essay on care and effort
The expectation is that you will produce a final essay between 8-10 double spaced pages in length, not including the bibliography and title page. This essay will be based on the course themes, with the specific topic being at your discretion. It is advisable that you choose something that you are interested in so you can sustain an argument or analysis over the requisite length. Graphs, images, and other materials can be included but should be kept to a minimum to ensure you meet the expectations for original work. Citations must be included in a format of your choice, so long as they are applied consistently throughout the paper. You can feel free to be creative with the format of the paper, so long as the substance is of a high quality. Quotations are especially important to cite properly, and should be kept to a minimum. Much of the material should be prepared and written in your own words.
Grading
The essay will be graded along three separate dimensions.
- Did you meet the technical requirements of the assignment: is it of the assigned length, discusses a relevant topic, refers to credible sources, and has a title page, bibliography, and citations.
- The overall quality of your analysis or argument. This is a qualitative rather than quantitative assessment meaning it is not an exact science. Two qualities to look for include whether your factual statements are empirically grounded and whether the argument as a whole coherences conceptually and principally. A very high caliber paper will also be original and insightful in its approach, presenting new positions above and beyond the cited material.
- The essay is well polished and demonstrates a high degree of care and effort. This includes being relatively free of spelling and grammar errors, including subheadings and page numbers, written in an understandable manner and other such considerations.
Of these three dimensions the last is the most important.