Student Paper: C-minus

June 13, 2007

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University of Virginia, Dept. of Psychology

About this course: I led three 20-student discussion sections in an independent supplement to a 250-student lecture course in child development.

About this document: TAs graded all papers in this course, although the lecture professor set the paper topics. At the beginning of the semester, I wrote a set of paper-writing guidelines to help students, especially the many first-years (freshman). This particular student received an C-minus, because although she started with potentially interesting claims, she failed to support these with evidence, and structure the argument tightly. Note that in my margin comments, I focus on important areas for improvement, but do not attempt to mark all possible corrections.


Student Paper: A

June 13, 2007

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University of Virginia, Dept. of Psychology

About this course: I led three 20-student discussion sections in an independent supplement to a 250-student lecture course in child development.

About this document: TAs graded all papers in this course, although the lecture professor set the paper topics. (See here for more details on the assignment and grading criteria.) This student received an A for reaching the goals of the assignment: providing a highly detailed observational record, thoroughly analyzed in light of the research encountered in lecture, discussion, or reading. The paper is of course not perfect: note that in my margin comments, I do not attempt to mark all possible areas for improvement, but rather choose a few on which to focus.


Sample Student Assignment

June 10, 2007

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University of Virginia, Dept. of Psychology

About this course: I led three 20-student discussion sections in an independent supplement to a 250-student lecture course in child development.

About this document: To help students engage with the material, I had them write brief assignments on each week’s reading. In about one page, they commented on what had most impressed them about the reading, and then wrote discussion questions we could use in class (they also had to attempt an answer!). This is one student’s discussion of Albert Bandura’s classic “Bobo doll” studies.


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