As I said last week, my examinations are take-home essay tests and I like to post draft versions to the Mackerel Wrapper as soon as I make them up so you can think ahead about the essays. When I was in grad school back during the Wars of the League of Augsburg, my best professors would give me exam questions that required a lot of thought and synthesis on my part - so I actually knew more when I finished writing the essay than I did a couple of hours before when I started writing it! That's what I try to do for you guys when I'm making out a test.
So, to get you thinking ahead of time, I post the drafts to the blog as early as I can. Here's an example from COMM 150 fall semester. You'll also notice I like to get feedback on the draft questions, and I'm willing to revise them if they're not clear enough. I'm more interested in getting you to go back through the readings and think about them than I am in playing "gotcha" with short-answer questions. I'll recycle below some general advice about my essay tests. But first, here's what you want to know now - what are the questions? The envelope, please:
D R A F TAs I said, I hope to go over this draft in class Tuesday and revise the questions as needed. Plus, I'll fill in more detail on question 2A.
Below are three essay questions – one worth fifty (50) points out of a hundred, and two shorter essays worth 25 points each. Please write at least two pages double-spaced (500 words) on the 50-point essay and at least one page (250 words) on each of the 25-point short essays. Use plenty of detail from your reading in the textbook, the internet and handouts I have given you, as well as class discussion, to back up the points you make. Your grade will depend both on your analysis of the broad trends I ask about, and on the specific detail you cite in support of the points you make. I am primarily interested in the specific factual arguments you make to support your points. So be specific. Remember: An unsupported generalization is sudden death in college-level writing.1. Main essay (50 points). In his college textbook "Newsroom Management: A Guide to Theory and Practice" (1991), Robert A. Giles says, "Working in the newsroom is a highly social process, involving much discussion, challenge, give-and-take, and many questions in the sometimes fractious, sometimes agonizing process of deciding how to play the day's news. Contact between boss and worker is routine, a natural part of an environment in which aggressive, independent-minded individuals honor both teamwork and disagreement" (2). To some degree, the creative process is a collaborative process. And in their very different roles, Carol Saller of the University of Chicago Press and Nancy Brigham of the United Auto Workers stress the sometimes collaborative nature of writing, editing and publishing. Drawing on those sources, as well as our other readings, videos, classroom discussion and your own background knowledge, discuss how careful attention to group dynamics can help editors get a publication on the street. How can a knowledge of management and organizational behavior help you as a writer and/or a career in the communications industry?
2A. Short essay (25 points). I haven't formulated the exact question yet, but it will deal with the role that planning plays in getting a publication on the street.
2B. Self-reflective essay (25 points). What have you learned about ____________ in COMM _____ so far that you didn’t know before? Consider what you knew at the beginning of the course and what you know now. What point or points stand out most clearly to you? What points are still confusing? In answering this question, please feel free to look at the “Tip Sheet on Writing a Reflective Essay” linked to my faculty webpage. In grading the essay, I will evaluate the relevance of your discussion to the main goals and objectives of the course; the detail you cite to support or illustrate your points; and the connections you make.
If you're wondering about that strange Robert Giles newsroom management book, don't worry. It just came in from Amazon.com, and I've been reading it over the weekend. I'll have copies of pertinent portions of it for you
1. How to study for them. Since they're an open-book tests, you are very strongly encouraged to open the book(s)! - i.e. to consult Carol Saller's "Subversive Copyeditor"; the handouts I've given from Brigham's guide to leaflets and newsletters and newspapers; the handout you're going to get from Robert A. Giles' newsroom management text; and the stuff I've posted to the blog. Include a lot of quotes. As you quote from Sallers, it's a good idea to put the page number in parentheses after the quotation. But I don't demand a Works Cited or References page. You're doing two things, which aren't as contradictary as they might seem at first - you're showing me you read the book, and you're showing me you can think for yourself.
2. How to write the essays. Here's what I've been telling my students since I was teaching freshman English. You guys aren't freshmen anymore, but it never hurts to go back over the basics. A good strategy for essay tests I developed in grad school was: (1) to answer the question with facts from the text(s) and lecture notes, i.e. parrot the conventional wisdom; and (2) then go on and give my own opinion and analysis of the issues raised by the test question, i.e. show I could think for myself. Even when I was stating my opinion, I learned to always back it up with facts, statistics, quotes and examples. Even? Especially when I was stating my opinion! Your teachers are probably looking for two things when they grade a test: (1) your command of the basic facts; and (2) your ability to analyze and evaluate the factual information. So give 'em both.
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