Online Resources | Annotated Bibliography

Online Resources

Standards for a "C" Grade in English Composition
Report to Maryland Chief Academic Officers from Statewide English Composition Committee, March 3, 1998

Statement of Expectations: Freshman Writing
On August 11, 1995, instructors of freshman writing, representative of Maryland’s two- and four-year public institutions, developed this statement regarding English composition in response to the Maryland Higher Education Commission’s guidelines for statewide general education.

English Composition: Standards for a "C" Paper
This is a Report to Maryland Chief Academic Officers from Statewide English Composition Committee. The Intersegmental Chief Academic Offficers approved the report on April 21, 1998.

WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition
Adopted by the Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA), April 2000.

The Outcomes Statement Site
Links on this site provides information about the WPA's effort to generate a nation-wide outcomes statement for first-year college composition.

Writing Program Home Pages
This WPA site provides links to various writing programs and centers around North America.  

Index of IDEA Papers - Kansas Sate University
Published on the website for the Individual Development and Educational Assessment Center (IDEA) at Kansas State University this page provides an index of papers looking at different aspects of assessment and learning improvement in Higher Education.

Effective Communication Kit
The simple design of the kit allows for people of all ages to develop their communication skills. The purpose of this learning experience is for students to create a kit that promotes healthy, effective communication among family members. The simple design of the kit allows for people of all ages to develop their communication skills.

WriteKey - An Assessment Tool
The WriteKey tool, originally developed for the assessment of foreign language compositions, can be applied to all writing with minor adaptations. Its use as a scoring tool streamlines the grading process by making assessment more objective, more consistent, and faster. Scoring marks placed on the WriteKey symbol indicate which elements need improvement and examination of several summaries for a particular student will track patterns of performance. The checklist "keys" represent the essential elements of effective writing. Assessment is recorded on an actual copy of the WriteKey symbol placed on, or attached to, the student's composition. Actual marking of the WriteKey symbol is detailed on the Scoring page.

Communication Studies 20 Assessment and Evaluation
The purposes of assessment and evaluation include the following: to facilitate and measure growth and progress in English language arts to gauge students' growth, development, and progress against stated learning objectives to inform students and parents/caregivers about the objectives of the program and student progress toward meeting them to provide education administrators and others with information regarding the effectiveness of programs.

NWREL Oral Communication Scoring Guidelines (Rubrics)
This Oral Communication Scoring Guides in PDF format is a unique approach to oral communication assessment of academic and career-related communication competencies.

The Writing Proficiency Exam (WPE) (California Polytechnic State University)
To fulfill Graduation Writing Requirement (GWR), Cal Poly State University uses this to test students’ ability to organize and develop ideas, to make and support generalizations, and to use language at the level expected of and appropriate for a college graduate.

Criterion Online Writing Evaluation
Criterion Online Writing Evaluation is a Web-based service developed at ETS Technologies, Inc. that evaluates students' essay writing skills.

Western Governors University Selects The Chauncey Group International To Develop Assessment Tests
Princeton, NJ -- Western Governors University (WGU), an online, competency-based university, has selected The Chauncey Group, International(r) to develop additional assessment tests for WGU's general education requirements in the area of quantitative literacy and in the area of language and communication.

Annotated Bibliography

Ackerman, J. M. (1991). Reading, writing, and knowing: The role of disciplinary knowledge in comprehension and composing. Research in the Teaching of English, 25(2), 13-78.
Analyzes synthesis essays of graduate students for the importance and origin of information and for the quality of key rhetorical moves. Confirms the interrelatedness of comprehension and composing processes and illustrates how writers, with varying levels of topic familiarity, use both their knowledge of disciplinary topics and their experience as readers and writers to compose. (SR). ERIC

Ackerman, J. M. (1993). The promise of writing to learn. Written Communication, 10(3), 334-370.
Discusses the concept of writing as a mode of learning and critiques the write-to-learn model of writing theory. Reviews 35 research studies on the topic and concludes that they do not provide empirical proof of writing as a mode of learning. Describes other modes of learning that the model ignores. (HB) ERIC

Barton, E. L. (1993). Evidentials, argumentation, and epistemological stance. College English, 55(7), 745-769.
Argues that the use of evidentials illuminates differences between arguments written by experienced academic writers and those written by student writers. Reveals differences in the epistemological stance underlying both groups. Analyzes discursive examples by both groups. (HB) ERIC

Barton, J. C., A. (1997). Portfolio assessment: A handbook for educators. Menlo Park, CA: Innovative Learning Publications.
No abstract available. LB1029.P67P656 1997

Barton, E., Halter, E., McGee, N., & McNeilley, L. (1998). The awkward problem of awkward sentences. Written Communication, 15(1), 69-98.
Studies predominant types and patterns of awkward sentences in student writing. Suggests that four types of syntactic problems--mismanagement of clause structure in errors of embedding, of syntax shift, of parallel structure, and of direct/indirect speech--are associated with patterns of semantic problems. Suggests pedagogical approaches for these problems. (PA) ERIC

Broad, B. (1997). Reciprocal authorities in communal writing assessment: Constructing textual value within a "new politics of inquiry." Assessing Writing, 4(2), 133-167.
Details the three major forms of evaluative authority (administrator, teacher, outside instructor) in the portfolio program at a large, urban, Midwestern university. Documents and theorizes the rhetorical and political dynamics by which the three forms of authority interact. Explores and maps the contested borders of authority among outside instructors, teachers, and administrators. (RS) ERIC

Carnes, L. W., Jennings, M.S., & Vice, J.P. (2001). The role of the business educator in a writing-across-the-curriculum program. Journal of Education for Business, 76(4), 216-219. Retrieved October 8, 2001 from Wilson Select Plus database.
In this article, we describe in detail an effective writing-across-the-curriculum program for improving students' writing and/or speaking skills. Such a program (a) enables faculty of noncommunication disciplines to build on the writing skills taught in the communications course, (b) provides students with the opportunity to strengthen and reinforce communication skills, and (c) encourages consistency in communication training and assessment. Through a collaborative effort, business communication faculty can facilitate training sessions with all business faculty to identify material already covered in communications courses, develop consistent grading standards, and determine expectations for writing assignments. A checklist for incorporating writing assignments is provided as a detailed guide for business faculty.

Cizek, G. J. (1998). The assessment revolution's unfinished business. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 34(4), 144-149. Retrieved October 19, 2001 from Wilson Select Plus database.
Part of a special section on performance-based assessment. The assessment revolution still needs to address evaluation, the application of innovations, and assessment preparation. In order to solve problems related to evaluation, it is important to develop strategies that are likely to increase grade reliability, reduce grade inflation, and increase meaningful information about student performance. In applying assessment innovations, it is vital to recognize the match between assessment strategy and context. Meanwhile, the preparation of teachers and administrators in fundamental principles and practices of educational assessment may be the final battle of the assessment revolution that needs to be addressed.

Harris, M. (1995). Talking in the middle: Why writers need writing tutors. College English, 57(1), 27-42.
Focuses on the tutorial function of writing centers. Describes the uniqueness of the tutorial relationship. Claims that this relationship makes possible knowledge about writing unavailable in more institutionalized settings. Analyzes extensive excerpts from student comments concerning tutorial experiences. (HB) ERIC

Superville, L. K. (2001). Oral assessment as a tool for enhancing students' written expression in social studies. The Social Studies, 92(3), 121-125. Retrieved October 8, 2001 from Wilson Select Plus database.
The writer discusses Operation Talk, a strategy that she used to help students express their ideas in writing. The strategy endeavored to hone students' listening and concentration skills, increase students' ability to visualize what they hear and to conjure up that image later when writing what had been said, improve students' spelling skills and their familiarity with social studies terminology, improve students' thinking skills through the mental formulation of responses to questions asked, and facilitate effective oral communication with improved sentence structure and grammar. Although the oral assessment strategy was not an unqualified success, as it revealed a number of other learning deficits in the students, it did improve the students' understanding and application of the material.