FEEDBACK BANK Remember and use subject/topic knowledge. Use dates, key words, names, places and labels. Memorise, recall and make use of all the essential facts about a topic. Explain ideas clearly and in your own words. Demonstrate you have really understood a topic or idea. Give examples and use them to prove your point. WWW/EBI Organise your work and plan your layout carefully. Produce work that uses an, introduction, conclusion and puts ideas into paragraphs. Sequence and order your ideas chronologically or by theme. Analyse and break down information in detail. Compare and contrast ideas. Ask, raise and explore new questions in your work. Make links and connections between ideas. Evaluate and give your opinion. Argue and criticise. Defend or attack ideas. Sum up findings and reach a conclusion. Judge how important an idea is. Be creative and imaginative in your work. Use evidence or examples to directly develop your own ideas. Solve problems and be independent. Select your own information. How I score in each area: 1 2 4 0 3 NO EVIDENCE SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE Remembering: Remember and use subject/topic knowledge. • Use dates, key words, names, places and labels. • Memorise, recall and make use of all the essential facts about a topic. Understanding: Explain ideas clearly and in your own words. • Demonstrate you have really understood a topic or idea. • Give examples and use them to prove your point. Applying: Organise your work and plan your layout carefully. • Produce work that uses an, introduction, conclusion and puts ideas into paragraphs. • Sequence and order your ideas chronologically or by theme. Analysing: Analyse and break down information in detail. • Compare and contrast ideas. • Ask, raise and explore new questions in your work • Make links and connections between ideas. Evaluating: Evaluate and give your opinion. • Argue and criticise. • Defend or attack ideas. • Sum up findings and reach a conclusion. • Judge how important an idea is. Creativity: Be creative and imaginative in your work. • Use evidence or examples to directly develop your own ideas. • Solve problems and be independent. • Select your own information. Presentation Please underline all dates and titles. The use of sub-headings would help you to structure your work. Your handwriting is difficult to read. How could you have presented this better? How would you have presented this differently for... (describe a different audience)? Key words Well done, you used and spelt key words appropriately. Correct the spellings of the words I have circled. What does (insert word) mean? Which alternative word/phrase could you use here? If you do not understand a key term, how can you find out? Apostrophes Use an apostrophe if you want to shorten two words into one (e.g. can’t and won’t). You only use it’s if you want to shorten it is. Otherwise it’s its! Use ‘s to show ownership: e.g. the coat belonging to the lady – the lady’s coat. Use s’ to show ownership for a group of people: e.g. all of the students’ work. Explaining Well done, your explanation was fluently written, well structured and easy to understand. How could you develop this point further? How could you elaborate on this idea? I really enjoyed reading this piece of work because: o You included humour. o You have clearly put a lot of effort into researching your work. o The key ideas were well thought out. Your explanation of (insert factor) is excellent/incorrect/confusing. A better explanation would be... What is a better word to use here? Have you considered...? Can you phrase this a different way so that...? I think that your work would benefit from an image/diagram to support your explanation. You have given a simple explanation but you could have given further details, such as: o Model answer 1 from mark scheme. o Model answer 2 from mark scheme. You could include further examples such as: o Example 1. o Example 2. Try to put your ideas into your own words. Can you now explain/teach this to another student? Writing arguments Well done, you included at least one advantage and one disadvantage. Well done, you have written a well-balanced argument. o Which are the stronger arguments here? o What is your opinion? You included an advantage but no disadvantage. What would the impact of (insert factor) have on...? Can you think of any flaws in this argument? Who might be opposed/in favour of this idea? What would the argument of (insert person/character) be? What language could you use to be more persuasive? How could you make this point more/less forcefully? What are the ethical/social/economic issues here? Well done, your evidence clearly backed up your arguments. How else could this be interpreted? What else might this evidence show? Numeracy Underline key information in the question stem to help you work out which equation to use. You showed your working out which helped me understand how you calculated the answer. To avoid confusion, write out the equation you wish to use, and then write the values from the question stem underneath. To gain maximum marks, clearly show each stage of your calculation. Well done, you included the correct units for all of your answers. Your answers are correct but you forgot to add units. What would be the correct units to use here? You needed to convert (insert value) into (insert value) before completing this calculation. Read the question carefully... o What would a sensible answer be? o Between what values would you expect the answer to be? If the answer is 0.5 or above you round up, and 0.4 or below you round down. How many decimal places does the question ask you to use? Your use of decimal places is incorrect/inconsistent. Exam technique Underline each command word so you know how to answer each part of the question. Make sure that you answer each part of the question to gain maximum marks. Highlight all the key terms in the question to help you focus your ideas. Don’t use the terms “it” or “they” – state what it is you are referring to. If there are three marks available, try to make three different points. Make sure to carefully proof-read your work for spelling, punctuation and grammar errors. When you have finished writing your answer, read it through to check that it makes sense. References Well done, you have correctly cited all sources of information. Include the author and the date in brackets at appropriate points in the text (e.g. for all key facts, statistics, images etc). List all the references you used in alphabetical order at the end of your work. Use the correct format to fully reference all of your sources (see guidance for Harvard/Vancouver referencing). When referencing websites make sure you include the date the work was published and the date you accessed the information. Use the full URL when referencing online sources. What criteria did you use to ensure your sources were the most appropriate for an essay/article/piece of work such as this? Specific tasks for the student response For your own record, copy out the feedback that has been targeted to you. Having read your feedback, can you now finish this sentence: “To improve I need to...” If you did not know the answer, what could you have done to find the information? Use a different coloured pen to add, amend or rewrite your answer using the feedback given. How could you have researched this question/task more thoroughly? Write/ask me a question that would help you to improve this task. Other effective questions/tasks Explain why I have highlighted this. What strategies did you use to complete this task? What is the explanation/justification for this correct answer? What other questions could you ask about this concept? What advice would you give to someone else who struggled with this work? Can you link this to a real-life example? Can you link this to another subject/topic? The correct answer is 64, but that was good risk taking on your part. The answer was alternating current, but that was good thinking. That is a good answer, but it doesn't really apply to this situation. In this situation, the best answer would be hardly ever. You have the first part right, and you sure are on the right track. The complete correct answer is ... “Can you say what you mean by ...?” in place of “What do you mean by ...?” “Can you give an example?” in place of “What is an example?” “Can you say what that might lead to?” in place of “What might that lead to?” “Can you name the capital of Illinois?” in place of “What is the capital of Illinois?” The student engages in historical analysis and interpretation: Therefore, the student is able to: Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas, values, personalities, behaviors, and institutions by identifying likenesses and differences. Consider multiple perspectives of various peoples in the past by demonstrating their differing motives, beliefs, interests, hopes, and fears. Analyze cause-and-effect relationships bearing in mind multiple causationincluding (a) the importance of the individual in history; (b) the influence of ideas, human interests, and beliefs; and (c) the role of chance, the accidental and the irrational. Draw comparisons across eras and regions in order to define enduring issuesas well as largescale or long-term developments that transcend regional and temporal boundaries. Distinguish between unsupported expressions of opinion and informed hypotheses grounded in historical evidence. Compare competing historical narratives. Challenge arguments of historical inevitability by formulating examples of historical contingency, of how different choices could have led to different consequences. Hold interpretations of history as tentative, subject to changes as new information is uncovered, new voices heard, and new interpretations broached. Evaluate major debates among historians concerning alternative interpretations of the past. Hypothesize the influence of the past, including both the limitations and opportunities made possible by past decisions. TOP TEN REASONS FOR NEGATIVE COMMENTS ON HISTORY PAPERS (Drawn from a survey of the History Department) 10. You engage in cheap, anachronistic moralizing. 9. You are sloppy with the chronology. 8. You quote excessively or improperly. 7. You have written a careless “one-draft wonder.” (See revise and proofread) 6. You are vague or have empty, unsupported generalizations. 5. You write too much in the passive voice. 4. You use inappropriate sources. 3. You use evidence uncritically. 2. You are wordy. 1. You have no clear thesis and little analysis. ANALYZING A HISTORICAL DOCUMENT Your professor may ask you to analyze a primary document. Here are some questions you might ask of your document. You will note a common theme—read critically with sensitivity to the context. This list is not a suggested outline for a paper; the wording of the assignment and the nature of the document itself should determine your organization and which of the questions are most relevant. Of course, you can ask these same questions of any document you encounter in your research. What exactly is the document (e.g., diary, king’s decree, opera score, bureaucratic memorandum, parliamentary minutes, newspaper article, peace treaty)? Are you dealing with the original or with a copy? If it is a copy, how remote is it from the original (e.g., photocopy of the original, reformatted version in a book, translation)? How might deviations from the original affect your interpretation? What is the date of the document? Is there any reason to believe that the document is not genuine or not exactly what it appears to be? Who is the author, and what stake does the author have in the matters discussed? If the document is unsigned, what can you infer about the author or authors? What sort of biases or blind spots might the author have? For example, is an educated bureaucrat writing with third-hand knowledge of rural hunger riots? Where, why, and under what circumstances did the author write the document? How might the circumstances (e.g., fear of censorship, the desire to curry favor or evade blame) have influenced the content, style, or tone of the document? Has the document been published? If so, did the author intend it to be published? If the document was not published, how has it been preserved? In a public archive? In a private collection? Can you learn anything from the way it has been preserved? For example, has it been treated as important or as a minor scrap of paper? Does the document have a boilerplate format or style, suggesting that it is a routine sample of a standardized genre, or does it appear out of the ordinary, even unique? Who is the intended audience for the document? What exactly does the document say? Does it imply something different? If the document represents more than one viewpoint, have you carefully distinguished between the author’s viewpoint and those viewpoints the author presents only to criticize or refute? In what ways are you, the historian, reading the document differently than its intended audience would have read it (assuming that future historians were not the intended audience)? What does the document leave out that you might have expected it to discuss? What does the document assume that the reader already knows about the subject (e.g., personal conflicts among the Bolsheviks in 1910, the details of tax farming in eighteenth-century Normandy, secret negotiations to end the Vietnam war)? What additional information might help you better interpret the document? Do you know (or are you able to infer) the effects or influences, if any, of the document? What does the document tell you about the period you are studying? If your document is part of an edited collection, why do you suppose the editor chose it? How might the editing have changed the way you perceive the document? For example, have parts been omitted? Has it been translated? (If so, when, by whom, and in what style?) Has the editor placed the document in a suggestive context among other documents, or in some other way led you to a particular interpretation?
