Prof. Harvey
Spring 2005
RESUBMISSION, REVISION, & RESEARCH
EXPANSION POLICY:
I will
be returning feedback on your essays via email during Spring Break.
Revising your 6-page essay or expanding it into a
10-page research version gives you the opportunity to do something
intellectually mature and also somewhat daunting. I don't want you to
just fix a few sentence problems or "squeeze out" additional pages.
I want you to really read your own writing/ideas and the text you are writing
about in a non-passive, intense manner.
This means scrutinizing what you've said, looking for angles of
complexity that need to be considered, for additional specifics that will help
round out a train of thought, and so forth.
If you get an NG (no grade)
on your essay:
This means that the essay has too many problems in its current form for
me to read it. You need to spend more
time on your paper, review my paper guidelines and revising tips, and likely
visit the university Learning/Writing Center for assistance. I will fully assess your essay after
you resubmit it. The paper should be resubmitted
within two weeks of my returning it to you.
If you get an average-to-good grade (C- to B
range):
You can if you wish revise your essay to elevate your grade. The new grade will replace the old grade if significant
improvement is shown. The standards for
improvement are high. You cannot just
mechanically tinker here and there and expect a better grade. You should apply my suggestions, but also
rethink, polish, and correct aspects of the essay on your own. The revision may
be turned in anytime before the day of the Final Exam.
Keep in mind that I do not highlight all the problems that an essay may have in
terms of grammar, sentence structure, and so on. Likewise with the ideas:
my suggestions usually pertain to weaknesses in a basic thesis or the need for
clarification and elaboration. But you might improve the thesis (and your
development of that thesis) through other means than what I've touched upon in
my comments.
If you get a good to
excellent grade (B to A range):
You can directly revise and expand your essay into the 10-page
(or more) research version if you are interested in that option. Likewise, as above: an expanded research
version that substantially improves, rather than just adds to, the original
gets weighted very heavily when I tally up final grades. If you are taking either the theory or
semi-comprehensive exam option, you can, if you wish, revise the paper just as an improved six-page paper (if you got a “B”,
for instance). If you follow the
research route, follow the schedule of steps on the online policy page.
BASIC POINTS ABOUT RESEARCH
OPTION (see also assignments in the online policy page):
--The purpose of doing research, for this paper, is not:
--to
exhaust yourself tracking down other peoples' ideas
--to
provide a conveyor belt from the library to me
--to fill in the extra four pages with research
but no further analysis or refinement of analysis
--The purpose is, however:
--to find some biographical or
historical/cultural or literary-critical information that would help support your
argument and ideas
--to integrate your findings in a fashion that buttresses your points
but avoids dominating or rhetorically usurping them
--to discover the pleasure of tapping into a
scholarly dialogue
--You must integrate into your essay at least three significant pieces
of research information from three sources, one of which should be a scholarly
book. Quality sources, used thoughtfully: this is key, not the amassment
of quotes from a bunch of different sources.
--The information may be historical-cultural or
literary-interpretive. You may quote directly, paraphrase, or combine
quote and paraphrase: I leave the choice or mixture to you, as long as you cite
sources correctly (using whatever method you were trained in by your
composition instructor).
--You may locate sources via the vast array of directories, indexes, and
so on available to you through the FIU library website or via general WWW
search engines. The information must, however, come from a
non-encyclopedia type source. You can use essays or background materials
that appear on the WWW, but only if they are written by real scholars (somewhere
credit will be given on the site)—usually a professor at a university. You should try to figure out what you want to
find and how to find it on your own. But I'll be available via email or
on class nights if you end up needing some tips and assistance. I highly
recommend that you use "Project Muse" and "Jstor"
databases (see the A-Z electronic databases at the FIU online library site),
which provide html or pdf essays from a wide array of
scholarly journals.
GRADING SCALE FOR SIX-PAGE PAPER:
A = focused,
interesting main idea suggesting you read, re-read, and probed around.
Prose is not merely correct: it is compelling and sophisticated.
Organization makes sense given the topic and argument of the paper. The
paper is of sufficient quality that it could be put online as a sample paper.
B = Main idea and
development are clear, but the organization is weak in a section or two, or
there are a few sentence or punctuation glitches that suggest lack of thorough
editing.
C= Paper has a main
idea, but not thought through by attending to the text actively.
Organization falls apart at key moments. Sentence construction, although
usually correct, is imprecise or wordy.
D = The thesis is vague, and the organization is often
chaotic. Or the prose style suggests the need to go to the
No Grade = The paper goes astray so far, or lacks sufficient editing,
or is so half-hearted, that it cannot be read.