Contemporary Moral Issues Resource Center | Part 3
Part 3: Short Papers–General Rubric
I. The purpose of short papers:
- In this class, you will be asked to write three papers. The first will be to summarize some of my writing tutorials, and two will be to summarize major concepts or issues based upon reading one assigned article;
- I have two central goals:
- First: I want you to learn certain important ideas, and one of the best ways to come to grips with an idea is to summarize it in your own words;
- Second: I want to prepare you for your term paper–which is a bigger piece of your grade and is your chance to express your creativity. Of central importance in a term paper is your use of resource papers written by others, and this is where you must have the ability to summarize other people’s thoughts in your own words.
II. How the short papers are graded:
- If the paper isn’t turned in through Turnitin, it will not be graded and will be recorded as a zero. Why? because the purpose is to get you to summarize in your own words the central article, and Turnitin shows whether you are using your own words.
- Your Turnitin duplication score MUST BE ZERO or it will not be graded. The whole point is to overcome the lazy tendency to repeat back other peoples’ words.
- Attach to your paper the “class homepage” report showing both your name and the zero duplication score. That is proof that you did not duplicate other peoples’ words.
- Number the pages.
- Papers are graded on a 100 point basis.
- Short papers should be 1.5 to 2.5 pages long, double-spaced. Why can’t you write more? Because short papers are meant to have you read and understand the major general arguments surrounding a given issue. You only have space to do that, not to express and defend your position on the matter. Your term paper is where you can articulate and defend a position.
- No quoting from the original is allowed–you are to paraphrase only. And (as one of the tutorials you will read points out), there are only a few situations where quoting (as opposed to paraphrasing) is useful.
- Please do NOT quote my original questions from the assignment, because Turnitin will flag it as plagiarism
III. Here is what a Turnitin class homepage report looks like:
