Liberal Arts Freshman Academies
Faculty Cohort under the Guidance of Dr. Anne-Marie Bourbon
Assessment of a Formal Writing Assignment – Fall 2009
Lorena Ellis, Professor of German, Foreign Languages & Literatures
A high-impact strategy was used in the writing intensive course LS402 Latin American and Caribbean Cultures.
Gen Ed objectives were applied, such as apply principles of critical thinking to evaluate information; use writing to
create and clarify meaning; and use writing to connect prior knowledge to disciplinary discourse. The first Formal
Writing Assignment (FWA) the students were asked to submit, was about “People & Country.” Students selected
one person connected to Latin American and or Caribbean cultures. The essay should be a reflection on the life
and work of the person chosen person and at least one paragraph had to be dedicated to the country the person
was from. Students were open to choose from any area they desired: music, painting, architecture, literature,
theatre, film, etc. The whole assignment had to be completed in 7 weeks, but it was broken down into 6 steps.
Formative assessment tools from the CUNY Write site were integrated in these steps to guide the students and to
support them in the self assessment process.
Step one: Selection of one person related to Latin American and Caribbean cultures.
1. Write a short text (one paragraph to one page) giving some information about the person,
the country s/he comes from and explain the reason why you decided to write about that person.
2. Post your text in the Discussion Board in the Forum: People & Country. Due: 2th week!
3. Read the postings of your classmates and comment in writing (reply).
4. Read the comments your classmates wrote on you postings and reply.
Step two: Follow this link CUNY WriteSite for guidance on Pre-Draft Outlines. Write an outline for your FWA#1:
Due: 3th week!
Step three: Write a draft of 4-6 pages for FWA#1 (double spaced, Arial, pitch 12): Due: 4th week!
Make sure to visit CUNY WriteSite » Writing Projects » Stages of Writing before writing your draft.
Include the following in your draft:
1) Introductory paragraph summarizing what you are going to write about.
2) Explanation why you are interested in the person, where you first heard about her/him, etc.
3) Mini biography of the person and major accomplishments.
4) Information about the person’s country.
5) Description emphasizing what made this person so famous and what obstacles s/he had to overcome
to achieve his goals/dreams.
6) Conclusion: what you learned during the research you conducted; about the person and his or her country.
Step four: Before you submit your final paper, you must check the CUNY Write Site revision checklist and hand
the answers in with your paper. Review the proofreading tips before submitting your draft per SafeAssign. Due
during weeks 5
Step five: After the Professor gives you feedback/comments on the draft, revise the paper and submit the final
version. (4 to 6-page essay (double spaced, Arial, pitch 12) bibliography and footnotes in MLA style. Due: 7th
week.
Step six: Post your Final version in the Discussion Board, read your peers essays, and write a Peer Review on
one of the essays. Use the CUNY Write Site list to assess if the assignment was completed satisfactory.
Results
After reading their peers paragraphs during the second week, the students’ participation in the discussion board
increased and they became curious about each others topics. Many expressed their desire to read what their
peers would find out about the people chosen for the essay. Only the professor read the drafts and made
comments. Students writing improved between 5-10% between the draft and the final version. The peers only
were given the opportunity to read a final (revised) version of each other’s essays. Most of the time, the final
versions of those students whose drafts had been criticized more thoroughly, showed the most improvement..
Ideally, the papers should have been rewritten after the peer review, because most of the students were very
critical of each others texts, and pointed out ways of improving the final version. Overall I think that this way of
sequencing a Formal Writing Assignment is very helpful to the students, since is done in stages. Aside from that,
it is a student centered approach: before deciding which essay they will write a review on, they will have to read
Liberal Arts Freshman Academies: Faculty Cohort under the Guidance of Dr. Anne-Marie Bourbon
Assessment of a Formal Writing Assignment – Fall 2009
Lorena Ellis, Professor of German, Foreign Languages & Literatures
most of the peers essays and will learn from each other. Therefore, I will continue doing the sequencing. For this
semester I used a checklist, however, I will introduce a rubric from now on similar to the one used by our
colleague in the English department.
Conclusion
Before joining the cohort of the Liberal Arts Freshman Academy, I had never used a rubric to assess my students.
I am also a member of the departmental assessment committee. As a group we prepared a rubric for oral
assessment, which taught me how to create a rubric. The discussions in the assessment committee and in the
cohort meetings, as well as the exchange of assignments and rubrics among the faculty members, gave me the
tools to adapt the rubric used by my colleagues to my courses. The rubric used by faculty member from the
English department, can be adapted to assess the writings of my LS402 (Latin American and Caribbean cultures)
students. The rubrics used by my colleagues in the foreign language department combined with a rubric
prepared by my colleague in the math department (to assess a poem) will be very useful to assess the writings of
my students of German. The fact that a math faculty member had the creative idea to have the students write a
poem inspired me to do the same in the German classes. I hope that the use of rubrics to asses my students’
work in the future will give them as much insight and inspiration as these cohort meetings gave me. (See
modified rubric below)
Rubric for assessment of a Formal Writing Assignment – LS402 (L.B.Ellis)*
Criteria
and
qualities
Excellent
Introducing the
idea: Problem
statement
10-15 points
The topic is
introduced, and
groundwork is
laid as to the
direction of the
report.
Good
5-9 points
Readers are
aware of the
overall problem,
challenge, or
topic that is to
be examined.
Poor
0-4 points
Neither implicit
nor explicit
reference is
made to the
topic that is to
be examined.
Body:
Flow of the
report
14-20 points
The report
progresses from
general ideas to
specific
conclusions.
Transitions tie
sections together,
as well as
adjacent
paragraphs.
7-13 points
There is a basic
flow between
sections, but not
all paragraphs
follow in a logical
order.
0-6 points
The report
appears to have
no direction, with
disjointed
subtopics.
Coverage of
content
14-20 points
The appropriate
content in
consideration is
covered in depth
without being
redundant.
7-13 points
All major sections
of the pertinent
content are
included, but not
covered in as
much depth, or as
explicitly, as
expected.
Clarity of writing
and writing
technique
14-20 points
Writing is crisp, clear,
and succinct. The
writer incorporates
the active voice when
appropriate.
Pronouns, modifiers,
parallel construction,
and non-sexist
language are properly
used.
7-13 points
Writing is clear, but
unnecessary words
are used. Meaning is
sometimes obscured.
Paragraph or
sentence structure is
too repetitive.
Conclusion:
A synthesis of ideas
10-15 points
The author reached
succinct and precise
conclusions based
on the sources
consulted and
evidence stated in
the report.
Conclusions are
insightful and show
learning.
5-9 points
The author provides
concluding remarks
that indicate an
analysis and synthesis
of ideas. Some of the
conclusions, were
not supported in the
body of the report.
0-6 points
Major sections of
pertinent content
have been omitted
The writing does
not relate to the
topic.
0-6 points
0-4 points
Writing is convoluted, There is no indication
because it is hard to
the author tried to
discern what the
synthesize the
writer is trying to
information or
express. Misspelled
reach a conclusion
words, incorrect
based on the body
grammar, and
of the report.
improper punctuation
are used.
*This rubric was adapted from a version shared with a colleague from BMCC who also teaches this class at the BA online
L.B.Ellis, February 12, 2009; Rev. 9-28-10
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