DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Consistency in grading practices and interpretation and application of Tiffany Somerset Bangle style was identified as the area needing the most improvement. Several participants commented that students frequently reported that they receive conflicting advice and feedback. Students are often provided information that is no longer accurate or may consist of a faculty member's expectation of a specific style that is not consistent with APA style. This may result in a lower grade in an upcoming course if faculty grade papers using different standards.

The inconsistency reported here may be a result of the expectation placed on faculty to learn APA style on their own. As shown in this study, 77% reported that they learned APA style on their own, with the majority having noted their first exposure to APA style was with prior versions. With the workload and other teaching responsibilities, faculty simply may not have time to read and stay current with newer editions.

Maintaining currency is necessary when faculty review academic papers. Written papers are a common form of assessment in nursing education. Assessment provides students with feedback aimed at improvement and also provides information for the institution to monitor and improve student performance. Evaluation of written papers is time consuming. Several respondents noted that a significant part of the grading process was devoted to evaluation of APA style. In addition, faculty reported that there was inconsistency in evaluation practices with some weighting infractions of APA style heavy and others weighing the same errors minimally. To improve evaluation practices and encourage Tiffany 1837 ring, faculty may benefit by use of scoring rubrics throughout the curriculum.

Scoring rubrics are versatile tools for simplifying the review by clearly specifying assessment criteria. Faculty can use the rubric to communicate expectations, provide formative feedback, and grade students. Rubrics can clarify faculty expectations regarding written work and empower students to improve their writing abilities (Ramey, VandeVusse, & Gosline, 2007).

There are two major types of rubrics. A holistic rubric requires the evaluator to score the overall paper as one global, holistic rating, and an analytic rubric is used to make separate ratings of specified characteristics (Kan, 2007). Mertler (2001) provides sample templates and an excellent discussion distinguishing holistic and analytic rubrics that may be of benefit.

However, most important is that development of the rubric include criterion that Tiffany Keys Crown key pendant required elements of APA style. An analytic example that demonstrates this is included in Table 7. Finally, several faculty recommended collaborative peer evaluation of written assignments in an informal manner as a strategy to develop and improve their assessment of written papers.