EWC 2008: Scoring's criteria

[Rec]

The following are the suggestion for lavel of 100 marks (I refer to oneself to other contest). However, I think that it should be change.

1. Content (40 marks)

• Poor - Average (little substance, inadequate development of topic): 5 - 15 marks
• Average - Good (adequate range, relevant to topic but lacks creativity): 16 - 29 marks
• Good - Excellent (substantive, thorough development of topic, relevant to topic, very creative and impressive): 30-40 marks

2. Layout and vocabulary (30 marks)

• Poor - Average (unclear sentences, poorly- and incorrectly-used vocabulary) 10 - 15 marks
• Average - Good (fluently- and clearly-expressed ideas, good layout, rich vocabulary and good use of idioms or proverbs. However, minor incorrect vocabularies at times) 15-25marks
• Good - Excellent (cohesive and well-presented ideas, rich and correctly-used vocabulary, interesting, creative and easy to understand) 25-30 marks

3. Grammars and Spelling (25 marks)

• Poor (basic mistakes): 1-5 marks
• Below average (quite a lot of mistakes but good grammar handling): 6-10 marks
• Average (small number of mistakes): 11- 15 marks
• Good (very few mistakes but only basic grammar used): 16-20 marks
• Very good (complicated grammar but well-presented and rarely make mistakes): 21-25 marks

4. Awarded marks (1-5 marks)

• Early submission
• Excellent layout
• High level of creativity

[Tocxu]

Rec told me to be responsible for this topic. However, I don't have any ideas right now. I am waiting for contributions/suggestions from other judges and all the members of QBO.

[Tocxu]

The scoring criteria depend on what we expect from a submission. In order to understand our expectations, we should define what is a good essay.

The following are some suggestion from Thiên Bình how to write a good self introduction. I would like to post it here in case you are intested:

One of the many elements to formal writing for this type of contests is to follow directions. My recomendation for writing the introduction is.

- No more than 1 page double space or 1.5 spacing and the font is no less than 10pt (12pt recommended). The reasons why is that in the real world, when you are trying to introduce about yourself, just like a resume, it should not be more than 1 page. People don't have time to read about you more than one page. Having a limited space for writing will help student to concise using their words and avoid beating around the bush with run-on sentences. Note that this is an Introduction and not a Biography, if it is Biography than yes, elaboration and details are recommended.

- Suggestions and ideas for writing an introduction.
There is a book that I have got a chance to look over a few chapters, translated in Vietnamese, "Ban co hap dan khong?" by Psychologist Jesse S. Nirenberg, which shows readers ways of how to make themselves more attractive in the art of socializing. I haven't finnish this book because some of the concept I have aready know but I think that it will be very beneficial to the young adults.

Writing an introduction is similar to how you would meet someone, and what would you say about yourself, similar to selling your self-image, and writing your resume in paragraph form. Some tips that I have for introducing oneself is to talk about background, interest, and goals and dreams. Why? Because it involves with past, present, and future for technical purposes. But more importantly, I think it defines a person really well from these three factors.

I hope that you will take my suggestions into consideration. It also depends on the applicant pool to work around our requirements and selections on the reward recipients. I will be judging on originality and organization of the introductory content first, and then the technical stuff second, which I will be looking for improvements.

[Tocxu]

I have found this one on internet.

When writing an essay, it is important to take your time and give your writing a lot of consideration. Even though writing an essay is much simpler than writing a research paper, it is still a very challenging task in itself. The actual writing of the essay consists of three steps:


Planning the essay

Drafting the essay


Proofreading and Editing the essay


PLANNING THE ESSAY

The first step to writing an essay and possibly the most overwhelming to some writers is planning the essay. Writers usually have some idea of what they want to write about. The problem is that now they need to organize their idea and focus on what the essay will specifically be about.


Brainstorm about the general topic that was chosen to show an even more specific topic. Write down any key words or phrases that can be associated with the topic. One of the key words or phrases could lead to a more specific idea for an essay.


Once a topic has been chosen, the six basic questions can be asked to help supply information that will be given in the essay and could possibly even help discover an even more detailed topic for the essay.


The basic questions are: WHO? WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? WHY? HOW?


Now that the basic questions have been asked, they will need to be answered. Reading about the chosen topic and finding answers to the questions is the next step. Write down notes or summarize the information. If direct quotes or paraphrases are used, the source will have to be cited in the essay.


Answering the basic questions should have supplied ideas for the thesis sentence. The thesis sentence is the main idea of the essay. It is the first sentence that expresses what the essay is about and from what position the essay is written. The thesis sentence should not merely be about a general topic. It should clearly show the direction of the essay.


For example:

Pitbulls are dogs that tend to attack small children.

-This thesis sentence would be wrong because it does not clearly show the position of the essay.

Pitbulls are dangerous animals that should be kept on a leash at all times due to the safety risk involved.

-This thesis sentence would be correct because it shows the position of the essay. The position is that pitbulls are dangerous and should be leashed.


After the thesis sentence is developed, a formal outline should be devised. This will help ensure that the topic of the essay is being written systematically and that all questions are being answered.


DRAFTING THE ESSAY


The first draft of the essay is usually the toughest to write. An essay must be developed using the notes, summaries, and thesis statement that were previously written. Paragraphs should be written based on and following the sequential order of the outline.


INTRODUCTION

The introduction consists of the thesis statement and ideas. It should clearly show the position of the paper without giving too much information.


BODY

The body of the essay is next which provides the information and support that was gathered. The body gives the answers to the basic questions.


CONCLUSION

Then the conclusion summarizes the information, reiterates the thesis and closes the essay.


PROOFREADING AND EDITING

After the essay is completely written, it is time to proofread and edit the paper. Read through the essay carefully, checking for spelling mistakes or grammar and sentence structure errors. Check to see that each of the basic questions about the topic was answered and that the sequence and structure of the essay are well written and complete.


Once satisfied with the essay as written, it can be typed up and completed. Look over the essay as many times as it needs to be perfect.


(source:http://www.essortment.com/all/howtowritegoo_rgec.htm)

[Tocxu]

We should discuss a little bit what contestant should write in his/her self introduction.

The follwing is my suggestion:

- Basic information: name, age, gender, school or work place (if applicable), hometown. This kind of information helps us to verify the eligibility of the contestant.

- Something he/she loves: family, village, schools, friends, favorite subjects, etc.

- Hobbies: music, sports, reading, etc.

- Dream/future career: what he/she wants to become, what he/she to do, etc.

I am waiting for your discussion.

[dieuvuongqb]

Here are what I think and also what I have learnt for such a long time since the time I joined in the Team of Contestants of the National Competition for Pupils learning English at the 9th Grade at Hai Dinh Gifted Secondary School.

First and the most important is that you have to be good at grammar usage and rich in vocabulary (of course, as you then can use many sentence structures to express one sentence meaning to make your essay more wonderful)

Second and more specific on how to write a good essay is that you have to express only 01 main idea in one paragraph only. In the paragraph, you can have more sub-ideas to support for the main idea. After this paragraph, you can have other paragraphs to express the other main points.

Third, from paragraph to paragraph, you have to show the connection between two main ideas, whether they have reciprocal meanings or opposite meanings. In this case, you have to know how to use conjunctions or linking words.

Fourth, above all, you have to have a clear structure of arranging ideas. You have the introduction part, the development part and finally the ending part to close the whole essay.