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Touchstone 4: Revise an Argumentative Research Essay
ASSIGNMENT: Review the rubric feedback you received on your Touchstone 3.2 draft to enhance your writing. You will then submit a revision of your Touchstone 3.2 draft that reflects the evaluator’s feedback, making all necessary changes to the idea development, organization, style, and conventions.
As this assignment builds on Touchstone 3.2: Draft an Argumentative Research Essay, that Touchstone must be graded before you can submit your final research essay.
Sample Touchstone 4
In order to foster learning and growth, all work you submit must be newly written specifically for this course. Any plagiarized or recycled work will result in a Plagiarism Detected alert. Review Touchstones: Academic Integrity Guidelines for more about plagiarism and the Plagiarism Detected alert. For guidance on the use of generative AI technology, review Ethical Standards and Appropriate Use of AI.
A. Final Draft Guidelines
DIRECTIONS: Refer to the list below throughout the writing process. Do not submit your Touchstone until it meets these guidelines. Refer to the Sample Touchstone for additional guidance on structure, formatting, and citation.
1. Editing and Revising❒ Have you significantly revised the essay by adjusting areas like organization, focus, and clarity?❒ Have you made comprehensive edits to word choice, sentence variety, and style?❒ Have your edits and revisions addressed all the feedback provided by your evaluator?2. Cohesion and Source Integration❒ Is the information presented in a logical order that is easy for the reader to follow?❒ Have you included smooth transitions between sentences and paragraphs?❒ Have you introduced your sources clearly and in a way that demonstrates their validity to the reader? Are your sources formatted correctly following APA style?3. Conventions and Proofreading❒ Have you double-checked for correct formatting, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization?❒ Have you ensured that any cited material is represented accurately and with page/paragraph numbers?4. Reflection❒ Have you displayed a clear understanding of the revision process?❒ Have you answered all reflection questions including specific and concrete examples that provide thoughtful insight in all responses?❒ Are your answers included on a separate page below the composition?B. Reflection Questions
DIRECTIONS: Below your assignment, include answers to all of the following reflection questions.
How much time did you spend revising your draft? What revision strategies did you use, and which worked best for you? (2-3 sentences)
List three concrete revisions that you made and explain how you made them. What problem did you fix with each of these revisions? Issues may be unity, cohesion, rhetorical appeals, content, or any other areas on which you received constructive feedback. (4-5 sentences)
What did you learn about your writing process or yourself as a writer? How has your understanding of the research process changed as a result of taking this course? (2-3 sentences)
C. Rubric
Advanced (100%)Proficient (85%)Acceptable (75%)Needs Improvement (50%)Non-Performance (0%)
Revising (40 points)
Demonstrate comprehensive “re-visioning” of the composition.There is evidence of comprehensive re-visioning of the draft composition, including adjustments to organization, focus, clarity, and/or unity where needed or appropriate.There is evidence of significant re-visioning of the draft composition, including adjustments to organization, focus, clarity, and/or unity where needed or appropriate.There is evidence of some re-visioning of the draft composition, including adjustments to organization, focus, clarity, and/or unity where needed or appropriate; however, a few areas need some additional revision.There is little evidence of re-visioning of the draft composition, such that multiple areas in need of changes were unaltered.Revisions are absent or did not address the issues in the essay.
Editing (40 points)
Demonstrate comprehensive sentence-level edits throughout the composition.
There is evidence of comprehensive edits to the draft composition, including adjustments to word choice, sentence completeness, sentence variety, and/or style where needed or appropriate.There is evidence of substantial edits to the draft composition, including adjustments to word choice, sentence completeness, sentence variety, and/or style where needed or appropriate.There is evidence of some edits to the draft composition, including adjustments to word choice, sentence completeness, sentence variety, and/or style where needed/appropriate; however, some issues were overlooked.There is little evidence of edits made to the draft composition, such that many errors remain.Edits are absent or did not address the issues in the essay.
Source Integration (20 points)
Integrate source material appropriately and effectively.
Introduces sources smoothly and effectively through direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary.Primarily introduces sources effectively through direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary.Introduces some sources effectively through direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary, but more variety could be used.Relies too heavily on one method of source integration (direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary); does not thoughtfully apply source integration techniques.Shows no attempt to integrate source material into the composition or relies on quoted source material for over half of the composition.
Cohesion (20 points)
Establish and maintain a logical flow.
Sequences ideas and paragraphs logically and uses smooth transitions (within and between paragraphs) such that the reader can easily follow the progression of ideas.Sequences ideas and paragraphs logically and uses transitions (within and between paragraphs) such that the reader can easily follow the progression of ideas.Primarily sequences ideas and paragraphs logically and uses sufficient transitions (within and between paragraphs) such that the reader can generally follow the progression of ideas.The progression of ideas is often difficult to follow, due to poor sequencing, ineffective transitions, and/or insufficient transitions.The progression of ideas is consistently difficult to follow, due to poor sequencing and lack of transitions.
Conventions and Proofreading (20 points)
Demonstrate command of standard English grammar, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, and usage.
There are few, if any, negligible errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, formatting, and usage.There are occasional minor errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, formatting, and usage.There are some significant errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, formatting, and usage.There are frequent significant errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, formatting, and usage.There are consistent significant errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, formatting, and usage.
Reflection (10 points)
Answer reflection questions thoroughly and thoughtfully.
Demonstrates thoughtful reflection; consistently specific and concrete examples that provide thoughtful insight, following or exceeding response length guidelines.Demonstrates thoughtful reflection; includes multiple specific and concrete examples that provide thoughtful insight, following response length guidelines.Primarily demonstrates thoughtful reflection, but some responses are lacking in detail or insight; primarily follows response length guidelines.Shows limited reflection; the majority of responses are lacking in detail or insight, with some questions left unanswered or falling short of response length guidelines.No reflection responses are present.
D. Requirements
The following requirements must be met for your submission to be graded:
Composition must be 6-8 pages (approximately 1500-2000 words, not including your references or reflection question responses).
Double-space the composition and use one-inch margins.
Use a readable 12-point font.
All writing must be appropriate for an academic context.
Composition must be original and written for this assignment.
Use of generative chatbot artificial intelligence tools (ChatGPT, Bing Chat, Bard) in place of original writing is strictly prohibited for this assignment.
Plagiarism of any kind is strictly prohibited.
Submission must include your name, the name of the course, the date, and the title of your composition.
Include all of the assignment components in a single file.Acceptable file formats include .doc and .docx.
E. Additional Resources
The following resources will be helpful to you as you work on this assignment:
Purdue Online Writing Lab’s APA Formatting and Style GuideThis site includes a comprehensive overview of APA style, as well as individual pages with guidelines for specific citation types.
Frequently Asked Questions About APA StyleThis page on the official APA website addresses common questions related to APA formatting. The “References,” “Punctuation,” and “Grammar and Writing Style” sections will be the most useful to your work in this course.
APA Style: Quick Answers—ReferencesThis page on the official APA Style website provides numerous examples of reference list formatting for various source types.