Grades HowTo

Every week, you should be...

• frequently checking the wiki for the latest page changes, comments, and forum posts
• doing the readings, and annotating and discussing them
• submitting bookmarks to Media Links and voting on your favorites

Throughout the semester, you should be...

• blogging at Mediated
• working on the various course assignments
• working on your Final

Some thoughts on grading

I like to make my grading practices as transparent as I can for the entire class. Each assignment indicates the criteria I will be using for grading, so please read the assignment description carefully.

Generally, I give A's to projects that not only engage the texts we've read (as well as pertinent class discussions), but also show original and creative thinking. Several great projects are not A papers because they tend to be descriptive rather than analytical; in other words, they show a good understanding of something, but, they don't venture into the realms of intellectual speculation and curiosity. To be able to repeat an argument with clarity is a good skill, but, it is not the same as being able to push an argument into new directions.

In a nutshell, an A project is intellectually creative as well as clearly written or produced; it makes a general argument and then gives specific examples; it captures the main points of an author's argument and distinguishes between arguments of primary and secondary importance (i.e., it prioritizes the material); it not only describes things but also analyzes them (by showing the relationship between A and B, for instance); it has a central theme/ themes running through it; it is grammatically correct and elegantly written.

At the other end of the spectrum, a C (or lower) project is generally confused and confusing to review; it fails to understand an author's central argument, or to make one of its own; is loosely structured (jumps from topic to topic or lacks clear organization); meanders from one topic to the next without systematically pursuing a clear chain of thought; gives every argument equal importance, includes details that are not necessary for making a point, and is grammatically weak or incorrect (incomplete sentences; misspelled; wrong citation format; bad English).

A grade of F or 0 may indicate that you turned in a project after the due date/time. To tell me that you had several other papers to write is not an excuse. The due dates for the projects are given in your syllabus and it is your responsibility to give yourself ample time to turn in the project on the due date.

You should also understand that as a teacher, it is my obligation to assign grades regardless of my opinion of the student as a person. I've given high grades to students I don't particularly get along with, and low grades to students I really like. Grades are a reflection of the work you did, not of the person (I think) you are.

Also, there is often and unfortunately no correlation between the amount of work you spend on a project and the grade you get. Please don't tell me that you deserve X grade because you spent Y number of hours working on an assignment.

Having said all this, I understand that in the end grading is also a subjective thing since I may have standards that others may not. So, if you feel that I have given you an egregiously unacceptable grade, please talk to me. I will give you the opportunity to pick a professor in the Communications department to whom we will give your project to grade. If that person gives it a much better grade than I have, I will happily reconsider the one I've given you (this option is available only for major projects, not for every 10-point assignment in the course).

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