Comments on COS 109 Writing Assignment

Here are some general comments on problem set 8, the writing assignment. Popular topics included viruses, Napster and MP3, other on-line threats and issues, the Enigma machine, and analog versus digital. Aside from the conventional essay, the most frequent literary form was the letter home; it would be interesting to learn how many of those did get sent, and what the family response was. A tip of the hat to the Doctor Seuss poem and a short play.

For future reference, it's tactically unsound to send viruses to someone who is grading your work in a course that has stressed the risks and how to defend against them. I got two this time, though both were caught by my virus-detection software. Please make sure that your machine is clean and protected.

There were some really interesting and enjoyable papers, a goodly number that were well done, and some that definitely needed another couple of revisions to improve content, organization and writing.

Grades ranged from 18 to 40 (out of 40); the median was 30. These criteria were at least in the back of my mind while reading and evaluating; a paper that matches the top of each list would do well, while one near the bottom of many categories would not.

• Facts
  • everything is true / correct / accurate
  • a few minor mis-statements; imprecise
  • a couple of major gaffes, or a significant number of minor facts wrong
  • lots of wrong facts; unsupported assertions
  • so imprecise or fuzzy or unclear that can't tell whether facts are right
• Terminology
  • precise, accurate, correct; terms adequately explained
  • a few wrong terms or jargon incorrectly used; inconsistency; some missing explanations
  • major terminology errors; terminology, acronyms, etc., used without adequate explanation
  • wrong terminology in too many cases
• Choice of topic
  • interesting, appropriate size and scope, relevant to course, fits guidelines
  • too big, too unfocused; too narrow; too many unrelated topics
  • not adequately technical; poor match to chosen genre
  • completely off the wall; should have checked ahead of time
• Content, depth of coverage
  • deep, thorough, appropriate to topic
  • reasonable level
  • should have gone deeper: generalities, obvious statements; unnecessary detail
  • shallow, superficial, trite, completely obvious, platitudes, inadequate thought or effort
• Comprehension of subject matter
  • clearly understood all aspects, thoughtful, insightful
  • some minor confusion or uncertainty evident
  • significant confusion about topic; insufficiently digested from sources
  • so imprecise or incomplete that can't tell whether it was understood
• Organization
  • clear, natural, facts and ideas appear in sensible, natural order
  • somewhat out of order, sometimes things appear before introduced
  • significantly disorganized; ideas and topics jumbled
  • no apparent organizing principle
• Writing style
  • reads smoothly and effortlessly, draws the reader in, memorable, has flair and originality
  • clear, straightforward, workmanlike prose
  • not sufficiently digested from sources
  • significant flaws: repetitive, too much passive voice, unclear antecedents; pervasive sentence-level disorganization
  • awkward, heavy going, big words, buzzword/ jargon/ acronym/ adverb overload
• Grammar, spelling
  • essentially flawless
  • occasional grammar errors, typos
  • frequent errors in grammar, spelling, sentence structure, punctuation; word confusion
  • pervasive errors; major carelessness
• Overall impression
  • excellent: well written, really enjoyed reading it, learned something, memorable, could imagine it published
  • good: solid, workmanlike, interesting, informative; good writing
  • fair: inadequate content or workmanship; not sufficiently digested from sources; doesn't give impression of enough effort or attention to details
  • poor: disorganized, incorrect, superficial; careless; apparently a first draft