The underlying assumption of the grading of written assignments is that they be of academic quality (this is after all a second year course). Both academic work, and the work that you will do when you complete your degrees, require that you be able to communicate ideas effectively, efficiently, and clearly.
It is important that you proofread all of your written work (and/or have someone else do this) – this helps you catch errors in style and format, and enables you to revisit your arguments. Also be conscious of how your work sounds – read it out loud if you have to; if it sounds funny, or if you have trouble understanding what you meant, chances are that others will too.
Written assignments are evaluated based on three components: Style, Format, and Content. The breakdown of these components will be detailed for each assignment.
Style
Style incorporates technical proficiency, including using correct grammatical structure and the correct use of spelling and punctuation. The style that you adopt should be formal and in keeping with academic writing. Style also includes the approach and technique that you employ in your prose – this is akin to your “voice”. Sentences, paragraphs, and sections should flow together and not be fragmented ideas slapped together. Your writing should convey information in a useful, easily understood manner. The purpose of writing is communication: how well did you do this?
Format
The format that you use in your written assignments is important – format can help to communicate ideas clearly, but can also be seen as complying with convention(s). Written reports, memos, position papers, summaries, etc., all have conventional formats. These include distinct sections containing: introduction, methods, discussion, conclusion, references; other sections may also be required depending on what you are doing. If you are given an outline to follow, it is important that you use it. The use of distinct sections helps to make it easier for your reader; it also can help you to develop your ideas.
Content
The content of your written assignment is important, as it outlines your work, your assumptions, your arguments, and your findings. This component allows you to present information that supports your argument, present work that you have done, and document how you came to the conclusions that you did. Some of the things that will be assessed when grading your assignments are: Do your arguments, assumptions, premises, and conclusions have a logical flow? Do you make any factual errors? Have you missed a key issue or concern? For the purposes of marking your work, the use of references (literature cited) is included in the Content component. At its root, academic work is “standing on the shoulders of giants”, or building upon work that has been done before. It is important that you document both what information came from what source, and what that source is. While the Internet does archive a lot of information, it is not the only source of information, and in some cases the information that it does contain may not be credible. It is important that you use a diversity of sources – this allows you to check that the information that you have is correct and demonstrates that you have an understanding of the subject that you are writing about. Do not directly quote something that can be paraphrased unless the wording is particularly important (writing a good paper is more than cutting and pasting ideas from other sources – it is distilling appropriate facts and ideas and linking them with your own thoughts and arguments).
Late Assignments
Late assignments will be accepted up to three days after the due date. A penalty of 10% of the assignment’s grade will be applied for each late day. After three days, a zero will be recorded as the grade for the late assignment.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism, as defined in the UBC Regulation on Plagiarism, carries a penalty of zero for the assignment concerned. Please see:
http://www.arts1.arts.ubc.ca/arts-one-program/ubc-plagiarism-policy.html
