Calibration and Review Instructions for CPR

Your grade for this assignment depends on:
1) The quality of your paper as determined by your peers (and maybe by me as well).
2) How accurately you rate three calibration essays.
3) How accurately you rate three essays written by your classmates.
4) How well your rating of your own paper matches others' ratings.

-- I will make sure any unfair ratings get removed from the final scoring.

-- I will adjust the final results so the class average is reasonable (probably on the generous side).

How to rate the 3 calibration essays.

After I tell you to being the reviewing phase, you must do the calibration essays.  You will answer a series of questions about each calibration essay, then assign a rating to it.  If your answers to the questions match mine most of the time and your rating is reasonably close to mine, the system will allow you to move on to reviewing peer essays.  If not, the system will give you a second chance.

Guidelines for rating calibration essays and peer essays.

No doubt you're wondering......"How do I know what ratings to assign to these papers?  How lenient or harsh should I be?  What number should I give a B+ paper? Or a C- paper???  How do I know what the correct scientific information is so I can know if they got it right?

Here's how to check for accuracy and completeness of scientific information:
See my Outline of expected scientific content (click here)

Look over this list and do a little more research if you don't understand all of the major points.

You can use this as a checklist of things that should have been covered.


Here's how to select a number of points:
10 = Nearly perfect (letter grade A+);  All of the ratings (questions) in the top range.
9 = Excellent (A); All but a few ratings in the top range; easy to read, clear and with few scientific ommisions or inaccuracies.
8 = Very good (A-); Most ratings in the top range, but some minor writing weaknesses and/or minor science omissions or inaccuracies.
7 = Very good (B+); Most ratings in the middle range.  A few important science omissions or inaccuracies and/or important writing weaknesses, but overall quite good.
6 = Good (B); Most ratings in the middle range. More than a few important science omissions or inaccuracies and/or important writing weaknesses, but still good.
5 = Fair (B-/C+); Some ratings in the low range.  Several important science omissions or inaccuracies and/or important writing weaknesses, to the point where the errors detract significantly from the paper's impact and readability.
4=  Fair (C) Many ratings in the low range.  Many important science omissions or inaccuracies and/or important writing weaknesses, to the point where the errors detract strongly.
3= Poor (C-); Most ratings in the low range; important weaknesses in writing that detracted from the paper's impact and many scientific points missing or incorrect.
2= Poor (D); Text was basically thrown together to make the word limit, science points mostly inaccurate or omitted.   Also hard to read.
1= (F); Abusive. 

The letter grade guidelines above are only guidelines.  I will decide how to assign points for the assignment based on the CPR results as a whole. 

You MUST enter comments to explain your rating.  Tell the writer what they can do to improve their writing.