected relevant and reliable sources. - used evidence from the required reading - used the required number of sources -selected relevant and reliable sources, generally appropriate for the topic. - adequately used evidence from the required reading - selected fewer than the required number of sources or sources that are not relevant or reliable. - not used or have partially used evidence from the required reading Evidence of working across the literature (distinctions) - thoroughly examined distinctions within the content keywords that appear in the literature used. - examined distinctions within the content keywords that appear in the literature used well. - adequately examined distinctions within the content keywords that appear in the literature used. - adequately examined distinctions within the content keywords that appear in the literature used. - not / poorly examined distinctions the literature used Evidence of working across the literature (building ideas, showing agreement, providing rich detail in explanations, examples and elaborations) -effectively build argument sometimes using more than 2 sources - used a range of the following in a sophisticated manner: explanations, examples, elaborations and links - provision of meaningful background/context and the appropriate use of tentative language -examined disagreement -built ideas using 2 or more cited supporting sources; -effectively used some of the following: explanations, examples, elaborations and links -adequate provision of background/context and/or the use of tentative language -indicated disagreement -at least 2 supporting and cited claims provided; - used mostly correctly some of the following: explanations, examples, elaborations and links -an attempt at providing background/context and -some appropriate use of tentative language - indicated disagreement to some extent -at least 2 supporting and cited claims provided; -have attempted but flaws are evident in: explanations, examples, elaborations and links - not attempted the following or are inappropriately handled: Supporting claims do not support position or are uncited/subjective or are not provide; explanation/examples are inadequate; only one supporting claim provided Quality of response - addressed all parts of the essay question capably; response is unified and convincing; response shows a thorough understanding of the scope of the topic - addressed all parts of the essay question, with most aspects addressed capably; response is unified; response shows a good understanding of the scope of the topic - addressed in some way all parts of the essay question; response is mainly unified; response shows a good understanding of the scope of the topic - addressed most of the parts of the essay question; essay may lack unity; response shows an understanding of the scope of the topic - addressed the essay topic in a broad manner or only some aspects have been addressed or - response lacks unity (e.g. poor development); response shows poor understanding of the topic 21.25 - 25 18.75 – 21 16.25 – 18.5 12.5 – 16 12 - 0 Technical Skills Dimensions of the essay Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Paraphrasing (capabilities with use of the literature; possible academic integrity breaches; plagiarism concerns) - paraphrases effectively transform original text while conveying original meaning -a discerning selection of paraphrases to support purpose very well - paraphrases effectively transform original text while conveying original meaning -selected suitable paraphrases to effectively support purpose - most paraphrases adequately transform original text and original meaning retained -selected paraphrases to support purpose - some paraphrases adequately transform original text and original meaning mostly retained -selected to adequately support purpose - some evidence of copying / not acknowledging sources - has few or no adequate paraphrases or almost all paraphrases are the same or almost the same as the original text (copied) or original meaning is lost or continuous copying from sources can be identified through Tii matching Quoting - quotations are discerning selected for impact and correctly formatted and cited. - quotations are well selected, correctly formatted and cited. - has adequately chosen quotations which are formatted correctly and cited correctly. - quotations fairly well selected – minor formatting or punctuation errors; citation provided - irrelevant quotation or misquoted or does not have a quotation or quotation marks or citations are missing. Citations - all citations accurate -only minor errors in complex citations (eg. secondary or missing page number) - highly accurate simple citations -authors family name provided - some citation details omitted (eg. year or page)or initials present - no citations or numerous minor or major errors(eg. author’s first name or no name) Reference list -a comprehensive, fully accurate list in all respects including presentation (hanging indent, line spacing etc.) - reference list contains all sources cited in the essay and no others, -is alphabetical, and all fields are provided with only presentation errors (eg. hanging indent, line spacing) - reference list contains all sources cited in the essay and no others, -is alphabetical, on a separate page and most fields are provided with a few minor formatting errors - an omission is evident or source/s not cited in text is present; -is alphabetical and on a separate page -there are numerous minor errors in formatting - reference list is omitted or incomplete -major errors in content, style and formatting Paragraph coherence - paragraphs have a high level of coherence - paragraphs are coherent. - paragraphs mostly show coherence - paragraphs show general coherence - paragraphs lack coherence and /or are fragmented Language use (language is representative of the student’s usual level of English communication) - is very well written in terms of command of English language use. - evidence that explicit and implicit meaning in the literature has been well understood - is well written in terms of command of English language use. - evidence that explicit and some implicit meaning in the literature has been understood - shows some command of English language use (though a few errors are evident). - evidence that the literature has been understood - shows sufficient command of English language use (though mistakes are evident, basic understanding is not impeded). -evidence that the literature has been adequately understood - English language use and sentence construction impede understanding. - evidence that the literature has not been adequately understood 17 – 20 15.0 – 16.5 13.5 – 14.5 9.5 – 13.0 0.0 - 9.0 Overall Mark HD D C P F 25.5 - 30 22.5 - 25 19.5 - 22 15 - 19 0.0 – 14.5 Result Summary Essay Plan ___/ 05 (scaffolded template) Essay Structure ___/ 10 Essay Content ___/ 25 Technical Skills ___/ 20 Total ___/ 60