All incoming Honors first-year students complete the Summer Reading Assignment as their first assignment for their HONR 102: Introduction to Honors class. You can find this year's Summer Reading Assignment here and the format and rubric for that assignment below.
Prompts 1-3: Essay Assignment
Formatting Your Paper
How to Head Your Paper
Top left side of the page:
First Name Last Name
Summer Reading Assignment
Date
HONR 102
Formatting Requirements
Please choose one prompt and write an essay that is:
- 1200-1500 words,
- double-spaced,
- 12-point font size,
- Times New Roman,
- one-inch margins and
- APA or MLA format.
Essay Grading Criteria
The assignment will be graded out of a total of up to 100 points.
Content (20 possible points)
- Grade of A: original ideas, complex concepts, compelling evidence with concrete details.
- Grade of B: complex concepts, significant assertions, strong evidence with concrete details.
- Grade of C: useful and informative, some errors but generally factually accurate, logically consistent, relevant to topic.
- Grade of D: of doubtful or severely limited usefulness, some but not frequent inaccuracy, inconsistency, irrelevance or triviality.
- Grade of F: not useful or informative, factual inaccuracy, logical inconsistency and irrelevance to topic selected, trivial assertions.
Organization (20 possible points)
- Grade of A: extraordinarily clear and concise, excellent transitions.
- Grade of B: clear and concise, good transitions.
- Grade of C: clear with adequate transitions.
- Grade of D: unclear at times, uneven transitions.
- Grade of F: confusing, few to no transitions.
Style (20 possible points)
- Grade of A: sentence and paragraph constructions which are varied as to type and length; avoids comma splices, run-on or fused sentences, and overused works that no longer have meaning; appropriate and exact word choice.
- Grade of B: sentence and paragraph constructions which are somewhat varied as to type or length; few comma splices, run-on or fused sentences; appropriate and exact word choice; contains very few overused words that no longer have meaning.
- Grade of C: clear, coherent sentences and paragraphs; several comma splices, run-on or fused sentences; appropriate word choice; contains a few overused words that no longer have meaning.
- Grade of D: coherent but sometimes unclear sentences and paragraphs, generally competent; many comma splices, run-on or fused sentences; inappropriate word choice at times; contains overused words.
- Grade of F: incoherent sentences and paragraphs; little evidence of correct sentence construction; unrecognizable or inappropriate word choice; contains many overused words that meaning is unclear.
Mechanics (20 possible points)
- Grade of A: very few to no errors or typos.
- Grade of B: a few errors and typos.
- Grade of C: moderate errors, several typos.
- Grade of D: many errors, many typos.
- Grade of F: carelessly constructed with little to no attention to mechanical correctness.
Ability to Tie Ideas to Themes in the Book (20 possible points)
- Grade of A: exceptionally ties ideas and concepts back to themes in the book; clear student read book.
- Grade of B: thoughtfully ties ideas and concepts back to themes in the book; strong evidence supports that student read book.
- Grade of C: generally ties ideas and concepts back to themes in the book; some evidence demonstrates student read book.
- Grade of D: carelessly attempted to tie ideas and concepts to themes in book; little evidence suggests student read book.
- Grade of F: did not tie any ideas or concepts to themes in book; no evidence to demonstrate student read book.
Prompt 4: TikTok Video Assignment
Basic Requirements
In order to get credit for this prompt, the TikTok video MUST:
- Mention the title of the book (Interior Chinatown) and its author (Charles Yu).
- Mention why the song is important to the context of the book.
- Mention that the book is the 2022-23 WVU Campus Read.
- Include the hashtag #WVUReads in the video caption.
Video Grading Criteria
The assignment will be graded out of a total of up to 100 points.Content (40 possible points)
Answering the questions: How does this song make you feel about home? How do you identify with the song? How does Wu’s description of the person singing the song in the novel influence your feelings towards the song and your home?
- Grade of A: original ideas, complex concepts, compelling evidence with concrete details.
- Grade of B: complex concepts, significant assertions, strong evidence with concrete details.
- Grade of C: useful and informative, some errors but generally factually accurate, logically consistent, relevant to topic.
- Grade of D: of doubtful or severely limited usefulness, some but not frequent inaccuracy, inconsistency, irrelevance or triviality.
- Grade of F: not useful or informative, factual inaccuracy, logical inconsistency and irrelevance to topic selected, trivial assertions.
Organization (20 possible points)
Mentioning title of book, author, and why song is important to context of book. Mentioning that the book is the 2022-2023 Campus Read and including hashtag.
- Grade of A: extraordinarily clear and concise, excellent transitions.
- Grade of B: clear and concise, good transitions.
- Grade of C: clear with adequate transitions.
- Grade of D: unclear at times, uneven transitions.
- Grade of F: confusing, few to no transitions.
Creativity (20 possible points)
- Grade of A: very creative video using original ideas that tie in “home” with themes in book. Great use of imagination.
- Grade of B: creative concept for video. Content relates to themes in book.
- Grade of C: no novel ideas or concepts included, but is a solid video that ties content into themes of book.
- Grade of D: poorly conceptualized, unoriginal ideas but meets requirements for completing assignment.
- Grade of F: carelessly constructed and does meet minimal requirements for assignment.
Ability to Tie Ideas to Themes in the Book (20 possible points)
- Grade of A: exceptionally ties ideas and concepts back to themes in the book; clear student read book.
- Grade of B: thoughtfully ties ideas and concepts back to themes in the book; strong evidence supports that student read book.
- Grade of C: generally ties ideas and concepts back to themes in the book; some evidence demonstrates student read book.
- Grade of D: carelessly attempted to tie ideas and concepts to themes in book; little evidence suggests student read book.
- Grade of F: did not tie any ideas or concepts to themes in book; no evidence to demonstrate student read book.