3V Essay Lesson 3 - Quality & Feedback

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 3

Essay Writing

Lesson 3: Quality & Feedback

How will your essay be judged?

How to judge your own and other essays?

Homework

If all is well; you have brought with you a finished essay. 

It is your improved version, so it's going to be close to perfect having a 5-paragraph structure & no commonly made mistakes.

Now it's time to judge how you've done. 

Hand in a picture/screenshot of your improved essay here.

Rubric

Make sure you have your essay in front of you.

This lessonup we're going to look at scoring your essay and you're going to score sample essays.

You'll highlight or underline some of the things relevant for scoring in your own essay so have a pen or highlighter ready.

The Rubric: the thing used to score your essay.

The thing used to score your essay.

Content

= inhoud

1) Have you included all the points from the question in your notes?

Highlight them in the text.

2) Is your writing too long/short?

Count your words.

Sample Assignment 1

What should be in the essay in order to get a sufficient for the content?

Sample Essay 1

What score would you give this essay for CONTENT?

15

Score

On the left you can see the score this essay got for content. 

It's not a 5 because it doesn't contain all parts of the assignment and the essay is too personal. It is also not a 1-2 because it is about the correct topic and the parts about pleasure and personal challenge are (even if it is very short) mentioned. 

In other words, it's not great, but also not all bad.

How would you score your own essay for content? Why?

Communicative Achievement

= hoe goed/duidelijk communiceer je?

1) Have you given clear reason to justify each argument

2) Have you given your opinion in the first and the final paragraph - but using different words?

Highlight this in the text.

3) Are you using the right tone? (Formal)

Highlight any uses of (in)formal language.

Sample Assignment 2

What should be in the essay in order to get a sufficient for communicative achievement?

Sample Essay 2

What score would you give this essay for COMMUNICATIVE ACHIEVEMENT?

15

Score

On the left you can see the score this essay received

It's not a 5 because the essay isn't completely formal (yeah; some personal examples). 

It's not a 1-2 because the ideas are clearly communicated, there is an introduction and a conclusion

In other words, it's not great, but also not all bad.

Sample Essay 2 (version 2)

The essay on the previous slide was about the same topic. Was it better or worse? Why?

Score

In this case it's pretty much perfect and thus was given the maximum score. 

The main difference between this and the previous essay is the fact more complex ideas are communicated and the tone is formal throughout.

! This is the difference between a sufficient (voldoende) and good grade.

How would you score your own essay for communicative achievement? Why?

Organisation

= organisatie

1) Is your writing organized into clear paragraphs?

2) Have you included linking words to connect your ideas?

Highlight the linking words/phrases you've used. Are they always the same ones or different?

Sample Essay Assignment 3

What should be in the essay in order to get a sufficient for organization?

Sample Essay 3 (Version 1)

Sample Essay 3 (Version 2)

Essay 3 Version 1

Essay 3 Version 2

1

2

3

4

5

Score

The difference between both essays is big. 

The main concern with the second version is the lack and incorrect use of cohesive devices and repetition. Especially the incorrect use of some of these results in this part getting only a 2 out of 5 score. 

The first essay uses plenty of (advanced) strategies for organization. Not just doing the basics correctly but showing more complex organization skills. 

! This is the difference between an insufficient (onvoldoende) and good grade.

How would you score your own essay for organization? Why?

Language

= taal

1) Have you checked your spelling/grammar/common mistakes carefully?

2) Have you used a variety of adjectives/adverbs? If you have repeated words can you use synonyms?

Highlight any uses of uncommon/advanced/fancy language you've used. Underline any repetition of words. 

Sample Essay Assignment 1

What should be in the essay in order to get a sufficient for language?

Sample Essay 1 (Version 1)

Sample Essay 1 (Version 2)

Which essay do you think scores better based ONLY on LANGUAGE?

1. Version 1
2. Version 2
3. Equal

Score

Both these essays had the same score for language and that score was pretty decent. 

Both used a range of vocabulary (so not just repeating the same words) and used less common lexis (minder veelvoorkomende woorden). 

Both use both simple and complex grammatical forms correctly. 

If there are any language errors they do NOT hinder communication. In other words, it is still easy to understand what the writer is trying to say. Errors that make it difficult to understand are worse and will lower your score more. 

! In other words, making a couple of mistakes isn't bad. 

How would you score your own essay for language? Why?

Now what?

You've scored your essay so you should have a pretty good idea of whether it is insufficient, sufficient, or maybe even good. 

Have 2 classmates check your essay using the rubric on the next slide.

Have them write down their scores.

Upload a picture of your own scores and the scores your classmates gave your essay for each category of the rubric.

Are there any big differences? Things that you disagreed about?

Are there any categories you did really well in? How about ones that were more challenging?

TO DO

At this point you know how to write an essay, how to correct your essay, and how to judge your essay.  You should also have a better idea of what you do well and what you might need some extra practice with. 

Now it is up to you to decide what to do. You can:

- Write another practice essay.

- Study LINKING WORDS or COHESIVE DEVICES

- Practice writing thesis statements & matching arguments

- Practice writing complex & compound sentences.

- Look at some more sample essays.

- Ask your teacher what is useful for you to do.