Evaluating the Writing (Students' Perspective)
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Writing Guidelines Writing Exercises Writing Courses
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When someone reads your engineering or scientific writing, that person generally evaluates the writing in three ways: what the message is (the content); how the message is presented to the readers (the style, which comprises the structure, language, and illustration); and the form of the message (format, grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling). Table 1 shows a method for evaluating the style and form of engineering and scientific reports (in this scheme, a separate grade is given for content). In this breakdown, you earn points for successes in style (structure, language, and illustration), but stand to lose points for errors in form (format, grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling). This scheme mimics the way that readers assess reports because readers generally notice style when there are successes (reflected by the positive scoring), but do not notice form unless there are errors (reflected by the negative scoring). The raw numerical score translates to a standard 100-point scale in the following way:
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Table 1. Breakdown for Evaluation of Communication.
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Last updated 7/00 http://www.me.vt.edu/writing/handbook/ You are more than welcome to use these materials in your classroom as long as you acknowledge the source.
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