Fluent Essays

Touchstones are projects that illustrate your comprehension of the course material, help you refine skills, and demonstrate application of knowledge. You can work on a Touchstone anytime, but you cant submit it until you have completed the unit’s Challenges. Once youve submitted a Touchstone, it will be graded and counted toward your final course score. Touchstone 4: Revise an Argumentative Research Essay ASSIGNMENT: Review the in-text comments and summary 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 evaluators feedback. Make sure to include a copy of your Touchstone 3.2 draft below the reflection questions for this unit. 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 A. Final Draft Guidelines DIRECTIONS: Refer to the list below throughout the writing process. Do not submit your Touchstone until it meets these guidelines. 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 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? 3. Conventions and Proofreading ❒ Have you double-checked for correct formatting, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization?❒ Have you ensured that any quoted material is represented accurately? 4. Reflection ❒ Have you displayed a clear understanding of the revision process?❒ Have you answered all reflection questions thoughtfully and included insights, observations, and/or examples 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 (90-100\%)Proficient (80-89\%)Acceptable (70-79\%)Needs Improvement (50-69\%)Non-Performance (0-49\%) Revising 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 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 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 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 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 Answer reflection questions thoroughly and thoughtfully.Demonstrates thoughtful reflection; consistently includes insights, observations, and/or examples in all responses, following or exceeding response length guidelines.Demonstrates thoughtful reflection; includes multiple insights, observations, and/or examples, 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). 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. 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. Submission must include your graded Touchstone 3 assignment. 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 Labs APA Formatting and Style Guide This site includes a comprehensive overview of APA style, as well as individual pages with guidelines for specific citation types. Frequently Asked Questions About APA Style This 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—References This page on the official APA Style website provides numerous examples of reference list formatting for various source types.Sophia Pathways for College Credit – English Composition II SAMPLE TOUCHSTONE AND SCORING Logan Stevens English Composition II December 22, 2019 Where’s the Beef?: Ethics and the Beef Industry Americans love their beef. According to a 2005 study on beef consumption, between 1994 and 1998, Americans consumed an average of 67 pounds of beef per year, the equivalent of approximately three ounces of beef per day (Davis & Lin, 2005). Despite this high rate of consumption, in recent years people in the United States have grown increasingly concerned about where their food comes from, how it is produced, and what environmental and health impacts result from its production. These concerns can be distilled into two ethical questions: is the treatment of cattle humane and is there a negative environmental impact of beef production? For many, the current methods of industrial beef production and consumption do not meet personal ethical or environmental standards. Therefore, for ethical and environmental reasons, people should limit their beef consumption, and the beef that they do eat should be humanely raised, locally sourced, and grass-fed. The first ethical question to consider is the humane treatment of domesticated cattle. It has been demonstrated in multiple scientific studies that animals feel physical pain as well as emotional states such as fear (Grandin & Smith, 2004, para. 2). In Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), better known as “factory farms” due to their industrialized attitude toward Comment [SL1]: Hi Logan! This is a great title. Comment [SL2]: Good use of data as an effective hook statement. Comment [SL3]: This is a very strong, well-formed thesis statement that takes a clear stance on a debatable topic. Well done. Sophia Pathways for College Credit – English Composition II SAMPLE TOUCHSTONE AND SCORING cattle production, cattle are often confined to unnaturally small areas; fed a fattening, grain-based diet; and given a constant stream of antibiotics to help combat disease and infection. In his essay, “An Animal’s Place,” Michael Pollan (2002) states that beef cattle often live “standing ankle deep in their own waste eating a diet that makes them sick” (para. 40). Pollan not only describes Americans’ discomfort with this aspect of meat production. He also notes that they are removed from and uncomfortable with the physical and psychological aspects of killing animals for food as well. He simplifies the actions chosen by many Americans: “we either look away—or stop eating animals” (para. 32). This decision to look away has enabled companies to treat and slaughter their animals in ways that cause true suffering for the animals. If Americans want to continue to eat beef, alternative, ethical methods of cattle production must be considered. In addition to the inhumane treatment of animals, CAFOs also raise ethical questions in term