Term Paper Grading Policies
- READ ASAP: ALL THE WRITING TUTORIALS ON MY WEBSITE TUTORIAL PAGE.
- When you quote even part of a sentence from a source, it needs a citation and quote marks;
- Number the pages;
- Papers are graded on a 100 point basis;
- Term papers should have a separate works cited page, which does NOT count as part of the minimum. You should consult at least four sources, 2 pro, 2 con….. You don’t have to choose a term paper topic from my list, but if you come up with your own topic, I need to approve it.
- A lot of suggested term paper topics are listed on the appropriate course Resource Center on my website (see the bulletins tab). Also on that site: links to videos that give you a quick introduction to the topics.
- Read your paper aloud to a friend or family member, or have them read it–if they can’t follow it, probably I can’t, either;
- Turn on the spell and grammar checkers on your word processing program;
- Especially useful is Garammerly.com.
- Try to write direct, easy to comprehend, and well-structured prose;
- Clearly demarcate paragraphs by indentation (fives spaces or tab once);
- Avoid words you don’t really understand. Don’t try to impress me with big words.
- Avoid run-on sentences, i.e., keep sentences of short to medium length.
- Avoid overly long paragraphs;
- Remember to use Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com
- Below is a table of mistakes and points liable to be lost for them:
| Problem |
Points Deducted |
| Unapproved topic |
-20 to -60 (if you pick a topic upon which I have lectured, or was the topic of a short paper, or if the topic is not relevant to the class) |
| Disorganized |
-5 to -15 |
| Lack of citations |
-5 to -10 |
| No separate title page |
-5 |
| No separate works cited page/bibliography |
-5 |
| No research/literature search |
-25 minimum |
| Only one source (Desjardins or Bastiat, say) |
-5 to -15 (depending upon your ideas) |
| Tendentious/one-sided |
-10 to -20 |
| Style/grammar/spelling |
-5 to -15 |
| No quote marks (if Turnitin shows passage borrowed) |
-10 if cited for every case
***If NOT cited, it is plagiarism |
| Excessive unnecessary quotation |
-5 to -15 |
| No Turnitin check |
Not accepted (recorded as zero) |
| Short of minimum |
-5 for every quarter page |
- Below is a table of comment codes and what they mean:
| Mark/word |
What it means |
| A checkmark ( √ ) |
Good point/argument |
| An “X” |
Irrelevant/silly/patently false claim or argument |
| A “T” followed by a checkmark at top of the paper |
No plagiarism detected by Turnitin |
| “awk” |
Your sentence is awkwardly phrased (try reading it aloud) |
| “uncl” |
Your sentence or paragraph is unclear |
| “word” |
Wrong word to use in that context (look it up) |
| “sp” |
Spelling wrong |
| “Grammar” |
Ungrammatical sentence |
| “run-on” |
Run-on sentence |
| Question mark |
Statement is dubious, strange, contradictory, or out of place with the rest of the passage |
| “frag” |
Sentence fragment. |
| “means?” |
What does this term/phrase/sentence mean? |
| “circ” (circular) |
Question-begging language or argument |
| “straw” (strawman) |
Distorting someone’s argument |
