Writing Assessment: What Is It?

Diversity of Assessment Methods to Write a Great Paper

Every teacher or student who is doing internships needs to know the norms of writing assessment. This should evaluate not only grammar and punctuation but also a general knowledge of the topic and the ability to present one’s ideas. Although assessment is the result of checking written assignment, this should explain the grade a student received. Proper design of writing assessments helps the student to correct mistakes and motivates him to develop academic writing skills.

For a professional assessment, it’s not enough to know the rules and regulations of academic writing. The teacher must explain how the student makes mistakes and how to fix it. You do not have to evaluate the entire text, paying attention to each flaw. This only takes place if you are studying individually with each student. Your task is to give feedback and suggest ways to improve the paper.

How to Make Writing Assessments?

Writing assessments can take all day if you correct every mistake in the text. Some teachers love their work so much that they are ready to check essays all night long. However, in most cases, it is not worth your time, because students are interested in an assessment, not an explanation. We recommend that you create a comprehensive writing assessment only when the student wants to receive it.

The assessment of student writing consists of:

The grade you give your student homework;
feedback, which helps improve the paper and motivates the student;
the rules that were used to evaluate the paper.

Useful Tips About Assessment of Student Writing

Checking the student paper, you have to give brief but informative feedback. We’ve put together advice that can save you time to assess writing. It will also make your writing assessments comprehensive and understandable for students. To put it another way, you can use time more productively and avoid overwork.

Do not focus on small errors and inconsistencies. If you notice several punctuation errors, tell the student that he or she needs to work on the topic. Avoid wasting time on every mistake by writing an explanation. Instead of parsing each error, evaluate the general essay structure and grammatical errors. Also, note the mistakes in structures and words you have recently learned. It will bring more benefit to the student.
Explain your comments. In saying that a student did something wrong or good, you are only expressing your opinion. Explain why you emphasized a sentence, and what the mistake is. Suggest an alternative to compare the two options. Often, students do not distinguish between cause and effect, so there is no logical consistency in the text. Write a more appropriate option in the fields or below the text. Encourage the student with key thoughts so that he or she continues the sentence properly.
Mark strong suits of the paper. This will not only help the student to believe in themselves but also tell you about his features of writing. Perhaps the student correctly positions the epithets and comparisons, and thus saturates the text. Or a person inserts appropriate quotes and dialogues. Tell the student that it reinforces his text. This will be a great motivation for its development.
Add accurate comments. Do not evaluate a sentence or paragraph in one word, such as “inaccurate”. Explain your comment, add an example from popular literature. Be impartial and think critically to avoid bias. Remember that you should help the student, not spoil his self-esteem.
Feel like an editor. You need to work with a student to get a great paper as a result. It may take one edit, and maybe ten. Write comments that point to paper flaws. For example, a student constantly calls the main character by name. You can write “Eve, think about the main character. Who is he? Where? What does he do? What can you call it if you don’t use the name?” In this way, you push the student to the right path.

How to Make the Assessment Help Students?

The assessment is a tool that should promote student development. First of all, you need to motivate students to analyze their tactics and strategies. The mistake of most teachers and students is that they focus on grades and think on how to improve them. However, academic writing skills need to be improved not by grades. From time to time, you have to devote time to analyzing students’ work to see the difference. Each assessment should motivate a person to develop his abilities.

Study your students. Identify those who need to create high-quality works. Those students require more attention, and you may want to spend some time consulting. You have to pay attention to the students’ performance in the paper creation process. To succeed in writing an essay, a student must evaluate their performance. Otherwise, a person will do the job well by accident, not knowing how they did it.

So how to help a student develop academic writing skills?

Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the student. Let them evaluate their writing skills and ways of writing information. This will help the student choose a winning strategy and avoid stupid essay mistakes.
Help the student analyze their approaches. This way he will be able to determine what ideas look good on paper. Ask students to use brainstorming to find the right argument.
Invite students to view and evaluate their papers.

How should a student evaluate their paper?

It doesn’t matter whether you are a student or a teacher. You must be able to evaluate your paper before passing. If you have completed writing an essay and think it is good enough, spend extra time on those steps:

Read each part of the essay. Remember that you must start from the strongest argument by presenting it in a body paragraph. Sometimes, as a result, the second or third paragraph is stronger and more convincing than the first. Or, for example, the introduction does not contain a thesis, but the conclusion does. In such cases, you should swap paragraphs and evaluate if engagement has improved.
Compare this paper with previous work. You should see how your writing level has improved. Imagine that you have moved to a metropolis and have been living its rhythm for several years. However, you do not notice your progress until you visit your hometown. Therefore, you should regularly compare your work and note the progress.
Analyze difficult moments when writing. Grammar is difficult for some, paper for others. You should be aware that it is difficult for you to work more on this. Consult a teacher on how to deal with that problem. For example, you should perform vocabulary tests if you cannot remember the spelling of words.

Step by Step Guide to Assessing Student Writing

If you are just starting to work as a teacher or group curator, it is difficult to understand the structure of making assessments. Mcessay writers recommend that you take a pedagogical course to understand all the subtleties of student assessment. However, such training is not conducted every day, so we made a guide on the structure of the assessment. Depending on the amount of time and the type of assignment, you will use different assessment approaches. However, here are all the actions you have to do:

Browse through the whole paper. Do not focus on mistakes, evaluate only structure and engagement. Feel like the reader who first picked up this article. Evaluate your first impression and the factors that influence it. Build on the type of assignment. If this is a descriptive essay, first of all, look at the description method and the ease of perception of the text.
Set priorities. Identify the main factors that affect paper quality. Most often, they include compliance, engagement, delivery and logical sequence. You can emphasize mistakes, but do not do this as a matter of primary importance.
Link to credible sources. You do not have to explain each correction. Instead, leave a link to an online dictionary or article that explains the rule. It benefits both you and a student. You provide a person with the necessary explanation and excellent resources for self-analysis. You can also compile a selection of services and articles for common mistakes. This will save you time and increase productivity.
Provide students with an example. You must show a suitable structure and examples of argumentation. This will give students a correct understanding of what you expect from them. You can also share links to good examples on the Internet.
Check out drafts. Evaluate the preliminary structure of the essay, thesis statement, or arguments. Thus, you will direct the student to the necessary support, indicate the parts of the paper that can be improved. This will help you save both your and student’s time. Perhaps the student chose a weak topic or the wrong format.

Final Thoughts

The process of assessment is a tricky one, whether you are a fresher or experienced teacher. You must not only put a grade but also evaluate the student’s progress. Through assessments, students receive feedback on their academic writing success. You must motivate a person to develop their skills and work on mistakes.

With the help of our guide, you will learn how to write thorough assessments without wasting a lot of time. This will motivate students and strengthen their trust.