GENERAL RUBRIC FOR GRADING DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND PAPERS

All assignments should be typed, with the following information at the top of the first page:

Your name(s) and student id#
East Asian 116/Rel St 120 Winter 2023
Assignment Title (Discussion Week 2, Final Project, etc)
Date

Make sure you include page numbering!

DISCUSSION FORUMS

These are meant to inspire your thinking about a more general topic, such as whether you believe in ghosts (and why) or whether you believe in hell (and which hell is the best). You will need to post once before you can comment on other people's comments, but you have to post replies on at least two other student comments to get full credit. The grading for these will not be as hard as for discussion questions, but thoughtful effort counts.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Prior to discussion section each week on Wednesday you will have answered Discussion Questions. There are two discussion sections where there will be an online discussion forum (see above). I may opt to add more discussion forums, which will likely be extra credit.

For discussion sections where discussion questions are assigned:

1) Have the assigned reading available for section discussion.

2) Answer the "Discussion Questions" assigned for that week and upload them to Canvas Assignments BEFORE *YOUR* DISCUSSION SECTION (i.e. 2 or 3 pm).

NOTE 1: Whether you attend the discussion section or not DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ARE DUE EACH WEEK ON WEDNESDAY BY DISCUSSION SECTION TIME TO GET FULL CREDIT.

NOTE 2: You are allowed to resubmit your discussion questions after discussion section (make sure you clearly mark them as "resubmitted") to take into account the class discussion, and improve your grade. Canvas will close for resubmission at 11:59 PM each Wednesday.

NOTE 3: If you are missing section, you can still get full credit for at least the discussion questions if you upload to Canvas Assignments before section that day.

Late submissions: since they are meant to facilitate discussion, and you have an unfair advantage if you answer after hearing class discussion, if you turn in Discussion Questions late you lose a full grade (i.e. A to B, A- to B-). But that is the only penalty, so it still makes sense to turn in late assignments.Late discussion section questions should be uploaded to Late Discussion Questions under Assignments.

HOW TO ANSWER DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

The answers do not need to be written out in complete sentences but are notes for your use in class discussion. But I do want concrete examples and page numbers to support your points.

For example if the question asks you to list the differences between two different versions of the story, a list is fine. But you should provide examples to support your points with page numbers, or page numbers with at least a brief identifying tag. And make sure you explain why you've chosen those examples! For example:

What are the main differences between the Noh play Aoi no Ue and the original story in The Tale of Genji?

1. Are the priests and their exorcism rituals succesful?

Genji: No, because Rokujo is not identified or pacified and Aoi no Ue dies (p. xx)

Aoi no ue: Yes, because Rokujo is identified and pacified and Aoi no Ue lives (p. 937, "The Bodhisattva comes to meet her. She enters nirvana, released from the cycle of death and rebirth")

See Citation Style for help with citing correctly.

BASIC ELEMENTS FOR GETTING A "B" GRADE FOR DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1) Will be typed (obviously) and spell-checked, with few or no grammatical mistakes, typos, and missuse of words that might interfere with my understanding of your point.

2) Will be submitted by discussion section time.

3) Will follow directions and answer the question/s. If I ask for a list, a list is fine. If I ask for a longer answer, make sure you present it in such a way that I can understand your argument.

4) Will provide appropriate examples/quotations from the texts to be analyzed with page numbers. If you do not give me specific lines/page numbers or scenes (films) you will lose points!!

BASIC ELEMENTS FOR GETTING AN "A" GRADE FOR DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Will do everything above for a B grade plus:

1. Show independent and creative thinking about the issues or problems raised.

2. Examples chosen support argument and are analyzed in concrete detail, rather than simply summarized.

GROUP RESEARCH PROJECTS

For this project, groups of 2-3 students will select a contemporary Japanese ghost or other kind of supernatural being (from manga, anime, J-horror, live-action movies, television, fiction etc.) and compare it to premodern ghosts and other premodern forms of the Japanese supernatural. See specific directions and grading rubric.

SUMMARY OF BASIC GRADING RUBRIC: