Middlesex Community College

Writing Across the Curriculum

Student Writing Samples

The following samples are meant to provide new college students with some helpful context. New students to MCC, some who may have been away from school environments for a period of time, often wonder about the expectations for writing as they enter a college environment. And although schools districts and states in this country have curriculum guidelines and assessments for writing for Kindergarten through high school graduation, some students entering MCC may not have had the many years of ongoing writing experiences needed to develop their writing abilities as others entering college. Below are some links to writing samples gathered from students at a variety of academic levels and written for a) a variety of college courses across the academic disciplines, b) first-year college English Composition courses, c) basic writing or pre-college level writing courses taken on a college campus, d) high school courses and/or assessments, as well as e) middle school classes and/or assessments, and f) elementary school classes and/or assessments.

College Level Writing Samples

Writing Samples In a Variety of Disciplines and Courses

MCC Writing Samples from a variety of courses across the curriculum
Writing Across the Curriculum & In the Disciplines: A Journal of Student Writing from Middlesex Community College provides student writing samples from the following classes: Alcohol and Substance Abuse, Anatomy & Physiology 1, Art on the Web, Child Growth and Development, Early Childhood Education–Supervised Field Placement and Seminar, Film Analysis & Production, Microcomputer Applications, Music Appreciation, Nursing Care of the Adult 1, Introduction to Philosophy, Piano III, Popular Culture and Society, Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Statistics, and Tourism Geography. Follow this link to an electronic copy of this complete journal: http://www.middlesex.mass.edu/wac/wac_journal_2007.htm

CONNECT Writing Outcomes and Rubric for First-Year Writing
CONNECT is “A Southeastern Massachusetts Public Education Partnership” of Bridgewater State College, Bristol Community College, Cape Cod Community College, Massasoit Community College, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, & University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. The following outcomes and rubric grid was created by the CONNECT First-Year Writing Group and is used across these public colleges in southeastern Massachusetts:
http://www.connectsemass.org/writing/rubric.htm

Freshman English Composition– 2^nd semester level (equivalent to ENG 102 at MCC)

Victimized Against Her Will in Naguib Mahfouz’s “The Answer is No” by Doris Osiimwe-Johnson (a literary research paper)
(This paper can be found in Writing Across the Curriculum & In the Disciplines: A Journal of Student Writing from Middlesex Community College; available in electronic form at http://www.middlesex.mass.edu/wac/wac_journal_2007.htm)

Tiara Trudelle: All for Love (courtesy of CONNECT: A Southeastern Massachusetts Public Education Partnership, which includes Bridgewater State College, Bristol Community College, Cape Cod Community College, Massasoit Community College, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, & University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth)

Sue Mechler: Finding Cape Cod (courtesy of CONNECT: A Southeastern Massachusetts Public Education Partnership, which includes Bridgewater State College, Bristol Community College, Cape Cod Community College, Massasoit Community College, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, & University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth)

Freshman English Composition– 1^st semester level (equivalent to ENG 101 at MCC)

“A Feminist’s View” by Jana Casale (a narrative essay)
(This paper can also be found in Writing Across the Curriculum & In the Disciplines: A Journal of Student Writing from Middlesex Community College; available in electronic form at
http://www.middlesex.mass.edu/wac/wac_journal_2007.htm)

“Taming the Screw” by Andrea Benjamin (a narrative essay)
(This paper can also be found in Writing Across the Curriculum & In the Disciplines: A Journal of Student Writing from Middlesex Community College; available in electronic form at
http://www.middlesex.mass.edu/wac/wac_journal_2007.htm)

The New Humanities Reader Sample Graded Papers
The New Humanities Reader is a popular book used in English Composition courses in colleges across the country. The book’s supporting website provides what they call their “Gradatorium,” which provides links to an Introduction, Grading criteria, Criteria explained, Before you begin (which includes “How to read these papers” and “How to read the teacher commentary”), and sample student papers – an A paper, a B paper, and a C paper with explanations and grading commentary below each paper. Follow this link to begin: http://www.newhum.com/for_students/gradatorium/index.html

A paper

B paper

C paper

“Women and the Negativity Within” by Jana Casale (research paper)
(This paper can also be found in Writing Across the Curriculum & In the Disciplines: A Journal of Student Writing from Middlesex Community College; available in electronic form at http://www.middlesex.mass.edu/wac/wac_journal_2007.htm)

Deborah Marcelonis: Overspending is Responsible for the College Cost Crisis
NOTE : Some colleges teach the researched essay and/or the research paper in the second semester of English Composition. This student’s research paper was written in her second semester composition course at a college in southeastern Massachusetts (courtesy of CONNECT: A Southeastern Massachusetts Public Education Partnership, which includes Bridgewater State College, Bristol Community College, Cape Cod Community College, Massasoit Community College, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, & University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth).

Entering College: Writing Placement Essays

ACT system that many colleges around the country use for placement testing. Here are the detailed scoring guidelines that indicate level of writing proficiency, from 1 (low) to 6 (high):

http://www.actstudent.org/writing/sample/textsamples.html

http://www.actstudent.org/writing/scores/guidelines.html Although these scores may be used by individual colleges in a variety of ways and at times in combination with reading placement scores, generally a score of 1 or 2 would place a student in a basic writing or pre-college level writing course, 3 - 5 would place a student into an English Composition course, and a 6 might place a student beyond English Composition 1. The following link provides sample student essays, one sample at each of these 6 different levels: http://www.actstudent.org/writing/sample/index.html

Basic Writing or Pre-College Level Writing Courses
Taken on College Campuses

(This section under construction)

Early in semester (narrative essay)

Mid-semester (essay in response to an essay)

End of semester – Essay that meets the exit criteria for Basic Writing at MCC

This MCC Basic Writing student completed this essay as her final exam essay. Like other students, she completed the essay in a proctored environment in two blocks of time. She was given 50 minutes during the final class to read the assignment options and begin her essay; all writing and materials are collected and then redistributed during final exam period where she had two additional hours to complete her essay. The essay was read by two different English instructors who graded it as passing based on the following Basic Writing essay criteria:

•A relatively well-developed and expressed main idea

•A sense of introduction, conclusion, and organization

•Most paragraphs developed around appropriate topic sentences

•Sufficient, relevant supporting details

•Few if any fragments or run-ons that suggest lack of sentence sense

•Appropriate capitals and end marks

•A reasonable grasp of rules for commas and apostrophes

•Few serious spelling errors

High school courses and/or assessments

Grade 10 High School Writing Samples:
(timed writing – students given 55 minutes to write in response to the prompt)
1.http://www.k12.wa.us/assessment/WASL/writing/Modules/HSPersuasiveWriting/AssessmentSample3.doc

2.http://www.k12.wa.us/assessment/WASL/writing/Modules/HSPersuasiveWriting/AssessmentSample8.doc

Samples from local high school - 10th Grade Classes (Acton – Boxborough High School)

"Penalty! 10 Yards on the Offense for Lack of Integrity!: Editorial on Cheating in Professional Sports Today" (persuasive essay)