11-08-2020, 04:32 PM
Just as a general comment on Sophia paper grading, or any grading of papers when you can't have any personal interaction with the grader:
I have been a professional writer for nearly three decades. I am also an editor. I've worked with several different stylebooks, including APA. People pay me to do it and I have never had a customer dissatisfied with how I applied the rules of grammar and style. I have tutored students on writing their own papers, and the kids I've worked with have gotten better grades as a result. I've graded papers to rubrics, so I'd like to think I know a thing or two about writing to the rubric. I say this not to toot my own horn, but to give you some context for what's coming next.
I simply cannot seem to get an A on a Sophia paper. Today I got back my paper for business law with a lower grade than I'd expected—even though I should know by now not to expect much. I didn't get a grade report back that referenced the rubric, so I have to guess why my grade is the way it is based on comments. I seem to have gotten dinged for things like "You can't start a sentence with 'But'", "A paragraph must have more than two sentences," "you should define these terms" when the definitions appeared right after the grader's comment, and "Where is this reference from?" attached to an inline citation, when the complete APA 7-compliant citation for the item was in the reference list at the end of the paper. The arbitrary grammar/style rules are things you can avoid if you are familiar with a grader's preferences, but you can't if you don't know who they are.
So my advice: If you get a C or above, don't sweat it. Look over the comments to see if there might be something useful. Some of the graders know what they're doing, and when that's the case, it's an opportunity for learning. But some of the graders don't know what they're doing, or they understand the subject matter but not composition rules, or vice versa. That's to be expected. I'm guessing Sophia doesn't pay much for the services, so highly qualified people aren't going to be grading your paper in most cases.
Your grades on Sophia papers are not a verdict on your abilities as a student. Sure, it sucks if you want to get straight As or Bs. If the grade itself is super-important to you, you may want to consider taking a course at a CC instead, where you can get to know the whims of your prof before submitting papers.
(I know this doesn't address the issue of graders who put you at risk of failing the course. Look to Ashkir's tips above to help you with that.)
I have been a professional writer for nearly three decades. I am also an editor. I've worked with several different stylebooks, including APA. People pay me to do it and I have never had a customer dissatisfied with how I applied the rules of grammar and style. I have tutored students on writing their own papers, and the kids I've worked with have gotten better grades as a result. I've graded papers to rubrics, so I'd like to think I know a thing or two about writing to the rubric. I say this not to toot my own horn, but to give you some context for what's coming next.
I simply cannot seem to get an A on a Sophia paper. Today I got back my paper for business law with a lower grade than I'd expected—even though I should know by now not to expect much. I didn't get a grade report back that referenced the rubric, so I have to guess why my grade is the way it is based on comments. I seem to have gotten dinged for things like "You can't start a sentence with 'But'", "A paragraph must have more than two sentences," "you should define these terms" when the definitions appeared right after the grader's comment, and "Where is this reference from?" attached to an inline citation, when the complete APA 7-compliant citation for the item was in the reference list at the end of the paper. The arbitrary grammar/style rules are things you can avoid if you are familiar with a grader's preferences, but you can't if you don't know who they are.
So my advice: If you get a C or above, don't sweat it. Look over the comments to see if there might be something useful. Some of the graders know what they're doing, and when that's the case, it's an opportunity for learning. But some of the graders don't know what they're doing, or they understand the subject matter but not composition rules, or vice versa. That's to be expected. I'm guessing Sophia doesn't pay much for the services, so highly qualified people aren't going to be grading your paper in most cases.
Your grades on Sophia papers are not a verdict on your abilities as a student. Sure, it sucks if you want to get straight As or Bs. If the grade itself is super-important to you, you may want to consider taking a course at a CC instead, where you can get to know the whims of your prof before submitting papers.
(I know this doesn't address the issue of graders who put you at risk of failing the course. Look to Ashkir's tips above to help you with that.)
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