J7A Essay Process (Fall 2012)
Step 04
If you have received a response for Step 03 and want to meet with your mentor, go to the RRR session page and read the instructions there.
Step 04 Overview
Step 04 is a resubmission of your essay. You might have made no changes at all,only few changes, or substantial completed a major revision—follow the guidance of your mentor. Of course you can polish your paper further even if not requested to do so.
My grade deadline is tight. Therefore, if you miss the submission deadline I will not wait for it; I will use Step 03 as your submission. There will be a lower grade, however, for not submitting the step.
Your essay is read by your mentor but is also read by one or both of the other graders. S/he or they will also give you a grade. They do not know whose paper they are reading, you do not know who is giving you the additional grade. See further details under how this step is graded.
Specific Step 04 Instructions
Once you receive your essay, read all the comments made by the mentor and rework your essay accordingly. Search all comments (including the margin notes) for WORKONTHIS, CONSIDERTHIS, NOTETHIS. Since your mentor is NOT giving you a grade for the essay itself but rather for the your total effort on the essay process across all steps, attending to matters identified by your mentor is very important to the grade. Review the meaning of these terms, given on the Step 03 page.
Complete the two forms and submit on time.
*12/6/2012: A student asked if the summary is still part of the submission. Yes, it is.
Watch for an ACCEPTED (or not) from me and write me within 24 hours if I have not responded.
How to submit Step 04
This is a REQUIRED submission for all students, EVEN IF NO CHANGES ARE TO BE MADE ON THE ESSAY.
To whom do you submit?
Me, and your mentor. The two of us only. Please try to make sure we are both on the "To" line of the email. (Technical reasons at my end for this request.)
What subject line should you use?
J7A_S04_LASTNAME_classname essayfini
FormS to be used
Everyone submits two forms in a single email: one form is to be used by your mentor, the other is to be collected by me then distributed to the non-mentor readers. Both forms go in ONE email to me and your mentor. (The mentor will throw away the coded form.)
Step 04: Completed essay, perhaps revised. This one has your name on it.
Note for non-native writers
All work MUST be your own, from concept to submission. No consultation with friends or family or University writing resources except that you can use official University sources to help with research issues and focus your work in limited ways. There are severe penalties for doing so. You can submit more than one version. Refer to the Style requirements page for the specifics on this and the severe penalties for not following those requirements.
Late & other penalties
There may well be penalties for not following submission and format instructions correctly.
Late penalties for Step 03:
- If Step 04 arrives more than 30 minutes after the deadline it is refused. ALLOW A TEN MINUTE BUFFER because now and then a server is late in delivering the essay and I will go by the time stamp, not the student's claim, regarding delivery time. No exceptions. Consequences of past due submission:
- Step 03 is used as the Step 04 submission. (If the student never submitted Step 03, then an "F" is given for Step 04 as well.)
- It is likely the Step 04 grade given by the mentor will be very low (refer to the questions the mentor asks him- or herself, below, under how the step is graded).
- The non-mentor reader(s) has nothing to read (I will not take the time to create a coded form for you) and so the grade is "F" for this portion.
How Step 04 is graded
This step has two grades. For how they are weighted, refer to the "grade weights" tab.
The first grade is by your mentor. S/he reads the essay, then answers the questions in his or her mind: "Overall (Step 01-04), how did the student perform on the essay process?" and "Overall how much effort did the student make to improve his or her writing skills and how much actual progress was seen and seems to be near at hand?" A grade is assigned. There are usually no comments made; the essay is usually not returned. There might be some exceptions.
The second grade is the average of the grades given by the other grader or graders. This reading group receives your essay without your name, takes about ten minutes to read it as a reader, not as a writing mentor, and responds to the question "How credible and interesting is this essay?" The reader(s) reports the grade to me with a sentence or so of explanation. I monitor the grading process for fairness and take responsibility for the grade.
This "cold" read is done quickly, for credibility and interest only, and gives you a sense of a reader's reaction that is not tied to outside conversations with you about your essay, your status in class, your personality and so forth. It is as if they came across your essay in a publication and read it without knowing anything about you. They react, in other words, solely to the essay as an essay without additional information. Of course the standard is not "as-if-published"—this is a lower division class.
Academic dishonesty at this stage, in any way, can cause a fail on the step, perhaps a fail on all previous steps, and perhaps a report to the University. Reminder: If you are a non-native writer and you have had outside help with your essay in any way, you must turn in the original work — untouched, uncommented upon, not discussed with others. You can include the edited version. It will be considered where necessary. To not do this earns an "F".