Essay Rubric Evaluation

By Nora Hixson

-My thesis I think would be Strong, but not Superior. I think this would be because The people who reviewed my rough drafts were able to find two Freaking Points instead of just having one clear one.

 -I think my Clarity/Coherence would also be a Strong because I do have a few run-on sentences and sometimes my paragraphs don't really flow together.

-For Use of Sources I think I would be either a Strong or a Competent because I have not used nearly enough of them in my rough drafts and sometimes I will use them incorrectly in my writing.

Reviewing Essays In-Class:

By Sarah Moore

Three things I improved:

• I took into account the feedback my partner Nora wrote, which was rewording the awkward sentences, taking out ideas that didn't match my thesis, and adding support ideas.
• I rewrote my introduction, added more to my first body paragraph, and wrote the second body paragraph, as well as added (some scrambled) points to follow in each of my paragraphs for when I next edit it.
• I found and cited several more sources and incorporated them especially in my second body paragraph. 

Three things my partner improved on: Nora Hixson

• She added a bunch more detail to all of her paragraphs--I definitely saw an increase in size.
• At the end of each paragraph, I could tell what her points were much clearer than I could've before; I can tell she spent time on evaluating what she really wanted each paragraph to say.
• Particularly in the second body paragraph, she uses a positive amount of ethos. 

Improvements on rough Draft for research essays.

By Sarah Daly

     The essay that i reviewed was about how pet ownership and therapy animals improve health.

 Since i read this essay on Tuesday she improved her conclusion to include her stronger points of her

essay. She is still waiting to hear back from a few of her expert sources but her other facts are well

implemented into her essay for smooth and well places facts. This essay also has a large work cited

page and many valid and creditable source that have enhanced her thesis.

    Some of the improvements towards my essay is that I completed my counterargument and then

also my counter to my counterargument. I also tried to beef up my introduction to make it more

engaging. I also had someone else edit my paper and give me feed back with my spelling and word

chose.

In-Class Essay Review

By Nora Hixson

Ways I improved: 

1. My body paragraphs were not at all complete, so I turned them from being one sentence each to almost all of them being long paragraphs.

2. I started using my sources and citations to back up my claims and to make them more specific.

3. I tried to re-word all of my awkward sentences and made them sound more professional and clear.

Ways my partner improved: Sarah Moore

1. She took my feedback into consideration and re-worded some of her sentences.

2. She added more sources and information into her arguments and added citations.

3. She also explained the difficult terms and ideas more thoroughly and made them easier to understand.  

Reading Response: Chapter 17

By Nora Hixson


Personal Response: This chapter was very useful to me because it talked about how to properly use sources in your writing. It focused on the different ways to integrate the support into your writing, like paraphrasing, summarizing, quoting, and synthesizing. I think these are all very useful, especially as we work on our research papers in class.

Professional Response: I think the most important part of this chapter was the lay out of all different forms of plagiarism and how to avoid them. It gave guidelines for the best ways to avoid it, as well as examples of the most common mistakes that end up in plagiarism. I will definitely be using this chapter as we continue to work on our research papers.

Picture: Here

Chapter 17: Reading Response

By Sarah Moore

Personal Response: 
This chapter did a great job explaining what paraphrasing, summarizing, quoting, and synthesizing are, and simplified each term so they were easy to distinguish. I found all of it very helpful, and especially good guidelines to follow as our class begins to polish our research essays. 


Professional Response: 
In this chapter, I learned the multiple methods a writer can use to cite or quote a book in their paper. Adding quotations or research from credible studies validates any paper or argument, adds necessary support bits, and I feel is really crucial in getting a good grade. That's why this chapter was so helpful, because it breaks down all of the various ways you can use quotations, and makes it easy to apply. To summarize, paraphrasing is when you reword a person's thought, but strictly in your own words. They do not need quotation marks. Summarizing is pretty much the opposite of paraphrasing; you use your own words to explain the general purpose of the thought. Quoting does involve quotation marks, because you are using the author's exact words. And last of all, synthesizing is the combination of the three, and can be rather large as it includes several/all of your sources. 

Photo Credit: Here

Chapter 17 Reading Response.
By Sarah Daly

    Integrating Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism

Professional Response
        I think this is a very good chapter when writing a paper. It makes the point that you want to paraphrase and summarize more then have direct quotes. It helps the paper flow better and helps you get your point across in your own words. Plagiarism usually occurs because of carelessness or poor time management. It could be either intentional or unintentional.

Personal Response
       I think this is an important chapter. It gives good tips on including paraphrasing, summaries, or direct quotes. I find it easier and clearing when i read a paper to have the author summaries or paraphrase their sources rather then directly quote. It helps the paper flow better and keeps the same tone. The part of plagiarism always makes me nervous. I don't trust myself to cite my sources correctly all the time even if my intent isn't to copy someone else's work.