Grading Essays

Grading Essays Make sure your example is relevant to the question and thesis. This is a detailed paragraph, so how has the student gone from their notes to a complex response? Let’s see the steps that Matrix English Students are taught to follow when using evidence in a T.E.E.L structure. Here you’ll find a suggested approach to follow. Once you’ve written the whole essay, read over it again. Look at every premise you’ve used and claim you’ve made. Be aware whilst you’re reading that all arguments and authors are fallible. Think about the text you’re reading and think how you might respond to it. Whenever possible, use an example to support your position. This will ensure that the essay remains about your insights and perspective on the text and module. Don’t let critics overshadow your perspective â€" Don’t begin a paragraph with somebody else’s perspective. Begin with your interpretation of the text and then compare theirs with your own. for example, in a Module A essay when discussing evidence, explain how it conveys context or demonstrates the importance of storytelling. Incorporate the Module concerns into your topic and linking sentences â€" Don’t merely make the topic sentences about a theme or the text. Connect them to the module by incorporating the language of the Module Rubric. Anybody can memorise a selection of examples and list them. Introductions and conclusions are very important because they are the first and last words that your marker read. First impressions and final impressions matter, so it is very important to get them right! So, we need to know what an introduction needs to do. Explain the relevance of the critic â€" Don’t just quote critics, explain in detail why you disagree or agree with them. Write out that response, then tell me why it doesn’t defeat your argument, or at least why it only mitigates it. This is the stuff that actually makes up your argument. Make sure you relate the introduction to the Module. You have discussed the module concerns throughout the essayâ€" You just have to summarise the relevance into one sentence. You know what your themes areâ€" You can use your topic sentences to produce your thematic framework. You already have your thesisâ€" You just need to polish the wording of it. Don’t worry, it may sound like a lot, but it isn’t really. Let’s have a look at some of the practical steps that Year 11 Matrix English students learn in class. This is the single easiest way to get more marks. If I see an argument citing an author whom nobody else has mentioned, and it’s a decent argument, it will make my day. You will save yourself literally days over the course of your university career. They allow you to reference as you write, and you can create and reformat your bibliography and citations at the touch of a button. Finally, make sure you formulate every claim in the strongest possible terms. Don’t make your opponent look like they have no arguments, or take the weakest version of their argument. Think about the strongest possible response to the claim you’ve put forward, then beat that. If you’re making a claim, you need to tell me why that claim is correct. Think of a potential response to your argument, perhaps from an author you’re arguing against. Reread the question and your thesis in response to it. Check your plan and decide what the focus of the paragraph will be. Evidence and argument presented in a T.E.E.L structure â€" This is the substance of your argument. Now that we’ve refreshed our memory, let’s pick up where we left off with the last post. Writing an essay can be thought of as a process, and as such you may find it helpful to break down the task of essay-writing into a number of stages.