What it means to be substantive

When you participate in Discussions whether they be email, chat, or Discussion Board sessions remember that your responses must be BRIEF BUT SUBSTANTIVE to get good credit.

Your responses should --

• Greet a specific student or a group of fellow students by name.
• Briefly remind us of what he, she, or they said with a very short summary of the idea they presented.
• Include detail from our text and common reading as evidence for what you have to say (Remember that others will need to draw on our readings, too, so only use just enough information from our readings to make your point clearly).
• Add new information to the conversation (we don't want to be reading the same thing over and over).
• Use class vocabulary [either common or technical vocabulary or both].
• Clearly identify the source of information and evidence that you do use.
• Be free of major grammatical errors and very coherent (easily and quickly understood and without contradictions).

In terms of your independent reading for this class, substantive reading parallels the characteristics of substantive writing listed above.  The author of a substantive essay will

• address other people's arguments directly and summarize them fairly for you;
• add new detail -- statistics, history, narratives of events -- detail both in support of other people's ideas and in support of his or her own ideas;
• be careful to make the argument clear and concise and focused (coherence) and careful to avoid grammatical mechanical errors.

Example of a weak discussion response:

I think he was also considered crazy by his contemporaries. I read his biography, and it said that he wasn't the most popular writer of his period. I don't think the people of that particular period wanted to hear the anger and hostility in some of his poems. I must say that his emotions about God are complex and sometimes hard to figure out.

Does not greet fellow students, simply repeats what has gone before, adds no new information to the conversation.  For instance, instead of just generally referring to Blake's attitude toward God, the writer should have gone back to the poems and searched for examples of when Blake showed the attitude, "anger and hostility," and written those examples into the response.

Example of a strong discussion response:

Hi Rebecca, While I agree with you that Wordsworth definitely had a strong love for nature and cherished its gifts which he felt most strongly during his childhood, I think we must remember that he does not regret growing old and in effect he has gained greater gifts. In "Tintern Abbey" Wordsworth said, "nor mourn nor murmur: other gifts Have followed, for such loss, I would believe, Abundant recompense" (ln 87ff). He is saying that now he now has new gifts to look at nature more than a hour of fun but as a more powerful tool that is instrumental to men. This is illustrated when Wordsworth said, "And I have felt A presence that disturbs me with the joy, Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime / Of something far more deeply interfused" ("Tintern Abbey" ln 96ff).    While Wordsworth cherished his childhood days, I believe he is just as thankful for the knowledge that he received as he aged.  I see this idea in that poem, "Ode: Intimations on Immortality," too when comes around to thinking that it's okay for the kids to be more joyful than he and he's no longer jealous of their happiness.    George Cumby

Greets the argument of a fellow student respectfully, but modifies and expands on what the previous said.  Quotes several new passages to illustrate this modified idea and is careful to show where in the poem these lines came from. Refers generally to another poem -- "Ode" -- and allows someone else to take that opportunity for discussion.     Remember:  Quotes are only one kind of evidence for what you might have to say.  You can search the internet for what experts have to say; you can summarize and paraphrase passages, describe events and actions characters take or how plots come to an end in order to illustrate reasons for thinking the way you do about a question.   Notice George leaves an opening for someone else to come in and add to the discussion, detailing out the idea that he only generally refers to in Wordsworth's "Ode."

A general rubric for evaluating all writing -- annotations short essay on tests, anything

• Is the writing coherent; that is, does the writing have a central, focused idea which all the other parts support and discuss?

  These characteristics are always part of the rubric in the teacher's evaluation of on-line discussions and essays whether they be email, chat, and discussion board conversation or formally submitted essays.

• Is the writing developed; that is, does the writing use relevant and specific detail especially from our shared readings to support several ideas related closely to a central idea?

• Does the development of the essay include something new, a new idea or new information in support of the ideas being discussed; that is, is the writing fresh and original or a re-hash of old hat.
• Is the writing free of serious grammar/mechanical errors and relatively free of careless, minor problems?
• Is the writer careful to recognize the source of information; that is, does the writer use clear citations and lead-ins to quotes and paraphrases [in formal situations] or name the source and indicate the location of the idea [in less formal situations]?