Results on my first paper

For those who don't know, the grading system in Ireland is quite different from the United States. Personally, I find the system over here rewards achievement in a way that the system in the US, as it has been implemented in my experience, does not. Both function on a scale of 0-100 points. Whereas most evaluation in the US has 90-100 being top marks (A), in Ireland first level marks start at 70 (A-). Top marks (A+) are 86 or higher. A grade of C in the US is usually 70-79 while passing is 50 in Ireland. With so much opportunity to reward excellence, however, I find the 50 means something different here in Ireland than it does in the US.

I remember when I was a teaching assistant at UC Santa Cruz that discussions of grading were very difficult because the range of acceptable grades was too small. The difference between 88 and 90 became huge when we rarely delivered grades below 75. With a 50-point spectrum for passing grades, there is a lot of room for different levels of achievement. And my course handbook outlines the qualities in the writing for the different levels in the 100-point spectrum. While each assessment is a subjective evaluation by the course instructor, there is an attempt to make the standards clear for the entire department. That makes it easier for the instructors and for the students as far as I can tell.

Anyway, I scored a 70 on my first essay (the Tom Murphy-noir one). I'm pleased, but I am also aware of how much more work I can do to make my paper stronger. I won't do it just yet, but I hope to do a revision before coming home. For those who have read previous academic papers that I wrote, this is significantly more readable. If you really want to read it, I will send it over, but it will be a much better paper after I do additional work.