February 14

Paper One Results
You should all have your final draft of paper one back in PDF format. If you have problems opening it, let me know. If you have questions about your grade, I will be happy to answer them in person, by email, or through AIM. Here's how the class did, as a whole:

• 22% of the class passed
• 64% were close to passing, but did not pass
• 14% did not hand in a paper

A note about grades in Expos. No doubt, you have heard (and perhaps even believe) that the first few papers "don't count." That's not exactrly true. It is true that this paper will not hurt your final grade, but it is not true that it doesn't matter. See Expos Myths for a discussion of this idea. Let me also say that I found the class's performance, as a whole, not just typical of my 101 classes, but even a bit stronger. Keep in mind, when I say this, that the average final grade in my classes is a B and that no one who has remained in my class (and not disappeared) has ever failed.

General Paper Comments
With each set of papers, there seem to be universal issues that I encounter across all papers, this time those issues are:

• Project. Many people had some sense of a project or argument or position or thesis, but often this was not clearly articulated, or if specified, it became lost in the paragraphs. Remember that your project should be clear from the intro, your project should clearly address the assignment, and each paragraph should clearly relate to your project.
• Proofing. There tended to be a great deal of minor error, even typo's. Keep in mind that error can lower your grade by as much as half a letter grade. Proofing on-screen is a BAD idea. Print out your paper and proofread it carefully.
• Work with text. Everyone was engaged with the readings, making connections between them in some form. But what was frequently missing was an indication of how this work with text supported the overall project. That's the "Ce" of the formula--the place where you explain how this connection or textual work relates back to your project/argument.

Sample Paper
I've asked on of the students with a stronger paper if I could use that paper as a sample for class, and the student consented. You can read (or download) this paper by clicking (or right clicking to download) here. The comments on this draft are not the comments I put on this student's final paper but rather are meant to indicate the strengths I see in this paper.

The Truth about the Grading Criteria
I wanted to let you all in on something. You're taking 101 during a period of transition. It used to be that 101 was concerned only with "argument" (which came to mean proving someone right or wrong) and "connection" (which ended up being mechanical, like the formula). I just got home from a meeting on the grading criteria. We're trying, in many ways, to pen up the criteria to reflect the fact that these limited skills are useull in the real world. We are moving towards "project" and "working with text" as ways to recognize more finely the critical skills we want you to acquire.

What does this mean for you? In some ways very little. The grading criteria you see on the 101 Course Homepage right now is THE grading criteria, and what I am obligated to use. And, in truth, we're not radically changing things. On the other hand, this does mean more opportunity for all of you. In some sense, we're liberalizing the criteria to recognize different kinds of projects and different ways of working with text.

Anyway, though you might like a peek behind the curtain.

Peer Revision
Please have your dafts posted as soon as you can for your peers. You should read and complete a peer review sheet for 2 papers. See the "Put All Papers Here" forum for groups.

To Do for Next Class:

1. Post your draft by Fri some tie, so your peers have the weekend to work on it.
2. Complete peer revision on 2 papers.
3. Read Blackmore.