ELWR Appeal

2010 Update

Appeal Papers:

You are expected to “read thoughtfully and provide reasoned, concrete, and developed presentations of [your] point of view” in your papers (UCAWPE Information Booklet). In addition to responding to texts and developing sufficient examples with acceptable reasoning, passing papers must be focused and purposeful. Please note that you are also expected to have effective control over conventional written English syntax, vocabulary, and mechanics.

In both exam settings and in your take-home essay assignments, creating passing essays requires that you carefully edit and revise. In both cases, you must also create a purposeful, cohesive narrative that is sufficiently developed with examples. The benefit of the take-home version (besides not having to sit two hours in an exam setting) is that you have multiple opportunities to revise, making truly major changes and creating very good essays in response to various feedback you receive from peers, writing assistants, and writing instructors. Perhaps this longer writing process is what you require to successfully create passing work.

In your Appeals Portfolio, you have the opportunity to show that you can, and do, write passing papers in your regular (take-home) essay writing, though not in the exam setting. You can pass ELWR with a good Appeals Portfolio. Note: you must still sit the exam. (You can’t appeal the exam result if there is no result!)

The ELWR Exam is Saturday, November 20th, 10:30-12:30. Location TBA.

• Students needing exam accommodation should contact the Disability Resource Center at least one week before the exam at 459-2089 or by e-mail at drc@ucsc.edu.

Appeals Portfolios are due Monday, November 29th to your instructor (some instructors may be able to accept them Tues, but you should confirm this).

Your portfolio must contain:

The introductory letter (approximately 2 pages in length, double line spaced) should be written by you without any instructor or tutor help. The audience for the introductory letter is a Writing Program instructor who does not know you or your writing. Please do the following in your letters:

• describe your writing process with reference to the particular essays in the appeal packet

• describe the way your writing has developed over the quarter with reference to the particular essays in the appeal packet

• highlight your strengths as a writer with reference to the particular essays in the appeal packet

• acknowledge any remaining weaknesses in your writing with reference to the particular essays in the appeal packet and your plans for addressing those weaknesses as you continue your studies at UCSC.

You are free to revise the essays you submit as much as you please. We recommend that you at least correct the editorial corrections your instructor has noted and you have fixed. You must print a clean copy of your essays, and clip them to the top of the whole packet of your essays--that is, the whole stack: my response sheet, your final draft, the tutorial group draft, and any other drafts that may be in the packet.

    Finally, you must submit your appeals packet in an envelope large enough so that your essays do not need to be folded.  Put your introductory letter on top.  On that envelope, write your name, your student ID number, your instructor's name,  College Eight Core, and your section number.

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