Oct 19, 2006

Marking Essays

In essence, to leave a mark, your mark upon the page of a student.

As graduate assistants we are often found in the critical position of acting as an extension of a person, usually a professor. The key here is that, though we are charged to do the best we can in the most consistent and accurate way possible, the professor is ultimately the one with the real power. It is however our responsibility to ensure that we make the necessary arrangements and considerations to complete the task in a manner that is endorsed by our mentors.

It may be quite useful to meet with the professor after the papers have been handed in to work through a few essays together. In this way a discussion of relevant issues may be raised within the context of the particular papers at hand. Also, a sense of coherence and alignment may be established between those individuals who will be marking, usually separately, the stack of student written papers.

There may be instances where marking is made easier, such as easily quantifiable exams with multiple choice, fill-in-the-blanks, or even short answer. The issue at hand though, is the myriad of responses that are likely to be generated from questions that require an essay format.

Main concerns that have been raised regarding issues of paper grading have been; accuracy, consistency, fairness, and the detection of plagiarism. These issues were common among all who participated in our discussion of these issues. It seems that because these are major issues of concern for all who are involved in the process of granting grades, these issues must, for the marker, be constantly evaluated. In this sense it may be useful for the marker to address these issues prior to jumping right in. In my opinion, if these topics are considered and re-considered with regularity, they will be points of reflexivity, positively affecting the marker as they attempt to navigate their way through the marking process.

It has been said that marking essays that are subjectively and contextually ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ on either extreme on the continuum are ‘easy’ to grade. This is likely because they are distinct as being located within the tips and tails of the bell-curve. Due to our role as students, the opportunities that we have been afforded, and the ways in which we have been taught and conditioned to recognize certain characteristics, it is by these virtues that we ‘ought’ to be able to recognize ‘good’ and ‘bad’ essays from twenty paces away. If by some process of magik that we have arrived at this point in our academic careers without being steeped in this form of judgment then we may hold a ‘questionable’ or perhaps ‘queer’ position (apologies, that’s enough anti-hegemony for now).

The heart of the matter is, that great mass of writing that lay before you may present a more detailed challenge. This is the writing that is neither simply ‘good’ nor ‘bad,’ rather it is more ambivalent and difficult to categorize.

These difficulties arise due to the fact that the writing here may be less consistent regarding the general and widely ‘accepted rules’ of writing, while employing the English language. The issues of importance here are reflected in the authors command of these elements; Introduction, argument, grammar, spelling, flow, and conclusion. In regards to this quasi-definitive list of what’s important in a paper, the debate becomes quite contentious when attempts are made create a hierarchy of significance. While some may argue that grammar and spelling are of greatest importance, others may argue that argument and flow are to be considered over the other considerations.

The next major area of consideration for the marker is feedback: the issue of how to create feedback that is of use to the students. In this regard there are as many tactics of writing feedback as personalities producing papers. Individual writers often need individual responses; the comment, ‘good’ does little to engage the writer. A comment that asks the writer for an ‘expansion’ of a ‘good’ point may offer the writer a doorway into a deeper field of realization and critique.

In some instances it may be helpful to establish a grading chart to be used with each of the papers that are marked, in this way the inexperienced marker may use a tool to assist them to maintain those characteristics that were established above; accuracy, consistency, fairness, and the detection of plagiarism. In this way, introduction, argument, grammar, spelling, flow, and the conclusion, may be more easily identifiable, meaning that, for the marker it may become more easily quantifiable, also resulting in a feedback-system that becomes more easily justifiable for students wondering what areas they may have done well or not so well in. The importance here is to provide a system of support for students writing papers at any level, the assumption for the marker is that the student has a desire to learn and improve. It is imperative that these standards be established, implemented, regulated, questioned, improved and made into good practice by a marker.

In the end, after much difficulty and pain, the expectation is that the marker has procured a list of names with grades attached. The marker has had to make important decisions in each case regarding a) what grade the paper deserves, and b) why the paper deserved a particular grade. These questions are elemental to the process of marking assignments with the intent of establishing grades. The professor should be implored to ensure that their marker has done an accurate and fair job and ultimately approve the grades assigned by the marker. Thereby, at this stage of the game, should a major issue arise between the student and the grade that has been provided, the marker is protected by their justification of the two questions above, and if for some reason those do not seem to carry enough weight, the professor may need to intervene and carry out the process once again to ensure accuracy. In the end the final word shall be made by the individual in power, the professor.