Transcript for Marcos Scores an Online Opinion Piece

And now we begin grading an opinion piece on our English 1312 MinerWriter website. So we are going to go ahead and log in. We are gonna go to the very top where we retrieve the rubric. We want to make sure we take a look at the rubric before we start grading so that we refresh what we’re going to be looking for.

We’re going to select the rubric, the “online opinion piece,” select the student, we’ll pick one at random. I’ll just start with this first one here. And then we’re going to go ahead and get the paper.

In just a few seconds while that comes up. Ok.

And so Healthcare is a choice. Well, to start off I would like to say that I do like the inclusion of this graphic here. It looks like there is a difficulty getting needed care. The percent who felt it was extremely, very or somewhat difficult to get needed medical care Looks by the …note here.. that the study comes from New Zealand and shows five different countries and the difficulties getting health care by age for over 65 and under 65. If you see the under 65 from the United States, is relatively high.

A quick note on the design, we must remember that this is going to be included in a website, meaning that it might be a little bit too plain for a website. It doesn’t quite catch the attention. But I do like the fact that it does looks very clear. I like the use of the blue and the pink colors. I like the border that is around, the effective use of text wrapping. I also like the fact that links are provided here. I like how the opinion piece starts off in this particular instance.

There are rhetorical questions being asked. And then the author’s answering them to herself in a very tongue in cheek manner that works quite effectively. It begins “Americans have since from just the inception of this country.

Americans believe they are the best, the best in really just about everything. You want a better life with more opportunity, come to America. You want equality, come to America.” Very nice, effective strategy there And, I like how the image is also brought into play, when she rhetorically asks. “So why is it when you want superior health care for yourself and for your family at a price you can afford, the answer isn’t ‘Come to America’”?

And then we find the policy change very briefly, it’s not quite as clear as I would have liked, and it’s not very specific, but it is present, and it’s found right here. “A system of universal health care is really the way to go if Americans truly want to remain the best.” So she is telling us that a policy change needs to be made regarding healthcare and that the policy change needs to be universal healthcare. But it is not quite as specific as to, you know, universal healthcare is a very large issue, and it’s not quite as specific as to what can be done about providing universal healthcare.

I do like this strategy here with the postscript where she is saying that if it is really about the money, consider that an individual person in France actually spends about half of what an individual person in the United States spends on medical costs. I thought that was a very nice, strategic, move there.

So, let’s go ahead and take a look back at our rubric and evaluate this opinion piece.

As far as the policy change, it is present. It’s not quite as clear and specific, so for that, I’ll give it a B.

Now as far as the credibility is concerned, I do like that the opinion piece uses well-respected sources. They are not introduced effectively, but a link is provided which is a nice touch. Go ahead and give it a B.

I thought the writer uses a very strong appeal to the readers’ values and beliefs. The writer is playing to jingoistic notions that one country is better than the rest. But now in a particular instance, she is countering that with the failures or her perceived failures in the healthcare. So, I thought that was a very nice touch there.

This particular opinion piece is structured very nicely. It starts off by grasping the audience through personally held appeals or personally held values. She grabs hold of the audience and then continues to inform the audience of who has healthcare and who doesn’t have healthcare and who has access and who doesn’t have access. And she give examples of when someone is sick and what type of access they have. And finally, she makes a nice appeal or a nice strategic move at the end and saying that it’s really not a muddy issue. So we’ll give her an A in logos.

The research is nicely done.

I want to start on the ethos for a second, and then move back down to the research.

Now taking a look at the ethos, the writer makes a good argument and provides solid evidence from well-respected sources. She doesn’t introduce them very clearly which is not necessarily a detriment in this particular aspect of ethos, but she does provide a link which adds to the credibility because they are able to take us to a respected sources’ website and get the information straight from there.

And now taking a look at research. The research provides good support for the argument and is positioned in the opinion piece via a link. It’s not introduced as effectively as I would like, so for that I’ll give it a B.

Writing fluency is very clear and concise. There were only a few minor errors in the piece.

And lastly, the design was very nice. It was professional. It was intended for an online audience. Text wrap is used aesthetically. The graphic is effective and appropriate for the policy change being made. We’ll go head and give it an A.

In total this is a 93.7 out of a 100 point scale. Very nice job on the opinion piece.

So we went ahead and left a few notations for the student. We are letting them know that this is a very nice looking opinion piece. That the colors complement each other. The text wrap is aesthetic and provides for a clean and professional page. There is a policy change being called for, but it’s not very specific. The opinion piece shows its credibility through the graphic, the links provided and the postscript at the end. I like the play on the audience’s beliefs and values especially when playing to the “we are best notion.”

The paper is clearly written but only has a few minor errors that one last reading prior to submission can clear up. Overall good job on the project.

Go ahead and save this for later. Now once it goes to a group leader for double scoring to make sure it matches other scores, we are ready to go ahead and submit it. So now we have graded an online opinion piece using a rubric. When we are ready, we go ahead and log out.