EssayRochelle Alabado

Gerome Mikhail C. Tipan

Etymology

►The word essay derives from the French infinitive essayer, "to try" or "to attempt".

►In English essay first meant "a trial" or "an attempt", and this is still an alternative meaning.

Definition

►“prose composition with a focused subject of discussion”

► a "long, systematic discourse”►Like the novel, essay, is a literary device

for saying almost everything about almost anything, usually on a certain topic (Aldous Huxley).

Advantages

►All cognitive levels can be addressed with essay questions.

►It takes less time to write an essay test (only because there are fewer questions to write).

►Students’ organizational skills are also measured.

Disadvantages

►Essay questions are time-consuming to answer and answers take more time to score.

►Less content can be sampled.►Reliability of both response and score is

less (although validity may be better).

Example of the type of test

►China claims the whole China Sea as its territory. Do you agree to this? Do they have the basis historically? Has the Philippines the right to object to this claim? Discuss and explain very well.

Rubric 5 4 3 2 1

oAnswers the specific central

question that was asked

oIncorporates pertinent and

detailed informationoprovide needed

evidence

oQuite answer the

specific question that was asked

oIncorporates some

information oproviding

some necessary

evidence, but less

thoroughly

oAddresses the specific

central question

asked but does not

relate directly to the

question or does not

address all required elements

oDoes not directly

answer the specific central

question asked

ominimally and/or

irrelevantly  does not

incorporates the

information

o Does not answer the

specific central

question in any way

o Does not incorporate information

from pertinent class

discussion and/or

assigned readings

5 4 3 2 1

oMaintains focus/avoids

being sidetracked by tangentsoPresents all information clearly and

concisely and in an

organized manner

ooffer a brief response

odigress from the specific

topicoPresents information

fairly clearly ,concisely, may have

minor organization

problems

oSometimes strays from the specific oPresents

information in a manner that is sometimes

unclear, and/or has significant

organization problems

oundeveloped response

oSubstantially digresses from the

specific topico significant problems with

clarity, concision, and organization, making the information presented

difficult for the reader to

understand

o Provides no information that can be

understood or related to the specific topico May lack

any recognizable organization

5 4 3 2 1

o Avoids distracting

grammar/spelling/etc. Problems

oMay contain a

few distracting

grammar/spelling,proble

ms

o May contain a few or a

significant number of distracting

grammar/spelling/etc. problems

 

o May contain

substantial distracting

grammar/spelling/etc. problems

that muddle the

information presented

o May contain enough

distracting grammar/sp

elling/etc. problems to

make it substantially incomprehe

nsible