TO: Students in CJ 160 Section 001

FROM: R. B. Taylor
DATE: 4/18/05
RE: Explaining the returned paper 2

We are returning paper 2. Below you will see your ADJUSTED paper grade. The RAW grade appears on your paper. The adjusted grades range from 50 to 105. It is your ADJUSTED GRADE we will be counting.

If your ADJUSTED grade was below 75, you were in the bottom quarter of the class.

If your adjusted grade was above 75 but below 81 you were in the next to bottom quarter of the class.
If your adjusted grade was above 81 but below 88 you were in the next to top quarter of the class.
If your adjusted grade was above 88 you were in the top quarter of the class.

To calculate the adjusted score we took your raw score, and turned it into a z score, such that the average z score was between a B and a C,  then converted these back to 0-100 grades. The mean and the median in the adjusted scores are 81.

REMEMBER: there is a regrading policy; see the syllabus.

NOTES ON HOW PAPERS WERE GRADED

Miscellaneous:

-1         email

-1         last 4 of SSN

-1         name

Page Setup:

-2         margins

-2         font

-2         spacing    (1.5 – 2)

-5         spacing    (none)

-2         page limit

-5         page limit (up to half of second page)

/  =  did not read past this point (found at bottom of page).

         ANYTHING PAST PAGE 1 WAS NOT READ. IF YOU WROTE ANY  

         TEXT ON PAGE 2, YOU DID NOT RECEIVE POINTS FOR IT.

Section I - Reduction in points if:

• Definition of success is vague (ie….not specific; do not point to variable explaining “success”(-7))
• Full credit definition: “there was not a statistically significant difference in the reduction between homicide rate before Brady and the homicide rate after Brady”;
• Vague definition: “by success I mean it made a difference”; “this law…was made to lessen the amount of violent criminal activity by high-risk individuals”; “success occurs when people are happy with the results produced by a causal agent”
• Do not give clear opinion of success (-10)
• Definition not stated (-15)

Section II – Reduction in points if:

• Do not relate finding back to definition of success.
• Inconsistent reasoning
• Finding does not relate to stated definition of success

Section III – Reduction in points if:

• A term from RMCJ is not used.
• Use term but do not specify if weakness or strength of study (ie…in this study, there were threats to internal validity).
• Use term, state if weakness or strength but do not specify why (ie…A strength of the study was a strong quasi-experiment.)
• Do not attempt section III.

Reference - points taken if lacking:

“Journal of”      (ie….Journal of the American Medical Association)

page numbers

volume number

not all authors are listed   (ie… Wright et. al.)

cite incorrect year of article

incorrect journal title

incorrect order

3+ mistakes : -5

ADJUSTED GRADES SORTED BY ID NUMBER

ID	PAPER2_ADJUSTED GRADE
0024	
0029	68
0045	74
0069	75
0176	84
0190	90
0259	97
0418	
0621	79
0678	77
1010	78
1035	
1209	97
1276	89
1371	81
1470	72
1470	56
1476	50
1522	80
1671	95
1735	97
1885	96
1910	63
2008	78
2020	100
2032	58
2164	79
2195	94
2414	85
2643	79
2713	90
2745	77
2821	74
2852	105
2934	67
3054	73
3071	87
3326	82
3334	93
3975	87
3988	84
4057	85
4080	
4120	83
4191	87
4237	
4263	
4302	77
4330	91
4439	89
4648	76
4799	83
4862	95
4905	63
4928	69
5096	71
5125	88
5202	
5484	82
5529	85
5554	86
5565	77
5641	76
5722	88
5786	82
5860	85
5978	59
6480	71
6594	81
6826	90
6889	82
7028	88
7154	75
7675	80
7852	79
7995	
8009	93
8011	78
8206	
8236	84
8374	80
8708	105
8709	69
8726	93
8825	76
9033	62
9049	71
9057	88
9107	64
9168	69
9200	81
9280	66
9527	84