Grades
Your final grade will be based on the number of points you earn on submitted work. The available points are distributed as follows:
Points Distribution
| Source |
Available Points |
6 Progress Evaluations, each consisting of:
- Blog entries (online journal)
- Short writing assignments
|
300 |
1 Progress Evaluation, consisting of:
- An original, revised short story
|
200 |
| Total |
500 |
Grading Scale
| Grade |
Percentage |
Total Points |
| A+ |
97–100 |
485–500 |
| A |
93–96 |
465–484 |
| A– |
90–92 |
450–464 |
| B+ |
87–89 |
435–449 |
| B |
83–86 |
415–434 |
| B– |
80–82 |
400–414 |
| C+ |
77–79 |
385–399 |
| C |
73–76 |
365–384 |
| C– |
70–72 |
350–364 |
| D+ |
67–69 |
335–349 |
| D |
63–66 |
315–334 |
| D– |
60–62 |
300–314 |
| F |
0–59 |
0–299 |
After completing the course, you will receive a grade report that gives your letter grade for the course. The Center will not mail your grade report until all outstanding balances have been paid.
Academic integrity. You are expected to follow CDIS guidelines for academic integrity and freedom. Please review your academic rights and responsibilities.
Submitted Work
The work you will submit for this course consists of seven progress evaluations that will be submitted to your course instructor. Progress evaluations consist of freewriting and assigned writing exercises, and you may use any assigned readings, your notes, and other course-related materials to complete these assignments. The points you earn on your submitted work count toward your final course grade.
You must submit all assigned work in sequence (Lesson 1, then Lesson 2, etc.), and you cannot submit more than three assignments in a seven-day period.
After your work has been scored, you will receive a report that provides individualized feedback and/or comments on your work. Read any corresponding feedback carefully and review your work. Then study the lesson materials to make certain that you can accomplish the associated learning objectives.
Each lesson provides step-by-step instructions on how to submit your work.
Progress Evaluations
Progress Evaluations appear at the ends of Lessons 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. The first six progress evaluations are worth 50 points each, and the last progress evaluation, at the conclusion of Lesson 10, is worth 200 points.
For the first six progress evaluations, you will be asked to demonstrate daily writing in the form of blog entries and complete short writing assignments that make use of skills and concepts explored in corresponding lessons.
For the final progress evaluation, you will write and revise a complete, original short story.
Blog Entries (Online Journal)
Your grade for daily blogging is based entirely on quantity. You will be required to set up and maintain a journal in the form of a blog, on the Blogger Web site. For the first six progress evaluations, you will receive up to 20 points of the 50-point progress evaluation total for meeting the blog entry criteria. You will be expected to write 10 entries (of at least 250 words each) per progress evaluation. When you upload each progress evaluation, you will submit the title and URL of your blog so that the instructor can check the length and number of entries for grading. You can write about anything in your blog—there are no rules other than quantity.
The blog portions of the progress evaluations in lessons 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are worth up to 20 points each. If you do not have 10 new blog entries to score, 2 points will be deducted for each missing entry. Additionally, 1 point will be deducted for each entry that does not meet the 250-word minimum length requirement. For example, if you submit a progress evaluation that only contains eight new blog entries and one of them is less than the required length, you should receive 15 out of 20 points for that portion of the progress evaluation.
Short Writing Assignments
The first six progress evaluations are worth 50 points apiece; 30 points of each of those evaluations will be based on short writing assignments. These writing assignments will be based on the techniques discussed in the reading assignment and lesson commentary, and in some cases, a combination of techniques covered across lessons. Whereas blog entries will be graded on quantity and frequency, the short writing assignments will be graded for quality and content. Any topic is acceptable to write about in these assignments, as long as the work does not defame any person or group, does not include references to the instructor or the student/instructor relationship, and is not gratuitous.
An “A” grade (27–30 points) will be given on these short writing assignments for writing that demonstrates you firmly grasp the concepts and skills explored in the corresponding lesson. The writing must be free of grammatical and spelling errors, be elegant, and be compelling. Work in the "A" range incorporates the skills learned and pulls everything together into a coherent piece of writing that shows development, innovation, and/or originality.
A “B” grade (24–26 points) will be given for writing that shows you have a good understanding of the concepts and skills explored in the corresponding lessons, but doesn’t necessarily demonstrate the innovative qualities of “A” work. In "B"-quality work, control of the language is adequate and grammatical and spelling errors should be absent or minor.
A “C” grade (21–23 points) will be given for writing that shows you have minimal understanding of the concepts and skills explored in the corresponding lessons. “C” work is generally not well developed, often contains clichéd or vague word choices and unvaried sentence structure, and may contain distracting grammatical and spelling errors.
A “D” or an “F” grade (0–20 points) is given for writing that does not address the assignment, shows that you do not understand the concepts underlying the corresponding lessons, or is incomprehensible due to serious spelling, grammatical, and/or syntax errors.
Note that specific quantity guidelines—concerning numbers of writing assignments as well as length of writing assignments—are given with the progress evaluation announcement at the end of each lesson. Not meeting quantity guidelines may result in additional points being deducted from your progress evaluation score.
When you receive feedback on your writing assignments, your instructor may use some common critique short-hand. The table below will help you understand these notes, if you are not familiar with them.
Critique Notes
| Symbol |
Meaning |
| V |
This is vague, or you have used a generalization or an abstraction instead of a concrete detail. |
| AV |
Use the active voice; “she was happy” is not as happy as if she had laughed, grinned, jumped, or thrown her arms around a tree. |
| UN |
Unnecessary; delete. |
| >< |
Compress this passage to half the words for twice the strength; you’re writing long. |
| ? |
Either you are confusing or the reader is confused, or both; what do you really mean? |
| AWK |
Awkward; this word or sentence is related to the auk, a thick-bodied, short-necked bird without grace; restyle. |
| R |
Repetition to unintended or undesirable effect. |
| C |
Cliché. |
| O/W, O/S, or O/I |
Overwritten, overstated, or overinsistent; you’re straining; lower the key to raise the effect. |
| CONV |
Convoluted; simplify your language. |
| COY, POMP, PREC, or PRET |
Coy, pompous, precious, pretentious—all meaning that you are enjoying yourself more than the reader is, and no reader will forgive you. |
| CHRON |
Chronology unnecessarily violated (ex: “she sat down after having crossed to the couch”); let the reader’s mind follow events in their order. |
| D/T |
Unnecessary dialogue tag; avoid modifying with an adverb unless tone of voice needs to be explained. |
| DIAL |
Dialect is overwritten; you’re probably misspelling too much so that your character sounds stupid rather than regional; let syntax do the work; keep misspellings and grammatical mistakes to a minimum. |
| INT |
Author intrusion; you are explaining, judging, or interpreting too much; show us, and let us understand and judge. |
| PV |
You have violated point of view, bouncing from one mind to another in a way that the reader is not prepared for. |
Original Short Story
For the 200-point Lesson 10 Progress Evaluation, you will significantly expand an earlier completed short writing assignment into an original short story and then revise that short story. You must include all assigned elements (the original response that you expanded, a letter explaining how you expanded and revised the piece, and the final draft of the short story) to receive full credit. Points may be deducted if any portion is missing or incomplete.
In order to receive a good grade on this progress evaluation, your work must demonstrate that you understand the concepts covered in Lessons 1–9 and that you also understand and have worked through the process of revising a story as assigned in Lesson 10. This progress evaluation is worth more points than any other, so it should be apparent that you took your time and turned in only your best work. Points will be deducted for basic errors in language and mechanics that interfere with the reading of the story.
An “A” grade (180–200 points) will be given for a short story that demonstrates you firmly grasp the concepts and skills explored throughout the course and significantly revised your work according to revision concepts covered in Lesson 10. The writing must be free of grammatical and spelling errors, be elegant, and be compelling. Work in the "A" range pulls everything learned in this course together into a coherent piece of writing that shows development, innovation, and/or originality.
A “B” grade (160–179 points) will be given for writing that shows you have a good understanding of the concepts and skills explored in this course, but doesn’t necessarily demonstrate the innovative qualities of “A” work or significant, effective revision. In "B"-quality work, control of the language is adequate and grammatical and spelling errors should be absent or minor.
A “C” grade (140–159 points) will be given for writing that shows you have some understanding of the concepts and skills explored in this course and/or performed only some revision to your work. “C” work is generally not well developed, often contains clichéd or vague word choices and unvaried sentence structure, and may contain distracting grammatical and spelling errors.
A “D” or an “F” grade (0–139 points) is given for writing that does not address the assignment, shows that you do not understand the underlying concepts of this course, or is incomprehensible due to serious spelling, grammatical, and/or syntax errors.
Note that specific quantity guidelines concerning the length of your completed short story are given with the progress evaluation announcement at the end of Lesson 10. Not meeting this quantity guideline may result in additional points being deducted from your progress evaluation score.
When you receive feedback on your Lesson 10 progress evaluation, your instructor may use some common critique short-hand. The Critique Notes table in the Short Writing Assignments section above will help you understand these notes, if you are not familiar with them.