I'm pretty hard-assed about the draft -- if it's not good, they won't get feedback. I tell them that the draft should be their best effort, or they won't get good feedback (I won't waste my time on it). The better the draft, the better the feedback. I do this in methods more than in the upper-division courses -- those I teach are lab courses, and they're doing a series of lab reports. In those I rely on their carrying what feedback they get on early reports into later ones, as you suggest.
In drafts I get in methods I focus more on the argument than grammar and format; it's more a revision step than editing. I let them edit. I might do some editing in the first couple of paragraphs and then rely on them to carry it through the rest of the paper. I'm more interested that they support an hypothesis with the literature, and summarize that literature in such a way that it helps the argument for the hypothesis. But even doing this I get a huge range in grades on papers.... They don't all get As by any stretch. m -- Marc Carter, PhD Associate Professor and Chair Department of Psychology College of Arts & Sciences Baker University -- ________________________________ From: Steven Specht [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 8:36 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Please check my paper BEFORE you grade it I used to look at drafts, but it got to a point where I thought most students were taking advantage (i.e., throwing something together only to then have me organize and revise their work). BUT, I also am interested in teaching writing. What I have gone to is a series of papers throughout the course of the semester so that they can use the comments from previous papers to work on subsequent papers. I think in a way, this may actually model the development of "real" writing across the years. -S ======================================================== Steven M. Specht, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Department of Psychology Utica College Utica, NY 13502 (315) 792-3171 monkeybrain-collagist.blogspot.com<http://monkeybrain-collagist.blogspot.com> "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Martin Luther King Jr. On Feb 3, 2011, at 9:27 AM, Marc Carter wrote: Call me crazy, but I always *require* at least one draft -- otherwise I'm not really teaching writing, it seems to me. They won't use feedback on one assignment to improve another, so I do a whole series of ideas, feedback, initial references, feedback, annotated outline, feedback, draft, feedback, and sometimes another draft with feedback. This helps avoid the bought-paper, and I feel like it teaches them how to write. But the biggest classes I do this with are 20. :) m -- Marc Carter, PhD Associate Professor and Chair Department of Psychology College of Arts & Sciences Baker University -- -----Original Message----- From: Shearon, Tim [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 4:05 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: RE: [tips] Please check my paper BEFORE you grade it Miguel, et al: I do understand that some of us have lighter "student loads" and that not everyone can do so but I do make that offer to everyone. Here is why- I don't think it means you have to read the paper twice! You've already seen it and thus the second read is less "dense" and full of errors. I basically give a "window" for each course during which they can turn in drafts. In addition to getting better papers the second time (I make them turn in the first paper with the suggestions/etc when they turn in the final paper) I find that very few students actually take advantage of the offer! If memory serves, the best and worst writers are often the ones who take advantage of it in upper division courses. But I've never had more than four or five students in a class turn in drafts so, knock on wood, it has not caused me a huge extra work load. I suspect some of the workload created is dependent on a number of factors including teaching style, courses taught, institution, etc. so it is hard to say without trying it what the response would be but it works for me at this institution. :) Tim _______________________________ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD Professor, Department of Psychology The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and systems "You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." Dorothy Parker ________________________________________ From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [[email protected]] Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 2:44 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Please check my paper BEFORE you grade it I usually tell my students who make such requests that it would not be fair for me to do it just for her without extending the same offer to everyone else. In turn, it would not be fair to me to have to read all student papers twice. Miguel ----- Original Message ----- From: "Karl L Wuensch" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 4:25:52 PM Subject: [tips] Please check my paper BEFORE you grade it How best to handle the student request that you check her paper for errors BEFORE you grade it so she can be sure to get a perfect paper when she hands it in later? 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